Cricket Rediscovered

When I arrived at National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT), Nagpur on 17th Dec 2017, I was still recuperating from Dengue. I still had bodily weakness that prevented me from doing intense physical activity. I was clearly instructed by my ever caring wife to stay away from sports, especially Cricket atleast for two more weeks. As her ever obedient husband, I did so for two more days. Gathering all my strength, I slowly tried my hand on bowling for which I had already started practicing in Bengaluru right after my Civil Services mains examination. I had gone to one sports shop and purchased a leather ball. I was doing shadow bowling practice on the terrace of our small single room house, only to be imitated by my wife funnily. It was a dream for me to be a part of NADT cricket team which was soon going to participate in the IRS Cup 2018 at Goa. I was thinking what could the odds against me to be a part of NADT cricket team. I have never played leather ball cricket. I was not a spin bowler, the role for which I was contending for in the team.I was not a proper batsman, forget the batting techniques. Even trying to catch the ball from a certain height seemed daunting. Nonetheless, I had my plans. I wanted to be a spin bowler. Fast bowling at this age is demanding. Moreover, there are already enough fast bowlers in NADT. Also batting was not a priority for me at this stage. With this basic mindset and with the help of youtube videos, I began my practice. I was almost regular for the evening net practice.