Why is Cricket special?

I dont think there is another sport where individuality is so woven in a team effort. On the pitch its a battle between two individuals, that is what everything is focussed on yet two teams are on war. There are eleven guys after one man, it dont get more brutal than this, yet that one guy has been given the power if he knows how to yield it, to overcome them all. And in mythological stories, in films who has got this magical gift...the hero.

The bowler too may be extraordinary but if the fielder is ordinary, the batsman is on top. The bowler may be just above average but the fielder is exemplary, the batsman is on stress. Yet the bowler can, if he wants, ignore them all and produce that magical one. The one you thought was turning right but turned left or you thought was swinging in but held its line or it was a yorker only that it was a toe crushing one and at the last second it decided to swing and uproot the leg stump.

Its like two people are having an argument, which in its observation itself is beautiful and each knows ten other guys are there to back either of them. Talk about team effort. All ten guys are there to win the war but sometimes the battles are so epic that we remmember them and forget the war.

As if fighting off eleven men were not enough, you have got to fight individual demons at every instant. The team is coasting to victory, all demons are slayed. But hey you forgot you are 99 n0. Demons of your own making are born. Suddenly the straight ball starts moving in the air. The ball which looked so big earlier that it could be spotted when you hit it miles up in the air for a six, now suddenly is the size of a pin head. Suddenly you find edges in the middle of the bat. And before you know it you have edged one to the keeper. And hey the demon is not gone. It props up in your dreams, in your memories when you hold the bat again and before you know it you are out of form.

Or if you are a bowler you have bowled nine overs for a meagre 30 runs and taken three wickets, including the prized scalp of the best opposition batsman. Its the last over the opposition needs six runs to win and its the tailender on strike.The captain confidently tosses the ball to you. You test the tailender but surprisingly he has the answer. You wonder if you should try your most lethal delivery the next time. So you do, but the tailender whacks it for a two. The demon appears again and before you know it the ball slipped from you and it was a wide one. You are tensed now that you are loosing the game for the team, you are enraged that the tail ender is showing scant respect to your abilities and there you have it. The monster has overcome you, you bowled a short one and its been smacked for four. You still have good figures, infact you got the team to that winning position but now you are the one who is being hunted and hunted down.

This is just tremendous. And the purest way to watch it is test cricket.