*Ominous Voice* The World T20 is upon us. Actually, it started a few days ago but India will be playing its first match against Pakistan tomorrow. In honour of that, we got a little nostalgic.
1. Switching on the TV 30 minutes before and patiently waiting through 4th umpire to watch the toss.
Fourth umpire was so special in childhood, when you see ” Live ” under national then the happiness especially when we wait to start this since morning. pic.twitter.com/gvc1sABroE
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 6, 2019
2. Finishing all school and tuition homework way before schedule so that Papa beech mein TV band na kar dein!
3. If you lived in a small town growing up in the early 2000s, you had neighbours tune in to your house to watch the match.
4. Sometimes you would have to move the TV to a common area where everybody could watch. Oh, and back then, TVs used to feature a rather large behind.
5. DD National would show the toss and would go on an ad right before they showed the team sheet.
6. Parents would buy all the Sunday essentials hours before the match started because once it started, any shop with a TV would have 50 people in front of it.
7. People would literally be praying for Ganguly to win the toss and bat if Sehwag was playing.
8. If Sehwag got out early, the crowd would thin a bit. Aur sab jaate jaate, gaaliyan dete jaaenge Sehwag ko even though they literally had gathered to see him bat the way only he could.
9. Didn’t matter if you hated him or loved him, you couldn’t ignore Shoaib Akhtar. Every ball would be followed by gasps. Also, there would be heated debates about the legality of his bowling action.
10. If Sachin scored less than a hundred against Pakistan, it was considered a failure on his part.
11. The crowd would be the thinnest when Ganguly and Dravid were batting together. People would be like, ‘over kha rahe hain bas’.
12. But every time a left-arm spinner came to bowl, someone would definitely go “Ab step out karega Ganguly.”
13. People would always be overflowing with love for both Yuvi and Kaif, for they would always give a hundred and one per cent on the field.
14. Every time Shoaib Malik would come to bat, one random uncle would go, ‘Isko trial ball daalo, behnoi hai.“
15. After watching Zaheer Khan bowl, there would be some boys who would straight up try to copy that high jump he used to do and then provide expert advice on the science behind the jump.
16. Before the match could even start, some people would go to temples to pray for a Sachin masterclass and whenever he delivered, they would go back to give the gods what they had promised. Mannat maangna of sorts!
17. “Inzamam ko out karna hi padega, ruk gaya to match le lega” – Every Indian household has heard these exact words at some point.
17. This is the pre-Dhoni era, so the rumours about people shutting down TV after Sachin got out weren’t rumours at all.
18. Every time an Indian batter reached 90, every run would be counted till he got to a century. And if that batsman was Sachin, you would feel the tension like your dad has bet your mom’s jewellery on it.
19. Everyone hated Abdul Razzaq. Ek toh banda aata tha 8 pe aur chakke maarne lagta tha WTF. We would feel like we were being cheated.
20. TVs would get broken if we los… I am just kidding. We have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup.
India and Pakistan go at it again tomorrow at 7:30 PM IST. Tune in children, you will be in for a treat.
