Crease on my Tennis Whites

I never developed an interest in cricket as a child due to two primary reasons:
1. I am a girl.
2. The boys never let me play with them because I was better than them a girl.

Not understanding the game, I wrote it off as one of those inexplicable little things guys do, like, absolutely hating girls when they're 10 and then doing their best to woo them 5 years later, or thinking that guzzling beer and making an absolute fool of themselves is supposed to impress us :-|

So at the age of 19, when a group of not-so-young boys asked if I'd like to play, I pounced! To be frank, I didn't get my hopes up too much because

a)I was the youngest there.
and b) I was STILL prettier than them a girl.

I expected to be fielding most of the time, rarely batting and never bowling(this I'm ok with coz I suck at it anyway)
Now I don't usually admit I'm wrong(I have borderline authoritarian personality disorder...just not as much as Hitler) but boy was I wrong!
Not only did I get to bat for both teams(we were 7 people in all), i didn't have to field at all(since I was batting for both teams) and no bowling! Could a girl ASK for better!!!

Anyway by the end of it, I'd scored half the runs for both teams(those years of swimming and tennis really paid off...or the guys were just being nice...but I like to think I rock at cricket...) and basically I love playing cricket ever since(this took place about 2 weeks ago...just for the record...)
Now I still hate watching Cricket, so the IPL matches don't do much for me. Like ya i know the point is to lure the wannabe firangs(aka diehard ManU/Chelsea/Arsenal/etc supporters) who follow the EPL and go on about how football is the only real sport, blah blah(ya don't call me, I'll call u when my brain dies...)towards more desi flavour.

Now people may go on and on about how the cricket scene is getting saturated and how the good ol' Test days are now a thing of the past...but hold on! If my dad sends emails instead of letters and I send SMSes instead of emails(notice the dying longevity of the mode of communication) why can't i have my cricket matches shorter, sweeter, more convenient!

Oh and those who talk about dying national integration and all that jazz have you noticed that SRK is definitely not from Calcutta and nor is Ambani from Bombay. (I refuse to use the cities' new names... it messes with my belief system) So the IPL matches are doing anything BUT killing our spirit of nationalism. You would think I'd support Bombay having lived here all my life, but I way prefer the Knightriders(ok fine...a lil of it has to do with Shah Rukh...but still...goal achieved!)and although I don't watch the matches, they know I'm rooting for them(at least they will if they read this post...Shah Rukh, if you read this, LEAVE A COMMENT!)

Another phenomenon is that there are these surrogate IPL matches springing up...like we at AIESEC(largest student-run, not-for-profit, youth organisation of the world) Mumbai are starting the AIESEC Premiere League where we form the same teams as the IPL and play against eachother in a series of matches(I totally like!)

So basically the IPL is this major revolution. And the good sorts like the French Revolution the Industrial Revolution.

Anyway after 19 long years I've realised that cricket is THE SEX!!! So I'm gonna go practice and you can still argue about whether Sreesanth was wrong or Bhaji....I, personally, much prefer playing the sport!