Clueless Child To Sports Journalist - Evolution Of A Cricket Fanatic Who Grew Up Watching India Beat Pak In World Cups

India, Pakistan and the World Cup. It is an eternal love triangle that seems to have just one outcome over the last 31 years or so. Actually, scratch that, it has only one outcome. 7 wins in 7 games for India. Yes, all seems right with the world when we face off on the big stage and our side wins. Growing up watching the game, I used to wonder what the fuss was all about, but as I got older I realised the significance.

Reuters/Cricinfo

But this story is not just about the wins. It is about the evolution of a cricket fanatic from a clueless kid to a sports journalist. My first experience of India vs Pakistan in a World Cup was in 1992, but the memory was not as strong. The latest one was of course the game just concluded in Manchester, but the emotions and feelings are different. As a kid I saw matches just because I love cricket, now I have an added incentive - I do it for a living. So this is how a boy grew into a man as he saw India clobber Pakistan in the World Cup time after time no matter what kind of form we or for that matter, they, were in.

So let's take a trip down memory lane:

March 4, 1992

I was well short of my 6th birthday and at that time we did not even reside in India. Dad was working in Uganda and my mother along with me had joined him in the East African country a year before. But I noticed that particular day he was following the match in Australia closely on TV and if there was a coverage issue, on the radio. Though I did not know it at the time, it was the first time the rivals were facing off in the World Cup and both countries wanted to see the outcome. I was oblivious to all the fuss, in fact I knew next to nothing about cricket back then. But I saw a complex change of emotions as my dad felt sad, felt happy and eventually rejoiced. We had just beaten them on the big stage. Little did we know it would become a tradition.

March 9, 1996

A little older, not too much wiser, yours truly was still in Uganda, but with a better idea of the significance of cricket to us Indians. It was the World Cup quarterfinal and the then defending champions Pakistan were taking on India in what was then Bangalore. The interest in cricket was still not completely there, but I did occasionally check in as to what was happening. Dad did not have office and the match started in the morning for us on a Saturday. I remember Navjot Sidhu's assault on the spinners, Ajay Jadeja demolishing Waqar Younis. It was not completely in my grasp but when we did win, I was beginning to fathom why this win was important. It also dawned upon me that the main reason our World Cup clashes were so spiced up was due to the political tensions we had. Reality was encroaching into an innocent mind.

June 8, 1999

On the verge of being a teenager, cricket was pretty much in my blood now. I used to watch old games and look on the past years because that is how much I loved it. Well it was once again a World Cup and in the Super Six, India and Pakistan were on collision course. What added fuel to the fire was the fact that the Kargil conflict was in full swing at the time. So there was added tension in the game. Yes, this may have been the 3rd time they were meeting in the competition, but never have we wanted to beat them more. I for one, despite not being anti-Pakistani in my core (still am not). was fired up by Wasim Akram's comments that it was a practice match for them. Yes, they had beaten us 5 out of 6 times that year, but we wanted revenge and we wanted it badly. As our batsmen set a target and their wickets began to fall, I could not contain my excitement. Mom and Dad were watching it too and they also got involved. When the last wicket fell, we screamed with joy and I went to bed a happy kid.

March 1, 2003

Two days away from my ICSE exams and you would think the last thing on my mind would be cricket. But no, it was indeed. Why? Because we were playing Pakistan after almost 3 years and it was a World Cup game. Of course once the schedule was out I had taken prior permission from Mom (Dad had already consented) to watch the game. Once again the family sat down to watch it and boy did we enjoy it. Our bowling was okay though Pakistan did get a decent score. But then came the Sachin Tendulkar show. My main concern was how he would do against Shoaib Akhtar. Well it took one shot to destroy my fears. Akhtar banged it in short and Sachin upper cut it into the stands. Wow! Yes, we knew he was the best in the world but this was amazing. Sachin was not done and took 18 runs off that over. His 98 was epic to watch as we were cheering every shot. He missed a hundred buy Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh got us home. When the winning runs were hit, I was jumping with joy. Four our of four and Pakistan more or less out of the World Cup. I felt sad for the likes of Wasim and Waqar who were in the twilight of their careers, but it was time to move on.

March 30, 2011

At that moment I was counting my days to coming to Delhi. I had just got the chance to work with a leading media house and would be leaving for the capital in less than a month. But there was the small matter of watching an India vs Pakistan World Cup game. With both Prime Ministers at the ground, there was extra pressure on the teams to perform. Well in a battle of wills, India triumphed in the semis to have another shot at the title. At 24, I had gotten used to watching India win at this level and my friends and I pretty much felt that all went according to script. Of course it did not stifle our enthusiasm when we won. This was the first India vs Pakistan World Cup match since my father had passed. But I knew he was celebrating in the happy hunting grounds as India maintained their record.

February 15, 2015

It was a belated Valentine's Day gift from the Men in Blue to the Men in Green. This time I was already a sports journalist in full flow and the game started at 9 am. However, I was to report at 4 pm since I had an evening shift. So I got up early and switched on the TV at our office library as I did not have one at home back then (I still don't but back then I did not have internet either so could not stream it live). We saw Virat Kohli start off the World Cup with a hundred, exactly what he had done vs Bangladesh in 2011. Pakistan got nowhere close and I had already logged in on shift by the time India won. 6 out of 6 and it was getting boring even for Indian fans. I began to wonder if we should ever face them again in World Cups

June 16, 2019

Well we did, 4 years later. My profession remained the same, but the organisation was different. I was up early, went to office and did my work related to the match's build-up. As it began I went home in the evening to track it and do related stories as it went on. Even as I saw the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli systematically destroy Pakistan, I did my job as now it was not as just a fan but a journalist as well that I was watching. When we won, I of course felt happy, but realised I was happier back in 1999 or 2003. Why? Because the value of the rivalry had gone down. We were far better than them and to think we could lose, especially in the World Cup, was unthinkably. So that was it 7 out of 7.