David Boon was his inspiration. Kris chikka the next one. He started being extra nice to chitra akka. Theirs was the only household with a TV. To get that coveted seat near the TV he even lent his imported chithappa-given video game for an hour. It is solar powered. Besides, I have the highest score in it, he thought. The seat was reserved after lunch too.

Then came the real thing. Trying all you saw in TV. It started with the rubber ball. The game was way too easy. It was a batsman's game. But the ball didn't last long. Especially when it was wet. Which it was mostly, due to the hits to the open 'ditch', and subsequent left-hand-picked washes. Then came the rubber cork ball. Cricket still was a batsman's game. The ball came to the bat nicely. Even a good length ball was quite playable. He tried chikka's mammutti shot and ravi shastri's front foot kattai. Everything worked. He wanted to graduate to the big league. He didn't know what was waiting for him.

There was this commie-red wicky cork ball. Wickedly shining. With golden logos on both sides. Use of that was strictly banned on streets since he played a lofted shot that hit the sarbat guy. He settled with the team that played in the rice mill. There he lost it. There was too much bounce on the cement floor. The hand eye coordination suddenly wasn't good enough. Even the half volleys had a lot of pace. Going back foot was inviting danger of getting hit by the missed ball bouncing back from the 10-ft wall. Forget form, even class seemed temproary. Above all there was this Durai, using any small crack to generate extra bounce and mixing it with a yorker. Innings after innings, he will have to face Durai. He tried a mighty heave once which connected well for a boundary. The next ball was a nasty bouncer that broke his 'chilli mooku'. He declared cricket as a violent game and sportsmanship was missing. He settled to watch the game with chitra akka and started writing cricket commentary for the school's times.