होनहार बिरवान के होत चिकने पात ।

होनहार बिरवान के होत चिकने पात ।

Translation- Coming events cast their shadows before.

What Bengal thinks today, (the) world/India thinks tomorrow. Once upon a time, this was an established fact. Anything/everything novel used to take place there. Bengal is reknowned for its football mania, but the first cricket club outside England was set up in Bengal. Yes, you read that right. Not Australia, the Brits chose Calcutta first to set up a cricket club in 1792 and it was called the Calcutta cricket club.

At the turn of the 19th century, jingoism/patriotism was at an all time high. We were challenging Brits in everything, be it politics or sports. The outcome was Town Club in 1884. It was the brainchild of a bunch of Bengalis, including Saradaranjan Ray, who was the elder brother of Oscar winner Satyajit Ray's grandfather. Greatness was in the genes, you see. Town Club became the Mecca for all the Indian cricket enthusiasts.

When Lagaan released, I voraciously read all the articles to discover if the story was anyway inspired by a true incident. Finally, I can say that something like that definitely happened, but no "Lagaan" was involved sadly.

Such was the popularity of the Town Club that the reknowned revolutionary Hema Chandra Ghosh was its talent scout. He stumbled upon an effulgent young lad in General Assembly Institution's(now known as Scottish Church College) premises. The lad was Narendranath Dutta. His physique and agility totally floored Mr Ghosh. He asked the lad if he would be interested in trying his hands on cricket and the lad said yes in a heartbeat.

What transpired at the Eden Gardens, which was just 20 years old at the time, when CCC and Town Club met, was something which is etched in the cricket folklore to this day. The lad was rampant and he ran through the CCC top order and ended with seven wickets in the match. Although the result of the match is unknown, the heroics of this young lad is well documented.

Hema Chandra Ghosh was overwhelmed by the aura Narendra had and he was sure that he would go on to achieve immortality and he was bang on. The world later bowed down to his spirituality and philosophy. His "sisters and brothers of America" speech in Chicago achieved legendary status and the world woke up to a world leader by the name of SWAMI VIVEKANANDA.

What if he had continued with cricket? He would have been a LEGEND there as well because "Honhaar birwan k hot chikne paat".

P.S.- The Ray family was the first Indian cricketing family. Muktidaranjan and Kuladaranjan Ray were slick batsmen and Pramodaranjan Ray was one of the best fast bowlers of that era. Cricket often featured in Satyajit Ray's works.

Jassi Jaisa Koi Nahin!

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."

I am a 90s kid, when cricket was awesome and fierce. I have seen Ambrose owning Aussies in their backyard. I have witnessed Aqib Javed demolishing India at Sharjah. These two are my all time favourite quick bowlers, but Waqar was someone else, something else (read it like Oliver Queen of Green Arrow). He was the one who moulded my young mind and stamped the fact that yorkers are the invincible balls bowled in cricket. No offense to Wasim who also had a mean yorker, but the banana inswing yorkers of Waqar were unparalleled.

There were a few who came after Waqar who tried to emulate his art of bowling yorkers, like Shoaib Akhtar, Shane O'Connor(I don't know if people remember him, but he had a decent yorker), Geoff Allot etc but the rightful heir debuted in 2004 and his name was Lasith Malinga. Malinga revolutionized the yorker.

As far as India is concerned, the best yorkers I have seen were from Anil Kumble and Manoj Prabhakar(sometimes). We have had decent fast bowlers but we never had an out an out tearaway fast bowler who could terrorise the batsman like Waqar did. But by Sachin's grace, everything changed on 6th December 1993, in Ahmedabad, when a Sikhni gave birth to a special kid and he was named Jasprit Bumrah. He lost his father at a tender age and was brought up by a single mother, who was a school Principal and a disciplinarian. No wonder Jassi is a focused and disciplined lad.

What caught everybody's eyeballs was Bumrah's queer action. This lad was a trophy hunter from day one. He made his T20 debut for Gujarat in 2012-13 in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy and helped his team win the title with a man of the match performance in the final. He was instantly picked up by Mumbai Indians for the 2013 edition. He didn't play all the matches, but MI won their first title that year and they haven't looked back since.

Many thought he isn't cut out for the best format, but he is the first Asian bowler to take a 5-fer in Australia, SA and England in a calender year. This has ruffled many feathers. For the first time ever, there is an Indian fast bowler, of whom the world is envious of. Pakistanis call him a "Polio patient", but Sohail Tanvir was a totally normal kid. Aussies call him "chucker". This is the term they used for a bowler who ended up with 1300+ wickets.

India is a formidable team now, courtesy Jassi. We can't thank him enough. Now we can proudly brag about our fast bowlers. Happy Birthday Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah. May you live long and prosper.

Vijayi Bhavah! Ayushmaan Bhavah!

Jassi Jaisa Koi Nahi!