If cricket be a carnival and Diwali festival, the two have meshed often to produce brilliant moments for the fans. As India take on Netherlands in their last league match of the ICC World Cup at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, be sure that sparks will fly.
Before you jump to any conclusion, yes, there is a cracker ban enforced by the Supreme Court of India. But then, nobody can stop the pyrotechnics when the batters get going in this last league match for India. Rahul Dravid, the coach, has already wished everybody a happy Diwali. He has talked of “ticking the boxes” and wanting to set high standards after the team has criss-crossed the length and breadth of the country.
There can be no greater delight than watching the Men in Blue showcase their skills against a side which has surprised many. But then, before anyone dismisses the Netherlands or Afghanistan as minnows, they need to rethink and look again at the score cards from this edition of the World Cup.
It is not a sheer coincidence there have been brilliant performances from Indian stalwarts around Diwali. One could well ask, what is the logic in this argument? There may not be any, but then how does one forget, for example, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar lighting up the Kotla against the West Indies on Diwali eve in 1983. His 29th Test hundred was massive in many ways, from a historical perspective as well as for hoisting the late Malcom Marshall for a six over the outstretched hands of Winston Davis. That was how he completed his ton. In a biography published years later, Dom Moraes compared his strokeplay to a Catherine Wheel.
All those present at the Kotla on Diwali eve four decades ago will still salivate over that knock. Just before that, in the Kanpur Test, a vicious delivery from Marshall saw the bat knocked out of Gavaskar’s hands. The knock at the Kotla was a riposte, that showed how India’s most durable Test opener could respond.
Gavaskar may be in the commentary booth today, on Diwali, calling the India match again. But for all of us who watched him bat in 1983, there was only sheer delight. Dilip Vengsarkar, his Mumbai teammate who was nicknamed Colonel, was outstanding at the same Kotla during the Reliance World Cup in 1987. The way Vengsarkar hammered Craig McDermott and company for straight sixes and fours in his 63 was majestic. Mind you, those days, there were no cracker bans. One got to see cracker of a shot from the batsman, as well as real fireworks going off.
If the Chinnaswamy Stadium is bracing for crackers today, it can come only from the Indian batters, possibly, as the cops will not allow fireworks to be taken inside. One man could still do it and score big, just like he did last year. The way Virat Kohli hammered 82 runs on Diwali eve in Melbourne last year during the ICC T20 World Cup will never be forgotten.
The ICC recently named his massive six off Haris Rauf the shot of the century for its exquisite authenticity. Yet, even as Kohli lit up Diwali from faraway Australia, Rauf was haunted for a long time. Many attempts have been made to describe that six, pithy as well as verbose. Nobody has come close to such perfection in poetry or prose. If you want Diwali fireworks, watch that shot again, please. It will give you immense joy, unless you are a Pakistan cricket fan!
This Diwali, who will light the sparkler, and produce a cracker of a knock? We will have to wait and see. It could be Kohli, Rohit Sharma or even Shubman Gill. When Dravid talks of ticking boxes, fireworks come to the mind. Not the banned ones, but those of the cricketing variety. Brace for a Happy Diwali, with Bengaluru the heart of a light-and-sound spectacle.