Its Cricket, you see!

Hello Reader, 

The semi-final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup brought India and Pakistan teams to clash once again. But, it was held on a full-working, regular Wednesday, barring the supporters of both the teams to stick back at their homes and catch the high-on-drama thriller that was much-awaited to be caught live on their television screens. Many shops remained shut down, office goers called up their bosses to notify that they were either ill or had an emergency at home. Of course, we all know and the bosses know that on the days like these, there always are a thousand excuses to abscond work. In fact, even the Prime Ministers of both the countries took a day’s leave and were present at the venue to witness the historic game. That certainly would have boosted the confidence of many to skip their errands for a day and show their full support and to cheer for the teams.

Similar was the scene in my classroom where everybody sat unwillingly, uninterested in the lecture that was going on. Someone had sneaked in a cell-phone and was passing on the match updates, “India won the toss and elected to bat”,  he whispered and the update was passed bench by bench and the slow murmurs and ‘expert discussions’ echoed all over the classroom. Later, as India started to bat, the murmurs grew louder as Virendra Sehwag hit back-to-back boundaries in the initial overs, which even made the lecturer to get involved, looking at our enthusiasm.

We couldn’t resist sitting back in the classroom anymore as the match progressed and after the second hour, some of us decided to request our Head of Department to let us go back and enjoy the match for the day. But, of course, our petition was not accepted. As we headed back to our classrooms, the rebel inside us was already waking up for this was the second time our petition was turned down; the first time was for getting it declared a national holiday.

It was only the third hour when the cell phone guy whispered that Sachin Tendulkar is about to hit a half century. After which, a sort of telepathic message got spread throughout the classroom and everybody stood up from their respective benches. The lecturer looked at us in both shock and doubts for what were we going to do now? We did take the drama level a little higher as we started to sing the National Anthem; all of us. It was a sudden patriotic uproar which even we had not expected. The corridors echoed with our voices. Once we were done with singing, we all started to storm out of the class, fearless and united. We mass bunked and headed back to our hostels and homes to catch the rest of the match.

India won that day. It was all worth it. Although, next day, we were charged for this behavior by our HOD and some of the lecturers. We had a mix feeling of both guilt (for acting like such outlaws) and pride (for the integrity our classmates portrayed). But, we were happy that we became a part of Team India’s victory celebration.

Such is the madness for Cricket in India and especially when the opponent is Pakistan. 

But now, thanks to UC Browser that we do not have to go all over-dramatic and rebellious to watch our favorite game. UC Browser comes with a feature called UC Cricket which is dedicated to all the cricket fans in which they can catch the match from wherever they are, without having to bunk offices or to cancel dates. It is faster than anything and connects to the live game from wherever you are.  

Surf it all! Surf it Fast!

Read more about it here: UC Cricket

-Ashish