Cricket is the most popular sport in India and growing up like a lot of kids, I wanted to be a Cricketer as well. So much so, when a career counselling organization came to our school, I was asked “What do you want to be when you grow old”, and you guessed it right, I answered – Cricketer. Sadly, the career counsellor laughed on this 12-year-old boy’s face, dismissing the dream of me being a Cricketer. For me, being a Cricketer then was to be good at the sport and to play at a national level. As I grew older, cricket became more than a dream, cricket ground became my canvas, I could express myself freely and there were no judgements/inhibitions I worried about.

From playing Outdoor Cricket in our apartment’s parking space & college in Mumbai, to playing university and premier division club in Manchester, UK, I finally stumbled upon Indoor Cricket in Singapore. What is Indoor Cricket you ask? It’s a quicker version of the game with 16 overs for each team; all players must bat, bowl and field. All of this is done in 90 minutes, so it’s fast paced and intense.

Singapore has had an international Indoor Cricket team for a while, I was fortunate to play with some players who had represented Singapore before. The distant dream started appearing nearer when I started practicing with the probable 20 squad with a chance to make to the final team. With months of practice and tournaments, I finally made it to the Singapore Indoor Cricket team, a dream come true.

Getting handed the Singapore jersey was surreal, it was finally happening, I was going to play at the best level of Indoor Cricket – The World Cup. Tons of people to thank for this and an immense feeling of gratitude !!

The feeling you get when you wear your first official travelling gear, carry Singapore’s playing kit and head to the airport, can't be described in words. As a team, we were pumped for the World Cup!!

Before I get to my learnings, a massive thank you to Singapore Cricket Association , Cricket Australia , WICF and folks at Casey stadium for organising an EPIC World Cup.

 Now, here’s what I learnt over the course of 8 days while playing the best of the best:

1. Never let anyone define your dream – Not family, not friends, not even counsellors. You know your dream, your passion better than anyone else, listen to it, follow it. Talk to as many people in the field of your passion, chart your own path and work towards it, even if it means years to get there.

2. All about nerves and believing in yourself – I played my first game against New Zealand Under 22 boys, my heart was beating faster than usual, adrenaline pumping and a whole lot of thoughts – If I am good enough or not, will I be able to perform, you know the usual brain chatter. First 2 balls I faced, were the quickest I have ever faced in my life. I could barely touch the ball. In indoor cricket, if you miss 3 consecutive balls, you are declared out (which is a minus 5 score while you continue batting). Now imagine the brain chatter, the heart beating even faster and the third ball is bowled, I somehow managed to hit the ball and not get out. All I kept telling myself, was to believe, we’ve practiced these scenarios a lot and if you’ve done it in the past, you can do it again. A lot of mind chatter can be calmed down if you keep telling yourself, you can do it and hold your nerves. After that, the more I faced the balls, the easier it kept getting. Now you would say, this is a simple thing but as simple as this is, showing up with intent to learn and trusting yourself can be difficult for a lot, including myself. 

3. Cricket is a great leveller – When you think you’ve played decently on day 1, you get thrashed on day 2. Of course, it’s a sad feeling, but that’s the beauty of this game, you get to learn from your mistakes, come back and perform.

4. Letting go of the past – Sourav Ganguly mentioned in one of the podcasts, that if you keep lamenting on the past losses and mistakes, you are setting yourself up for failure. Mistakes don’t define you, learning from them and performing better does. That’s what was going in my mind when we played against India on day 3, learnt from the past games and a better performance for sure. A very different feeling when you are playing against a nation where you grew up and developed the love for the game but still being true and loyal to the nation you represent.

5. Taking care of your physical and mental health - Getting into day 5 and 6, we were playing 2 games a day and the body goes through a lot. How do you switch off and rest. It’s very easy to spend time watching the opposition games and analysing but it was important to get that rest. There were a lot of injuries in our teams, including myself. It was a crucial juncture of the tournament where you must understand your strengths & weaknesses; listen to your body, if its ready to play the next game or do we need a rest before we put ourselves back in the court. This was the first time, I got to understand ‘when to peak’ during the tournament. A lot of teams kept rotating their players and sometimes didn’t look like they were a 100%, only to realise that it’s a strategy to make sure all your players are fit and know when to peak. It’s okay to sit out a few games so you can perform in the long run.

6. Attaching yourself to efforts and not results – Yes, results are important, but there is a sense of satisfaction you feel when you give your 100%, no matter the outcome. For our last game, we knew we had to give it our all and we did. We fought tooth and nail in our last game, we didn’t win but we were happy with the efforts given by each and every one on the team.

Harsha Bhogle ’s words, “don’t wait for big things to happen, they will happen, but enjoy the small things while on the journey” – Of course there is a lot to learn and improve on court but there’s life experiences off-court that deserve a mention. Yes, I got to play the world cup, probably one of the biggest things in my life, but whilst being there, there were a lot of small things I enjoyed:

• Interacting with a 90-year-old lady who walked with forward support wheels. She stood up for every nation’s national anthem at the opening ceremony. It was such a warm feeling to see that. I mentioned that I respect her for doing that, she enthusiastically mentioned she has been associated with cricket as a sport since 1967 and she would do this every year.
• Cheering for Singapore’s first ever Women’s Indoor Cricket team, led by fearless Anubha Chamadia who despite having injured her shoulder during the tournament, kept fighting for her team. Check out her experience of the World Cup here.

PS: If you are in Singapore, love cricket and are keen to play for the women’s indoor team, connect with Anubha Chamadia

• Bonding with my fellow team-mates whilst travelling and living in Melbourne, discussing cricket and life stuff.

Indoor Cricket isn’t as popular as the outdoor version but it’s picking pace with two international tournaments coming up in UAE and India in 2023. If you are keen to know more about Indoor Cricket, feel free to reach out and I’ll be happy to share my experiences. Signing off by saying – “Keep living the dream”