Last winter I happened to see a cricket match in
Lahore. The match was played between Pakistan cricket team and the West Indies cricket
team. The match was played at Qaddafi Stadium Lahore.
Cricket is quite an interesting game. Every game
has its plus points. It fosters discipline, duty, team spirit, cooperation and
a sportsman s spirit. Some of the Pakistani players are players of
international repute.
Cricket is played between two teams of 11 members
each. It is played on a flat, smooth and clean ground. Cricket requires two
sets of stumps, wickets and a ball. The distance between two sets of wickets is
22 yards. The bowlers take their turns after every six balls. In this game,
much depends upon the quality of bowling.)Good fielding is also necessary for
victory. Before the game starts, there is the toss. It is the whim of the toss
winning captain to first go for batting or fielding. The fielding party puts three
fieldsmen on the one side, six on the off side, while one is posted for
guarding the wicket and one for the bowling. The game is generally played for
six hours a day. The umpire is the final judge. He is the man who declares the
players out whether they are run out, bowled out, caught out, and stumped out
or leg-before-wicket.
The match which I witnessed was really very
interesting There was huge gathering at Qaddafi Stadium Lahore. Pakistan
leading cricketers were playing in the match. I saw the fine garn Saied Anwar.
He hit many boundaries, while Amir Sohail was very careful not to make a single
stroke. But soon Saied Anwar was out. Then he was replaced by Shahid Afridi. He
made 50 runs in 76 minutes whole Amir made 66 runs in 70 minutes. Soon there
was break for lunch. The Pakistani team made 219 runs for three wickets before
lunch.
Then the West Indies players started batting after
lunch. B. Lara played very fast and he hit to sixers. Soon he was out. Then
Roger came and hit three sixers. There was a tremendous cheer from the
spectators. There was great excitement among the spectators as ‘veil as
players. Everyone was in high spirits. Roger Binny played up to the end and he
scored over a century. Then the umpire gave a long whistle and the match ended
for the day.
The spectators dispersed. Some of the cricket fans
were patting Roger Binny for his brilliant performance. Soon the crowd fizzled
out and I came to my house. It was a thrilling match for me.