Incredible India: Cricket is for India as footbal is for us

My idea about cricket was very limited. I knew it was a bit similar to baseball but I didn't know any of its rules.

India received the world cup on February and it went till the beginning of April. So I had the opportunity to follow some of the games. The first thing I found very surprising was that the game would start just after lunch and end by the end of the night!!! It took so much time!! In fact, in Cricket there's no time rule instead there are different versions with different duration. Normally in the championship the game lasts for about three hours, which I find reasonable. But there's also the one-day and test version. In the one-day version the game lasts for about nine hours while in the test version it goes for five days!!! I found very impressive that so many people remained in stadiums for nine hours. They must really like this game. Cricket doesn't seem physically very demanding so the players can handle playing for so long. They have a break with food and tea! Awesome!

The rules are simple. In the center of the field there are two bases at a distance of twenty meters from each other. In each of these bases there are three wood sticks called wickets as you can see from the picture below

Additionally there is a batsman and a runner both from the same team and a bowler from the opposite team. The objective of the bowler is to make the ball touch the wickets while the batsman tries to avoid that by throwing the ball as far as possible. Then the game is a bit like baseball. Once the ball is up in the air the batsmen and the runner run back and forth between the wickets getting points called runs. If a player of the opposite team catches the ball before it touches the pitch then the batsman is out. If the ball goes straight outside of the field you get six runs while if it touches the pitch before leaving the field you get four runs. Once the ball is caught by a player of the opposite team he has to throw the ball towards the wicket before the batsman or the runner arrive. If this happens then the batsman or the runner is out.

The bowler has a limited number of balls to throw, and that number depends on the version of the game.

India was one of the favorite teams to win the world cup along with Australia, the current champion. They have been impressive along the championship but my friends were not so convinced of the final victory. The big first shot came when they defeated Australia in quarter finals and they started to believe. In semifinals they played against Pakistan, the all time rival. This was the big match perhaps more important than the final. It was a real fight but with no guns.

At the time I was already in Mumbai and I had the opportunity to follow the last part of the game. I really enjoyed. You feel compelled to support and follow the vibe of the game. It was a great victory for India and now they were going to play against Sri-Lanka in the final. This time I went to see the game in some bar in Colaba, Mumbai. The environment was awesome! The bar was full and people were making the party. With this fever for Cricket I stayed about four hours supporting India, shouting, jumping, dancing... It was a fantastic victory and India exploded of happiness.