Nursing a sick child to recovery; I thought India-Nepal match would be the much required distraction that both Puchki and I needed. It would be an easy way to induct her into the world of cricket and my anxious nerves would not have to worry too much about the outcome. It would be India all the way!

My super confident self, sat with absolute conviction to watch the complete 50 over match with Puchki; started with telling her about the number of players, introduced some simple terminologies, the names of Indian players and their expertise. Too my surprise, she already knew Virat Kohli; thanks to all the brands he endorses; her weak self was filled with energy once again.

India won the toss and chose to ball, I felt it was a wise decision; they could easily bowl them out, before the dark clouds in the sky stall the match. First over into the match; I was disappointed, when a simple catch in the slip was dropped. I did lose my cool and in my animated state used a couple of unflattering words for the fielder; which were unfit for Puchki’s ears. I controlled my emotions and let it go. Couple of overs later; Virat dropped one of the simplest catches ever. I controlled my aggression and managed to put a poker face for a couple of seconds, but Puchki asked me, Maa is Virat any good, how come he dropped the catch. I told her not to worry, the fielders will bounce back and all the Nepal players would be back in the dressing room in no time. Then, the Indian wicket keeper, dropped a simple catch; nothing was going right. Thanks to the dropped catches, the Nepal batsmen were settled and scored runs easily, hitting boundaries and constantly knocking the ball for ones and twos. They did manage to put a decent target for India to chase.  

My seven year old, who was watching a cricket match for the first time, could make out how sloppy the Indian players were on the field. I was getting frustrated too, but continued to watch until Puchki had another bout of high fever and I had to look after her.

Eventually, India did win the match; but I was not happy with their win; I felt they were out of rhythm and not committed enough; whereas the Nepal side, gave it their all; they held on to their nerves and valiantly faced some beautiful deliveries bowled by Siraj and Shami, their running between the wickets and ability to hit the occasional boundaries and sixes are worth complimenting. They are a young side with a very bright future ahead of them. Wishing them luck.  

Well, tomorrow we have another match, the India-Pak clash; let’s see what the outcome of that would be. By now, you know which team I would be rooting and praying for….. India, India, India!