W is for... Willow... n...Winners ....Widespread...

First I have a very young, teenage musician for you today with a track called With You. Apt! and pleasant on the ears too.

Next we have Warwan with a track called Nishan. Warwan is a relatively young band too. They're based in Delhi and play in the Hindi metal genre. Lyrics are meaningful and the overall sound is great, so even if you can't follow the former, no worries.

Finally, get your headphones on for Woh Hum Nahin, which translates to That’s Not Us, a protest song composed and sung by musician Ankur Tiwari for the recent Anti-CAA protests. The video includes footage from across India and at Shahinbag in Delhi. Jo mazhab ke bahane aapas mein lad rahe…those who’re fighting using religion as an excuse – that’s not us, that’s not us, that’s not us. Moving visuals – I’m always moved by young people taking a stand and expressing themselves. Have a listen -

White. World. Worship.

Credit  Bat used by Sachin Tendulkar

My object today is this Addidas Master Blaster cricket bat. A cricket bat is traditionally made of English white willow wood because it is hard and at the same time lightweight. This one was used and autographed by one of India’s greatest batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar, a world cricket icon. There's a whole book called The A-Z of Sachin Tendulkar, btw! Can't not mention that in a A-Z series. Tendulkar's cricket debut coincided with the growth of private satellite television channels in 90s India, when sports/matches became accessible to a large audience across the country and reinforced this widespread worship and adulation. Read more about the icon here. 

If there is any one sport that India’s is into big time, it is cricket. Read how cricket dominates the sports viewership scene. The business of Indian cricket is valued at over USD 5 billion annually, not a sum to be pooh-poohed in a country where the annual per capita income is only 7700-7800 USD. (As a comparison, the corresponding figure for USA is over 62,000 USD.) This one game draws nearly 60% of the advertisements and sponsorship in India, the other sports - football, wrestling, hockey, tennis, badminton etc jostle for rest of the dollarshare. 

Credit India lifts the Prudential Cup. June 1983.

Everyone, from  the most underprivileged child to the richie rich spoiled brat, plays cricket - the former plays gulli cricket in the tiny bylanes of slums without any equipment, the latter in posh clubs. The big league cricket players representing India are mega celebrities at par with film stars.  I've known Indian households plan their meal times, their social life and even weddings around the main cricket events. Cricketmania is a solid part of Indian sports culture.


Cricket, like tea, is a British legacy and its history in the subcontinent goes back centuries. Deeper than tea, in fact.  The British sailors brought cricket to India around 1700, there are records of the first cricket match being played around 1721 by the crew of East India Company ships at Cambay. By 1792, the first club in Calcutta was already in existence, as there was a match played between Barrackpore and Dum Dum. However, these were all played by the Britishers no Indian was let into the sport. Have a shufti here to see some interesting milestones of cricket in India.

Credit. India win their second World Cup. 2011.

The first Indian cricket club, the Oriental Cricket Club, was established by the Parsi community in Bombay in 1848. By the 1850s, cricket was being played in Lahore, Bombay and Calcutta, Madras joined in by the 1860s. The oldest Indian cricket magazines also date back to these decades. In 1877, the Europeans invited the Parsis to a match, which became a quadrangular match involving the Hindus, Parsis, Muslims and Sikhs by 1912. In the early 1900s, some Indian nobles played for the English team and were popular in Britain - Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinhji, both from the princely state of Nawanagar.  Their names were later used for the Indian tournament trophies - the Ranji Trophy (est 1934-35) and the Duleep Trophy (est 1961-62). An Indian cricket team toured England for the first time in 1911, playing the county teams.


The Indian team was invited to join the Imperial Cricket Council in 1926, and India played its first Test Cricket in 1932  against England at Lords. And lost by 158 runs. India hosted the first Test series in 1933 - the English team played two matches, one in Calcutta and the other in Bombay and won both the matches and the series. India continued to lose matches to England and Australia throughout the 30s and late 40s when play resumed after the WWII. The first Indian Test victory came in 1952, in Madras. 

Credit Vinoo Mankad guides India to first ever Test win. Feb 1952

Since then, much water has passed beneath the cricketing bridge. India has won world cups in cricket, played and beaten several test nations all over the world. It has found and nurtured multiple world class batsmen and bowlers who are not just mega-celebrities in India but recognised around the world - Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble. 


From the 70s onwards, cricket has evolved into crisper, more streamlined, modern formats. First came the One Day Internationals, and then in the 21st century, the T20 matches. The Indian Premier League originated on the back of the T20 format and now caters to an even wider fanbase demanding a fast-paced, quick-outcome game. It is clear that cricket will remain part of the Indian sports culture for the foreseeable future, never mind how many matches are postponed due to the pandemic.


What is the national-obsession sport of choice in your country? Do you follow it as a fan? How did it originate?

A-Z Challenge 2020