Cricket, Lovely Cricket. Or is it?

I have been a cricketer, a cricket writer, an author whose first book had strong references to cricket, a scion of a cricketing family...one can go on re-establishing one's connections with cricket. The result is inevitable: as cricket is now played round the year in different time zones and sometimes across them, time management has become such a huge casualty. There is so much that is left undone, unattempted, ignored or badly done - thanks to cricket. The ICC World Cup gets over this evening: we will be talking about it for at least the next fortnight if not longer, but even before the euphoria (or depression, God forbid!) consequent on the World Cup final ends, we will already be in the middle of another whirl: the India Premier League. The hoopla, with entertainment, will be so much greater - what with big hitting (as the format of 20-20 cricket preordains), cheer girls,madder spectators, quicker results, more than one match every day, and what have you- and time, already in a mess, will become messier.

Why am I complaining? Am I not praying for Sachin's 100th international century? Am I not a fan of Mahela Jayawardene's superlative batting skills? Don't I enjoy the slam bang of Dilshan and Sehwag? Am I not under the spell of Murali's magic? Don't I find the atmosphere in a cricket field intoxicating? Am I not addicted to cricket-on-television? Yes, yes, yes: I am a slave of the great game, but, but, but....Here goes my prayer: Gods, please stretch the day to 48 hours, neatly apportioning each half of it to cricket and other less important things (such as making the two ends meet!), and bless us with a faculty that will ensure that we could forget all about cricket as soon as its allotted half a day is over. No, no, no, I want to revise my prayer: Gods, please, please stretch the day to 48 hours, and grant me the luxury to forget everything else but cricket, allow me to be a couch potato without consequential side-effects, grant me a scholarship/stipend so that I can create an unbeatable World Record for Longest Ever Continuous Vigil Over Cricket, Lovely Cricket!

I can already visualise that the Universal Republic of Cricket wants to elect me as their First President For Life!