Generally, I watch cricket matches on the television screen. But recently there took place at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta and one-day cricket match, for which my elder brother purchased two tickets, one for him and the other for me. I was glad, as I shall have now an opportunity to see the players with my own eyes in the field.

The match was to be held between India and West Indies. The game began in time. The players of both the teams walked as heroes into the field. There was tremendous joyful clapping in the auditorium. The Umpires took their respective positions. The toss decided which of the teams was going first to the batting; and the luck was in favour of West Indies. I am a great fan of Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall of the West Indies team. On the Indian side, my favourites are Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulker. Recently, I have begun to like Azaruddin, too.

All these cricketers were now before my eyes playing in the field. It was amusing, indeed. The game continued with great excitement. The West Indies team scored 237 runs for 9 wickets before the break. During the break, we had light tiffin. My brother bought some sandwiches. A vendor supplied us coffee.

The game resumed soon after the break. Kapil Dev’s fine bowling took all the remaining crickets. After the West Indies completed their turn by securing 289 runs, the Indian team began their batting with Srikant and Azaruddin. They were steady and scored 97 runs within a very short time. They seemed to be intentionally slow and very steady in their performance.

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When Kapil Dev appeared in the field. There was a loud rejoicing and clapping of the enthusiastic spectators. Kapil firmly took his position, and got ready for batting. Now it was a worth-seeing game, in which the bowling by Malcolm and the batting of the two Indian giant players, Kapil and Azaruddin, created a sensational cricket scene. They scored -13 runs, when Azaruddin was out. Then came Sachin Tendulker, the youngest cricket hero, who did not also disap­point us. He went on scoring runs, one after another. In this way, the game continued till 4-30 P.M., and the Indian team won the game surpassing their competitors by about 27 runs, I returned home with a content heart.