The T20 World Cup has found a happy haven in an island which has a deep bond with the game
BRIDGETOWN
: Welcome to cricket paradise! After two weeks in the United States of America, where cricket is what baseball is to India,
Sir Garfield Sobers
greets you at the
Barbados
airport. Well, not quite Sir Garry himself, but a massive cut-out of the legendary allrounder playing the iconic off-drive.
Right from the moment you get down from the plane, you know that there's a festival of cricket happening in this part of the world.
No, there aren't mad crowds waiting to catch a glimpse of cricket stars at the airport, but a quiet recognition of the fact that there's a World Cup to savour.
At first glance, it seems like a tale of two World Cups. The authorities in the USA did their absolute best to help the sport get a few eyeballs, but you could see that they were trying so hard. Here, it's all so effortless, starting from the volunteer at the airport - wearing a T20 World Cup shirt and helping you find your way around - to the receptionist at the hotel lobby who's watching the Bangladesh-Nepal match on TV with keen intent.
Barbados - which has the look and feel of Goa - is spread over 166 square miles and is probably the unofficial cricket capital of the West Indies. In every nook and cranny, you'll feel how deep the legacy of cricket is. "A little far down is the burial ground of Malcolm Marshall," someone tells you, while somebody else suggests you should go to Bridgetown University and see the statues of the 3Ws.
The massive posters of home boys Sobers, Joel Garner, Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell at the airport tell you that this is the place where you want to be if you love your cricket. The conversations at the immigration counter to the taxi stand to the beach all revolve around cricket. There's a serious sense of anticipation here as the business end of the World Cup begins. But it's not exactly a 'selfie culture' with the stars, an idea we have come to associate with Team India and its fans. The bond goes beyond that.
"Big stars? Oh yeah, if you're a cab driver in Barbados for 20 years, you might have driven Sir Garry once or twice. At least I have. And then there are so many, Garner stays close to my place, you start chatting with him on cricket and he doesn't stop," Geoff, a cab driver, said.
And then you meet Solly, a man in his 40s, originally from Surat, who grew up playing with Irfan and
Yusuf Pathan
and now runs a business here and plays his club cricket with Dyawne Smith and Kyle Mayers, among others. "We go on with our lives, but come weekends, without fail, it's all about cricket," Solly says.
But in the voice of the elderly waiter at the beachside hotel, you can hear that tinge of sadness that's become a part and parcel of West Indies cricket. "For us, cricket was our only sport. Don't know what happened, where we went wrong? My sons and nephews are into basketball and football," Royce says while serving fish and beer.
The West Indies' failure to qualify for the ODI World Cup was a humiliation that this generation, which grew up watching Clive Lloyd's team winning the first two, still can't come to terms with. For them, T20 isn't the format that decides world champions. Nevertheless, a good show will be like a balm.
"Tickets for the final here on June 29 are sold out. I couldn't manage to get one. West Indies aren't doing too badly but I don't have faith in them. If they can't win, let it be India, they have such good players. In our taxi-stand, there's this old TV, and in between our rides, we watch Indian cricketers in the IPL," Geoff said.
He is right, the Rohits and Virats are in a different league. But if you're a cricket romantic walking down the winding roads of Bridgetown on a lazy afternoon, you may just say a silent prayer hoping Geoff's first wish comes true.
English (US) ·