Life is like a Cricket match. A bowler bowls a superb delivery which just missed the stumps by a whisker and you moan and berate the luck if you are on the fielding side or heave a sigh of relief and thank your luck if you are on the batting side. Next instant the batsman hits the ball to a beautiful shot and you are euphoric or despodent depending on whose side you are on and you either urge the ball to travel faster or the fielder to catch or stop the ball. Next moment either the firlder has fielded it very well or the ball had missed the fielder. Next moment either the batsman is out and the bowler is elated or the ball has crossed the boundary and the batsman is happy.
Life is full of such moments. The moments might look momentous and long and might look like they are insurmountable or you might not want the moment to end. But the days pass by so fast like a fast movie reel and before you know it many years have passed.
Running is like Cricket. The 10k is like the T20 game. fast and Furious where you run fast and hard and try to complete the distance in the fastest time possible. You do not have much time to brodd and contemplate much like the T20 game where you do not have much time to set right one mistake. One bad over for the batsman or the bowler and the game is lost to teh coresponding side. You cannot make up fot it. Same way, in 10K if you have started slow you cannot make up for the lost time and if you have started too fast and have burned out too soon, you cannot make up the time. Its highly unpredictable and on any given day the team that plays well on that day wins. This unpredictability of the format makes it highly exciting and thrilling to watch.
You do not need to be a highly accomplished player to hit or bowl in a T20. A single over with sixes or a single over with 2 or 3 wickets is enough to make you a great bowler or batsman. Similarly a 10K is a distance that is runable by all novices and even couch potatoes can aspire to be runners. This makes it a very popular distance and attracts the most number of participants.
The 21k or the Half Marathon or HM is like the 50/50 or the one day international or the ODI. It is not too short and not too long. It does not take too much of you time both in training and in the race and is a distance that is doable and yet is challenging and gets you out of your comfort zone. Similarly the ODI is not too short for the purist and not too long for the youngsters and has its own charm and fans. 21K needs a runners to be strong and able to run the distance. it requires that the runner has a certain amount of fitness and committment towards training. Similarly a ODI match requires the cricketer to be competent. there is scope to a certain extent for a mistake to be set right. A bad over can be made up by takign a couple of wickets and a few wickets lost can be made up by a good partnership by the next batsman There is even scope for increasing the total by pinch hitting in the end if there are wickets left just like there is scope for improving the timing by increasing the tempo in teh end if you have started slow and have conserved your energy in teh beginning.
The Test match is the format that all purists and old fans of cricket love. It is the true test of the high skill level and competance of the cricketer and the technique has to be perfect.
TO BE CONTINUED.......
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