Its being played in backyards,

On public roads,harvested fields,

Even in remote villages

The fever has caught on

And delirium follows match days.

Decades ago,village yokels

Had to make do with the polpithi bat

And the kaduru ball,

While in exclusive preserves,

Of elite clubs and the bigger schools,

The "flannelled fools",

Practised their cuts and sweetly timed shots.

Still there were the Sathas,FCs,

CIs,SSJs,who held their own

Against the formidable Bradmans,

The three Ws,the Constantines,

The Ramadhins andValentines.

Well lads,its been a gritty climb to the top,

Getting the dinosaurs on the hop!

Down Under,

Where an invidious web was spun

To paralyze body and mind,

With uncouth boorishness

And unvarnished lies;

It served verily,

As a baptism of fire,

Tempering your spirit with firm resolve,

And you were ready

For the gladiatorial jousts

Before a global audience.

The skill and the finesse shown

In deflating the blown-up dragons

And exposing their vaunted hype,

Was scintillating,spectacular,

And will always live in our hearts,

Like an eternal flower.

Yet lads, there are the new Jasons

And their bristling Argonauts,

Waiting to snatch the treasured Fleece,

If you rest at ease,

Dreaming of a past glory.

As in life,

With cricket,there are the reverses

And the depressing failures

One is wont to borrow examples

From the larger canvass of life

Where the winding path is littered

With judgmental errors and countless faux pas,

Surmounted doggedly,

Tenaciously,

The hard ,hard way!

Remember,though one aims at perfection,

Its never achieved and kept,

You move up levels of excellence,

Riding a steep learning curve,

Honing your skills,practising new ones,

Learning from failure,

Muscling both the body and the mind.

Bear in mind lads,

The time-tested formula for success,

Humility,unity,undiminished resolve,perseverance,

All combined, would lead to high excellence.

You live up to these lads,

And come what may,

We’ll cheer you all the way!