Welcome all, to the first blog on the dilscoop. More about the name later. I have toggled with the idea of a cricket blog for a number of years and had started writing a few years ago but was just coming to terms with the life of a management consultant and balancing my life around work! But onto the main subject of the matter, my love for the game of cricket. My love for sport in general actually started with cars and not cricket. Much of my child hood was about watching Tom and Jerry, Batman and playing with various cars etc and about wrestling control of the TV with the adults in the house.

It was not until I was 6 years old on a chilly winters afternoon in New Delhi where I got my first true feel for the game. We were in the middle of the Willis World Cup in 1996, it was India vs Pakistan in the quarter final in Bangalore and all of us at home were crowded around the TV. My Baba (paternal grandfather) had categorically told me, cartoon network is shut today as there’s a big match in the cricket world cup. The gullible me obediently sat there and succumbed to the realisation of watching this game of cricket. I was aware of the big names on show, Tendulkar, Azhar, Kumble, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar etc as i would always hear my Baba talk about them. As the match started the noise from the ground was deafening even through the very old 23 inch TV we had in those days. The first half of the match was amazing as India posted a very healthy score of 287, and I become an instant fan of one of our batsman, yup you guessed it……Ajay Jadeja. Although Tendulkar was the big name that day, it was Sidhu (91) and Ajay Jadeja (45 off 25) who were the stars for India with the bat. The way Jadeja dismantled Waqar Younis in the back end of the innings, even AB De Villiers in his prime would be proud of that. The Pakistan reply was as emphatic as anything, as they were going at more than 8 an over and seemingly cruising towards victory, arm chair punditry from my dad and Baba began to take shape. The key juncture of the match came in the 15th over when Prasad and Aamer Sohail clashed and the Pakistan innings lost all their momentum. There were tense moments in the middle with Rashid Latif and Javid Miandad still at the crease but the Kumble magic proved too much, and as they say the rest is history, with India cruising to victory in the end.

Even though this was not a last ball thriller, there was no Tendulkar special or any world record. But this match had it all, a world cup knock out, the atmosphere of India Pakistan, real aggression between the players (which i find missing in todays games, everyone is too nice ughhh thanks franchise cricket) and changing momentum of a 50 over game.

The match had me hooked and I’ve never looked back since. My Baba had found a cricket crazy partner in me to continuously watch and talk cricket with. In my life I have only met two other people who have shared the same cricket craziness, passion and love for the game as me, my Baba and my cousin. Sadly neither of them are with us anymore, with my cousin passing just a few months ago. I wish to dedicate my first post to them, as without one I wouldn’t have gotten into the game and without the other perhaps my passion for the sport would have fizzled out years ago.

So as we enter one of the most exciting times in the cricketing calendar, with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 exactly 10 days away, I am proud to publish my first post, with a promise of many more posts in the next two months and beyond, with the content coming straight from the heart (dil) and full of scoop.