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Bowled over by cricket

He has given up everything to pursue his dream of becoming a pace bowler in the Mumbai cricket league. Meet Chris Burns from New York

REALISING DREAMS Chris Burns with Dennis Lillee

"I don't like one day cricket. Test cricket is so much more absorbing, and has so many intricacies — the long version is the true version of cricket." Reading those words, you would picture an elderly purist saying it, sitting on an armchair and reliving the old days.

Instead, it's Chris Burns, a 22-year-old American from New York, who has given up his job prospects and his girlfriend back home to pursue his dream of becoming a pace bowler in the Mumbai cricket league.

It all began a couple of years ago when Chris was in Chennai for an Indian studies programme with Prof. Bill Skelton's group of students. The group was visiting Sudharani Raghupathy's Shree Bharatalaya, where Chris discovered that he `pretty much sucked at Bharatnatyam', which left him without much to do.

Drawn to the game

And then he found salvation in the most unlikely place — the reruns of old cricket matches on Doordarshan. "I found myself drawn to this game, so I thought I would give it a shot, and Prof. Skelton was okay with it."

His pursuit of a good cricket coach led him to former Tamil Nadu opening batsman V. Sivaramakrishnan, who took him to `Bond' Venkatasubramaniam, the former wicketkeeper batsman, who was coaching the Vidya Mandir Mylapore students at the time.

`Bond', an explosive batsman himself in his time, took up Chris' cause strongly, giving the young American a lot of his time and effort. "He was unbelievably sincere, and he had a natural run up — he wanted to be a fast bowler from the beginning," says `Bond'. "So I just taught him the basics, like I would a 10-year-old, and he picked it up very quickly, and today he is good enough to play at least in the 3rd division in the Chennai league."

For Chris, it was a humbling experience. "I was a serious athlete and baseball player back home, and having to learn along with school kids wasn't easy!"

But he was hooked, and at the end of the programme, he went back to Colgate University and started the Colgate Cricket Club, and vociferously campaigned for the game. "You would be surprised at the level of cricket in America," says Chris, referring to the league in Washington. "And it's SO much fun — expats from India, Pakistan, the Caribbean, and some Americans as well." As for the Colgate Cricket Club, it now boasts a matting wicket and 20 cricket enthusiasts battling for the eleven places.

At the end of his course at Colgate, he decided to come back and follow his dream. Not that it came without a few heartburns, especially when his girlfriend posed the question, "Which is more important to you, cricket or me?"

Chris doesn't tell us what his answer was, but it can be imagined, especially since he came back with whatever little money he had saved up, and even managed to get what every fast bowler dreams of — a stint at the MRF Pace Foundation under the experienced eye of Dennis Lillee himself.

He eventually set up base in Mumbai, under the coaching of Vasu Paranjpe, who once again was introduced to him by V. Sivaramakrishnan. His only source of income was through his one or two nights of DJing a month, and he managed to get along this way. "It hasn't been easy, but I have got to watch Test cricket in a lot of the major venues in the country, and I finally managed to fulfil another dream — watch a Test match in Pakistan!" he says.

He kept records of his sojourn in that country in his weblog goracricketer.blogspot.com.

But another hurdle has sprung up the American's way — a non-ration card holder cannot hold a membership in any cricket association in India, which means Chris can't play league cricket here. The anger and disappointment throbs in his voice as he says, "I am going back to the U.S. to see what I can do about it."

So the story hasn't had its fairytale ending just yet, but Chris sure is battling heart and soul to make it happen.

And whatever be the ending, so far it has been a story to capture the imagination of the sternest sceptic!

ABHINAV RAMNARAYAN

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