Games and matches inspire everyone. I am very much fond of witnessing a match and feel much delighted. The Principal of our College announced that a match was to be played shortly between our team and that of the S.D. College, Panipat on our college playground. I eagerly waited for the moment and felt very glad.
At last the day fixed for the match dawned. At 8 A.M. the players of both teams arrived in their uniforms. A large number of students of both the Colleges reached in time to witness the match. The members of the staff also arrived. Everyone looked at the players of both the teams who appeared to be very smart and active. The directors of Physical Education of both the teams worked as umpires.
Suddenly, there was much excitement amongst the players. The umpire whistled and the captains of both the teams reached the center of the ground. A spin of the coin decided the toss. Our team won the toss and our opponents held the field. The game started at 8.10 A.M. As soon as the match started there was much clapping and cheers. The two players moved forward to initiate the game. They played well. It appeared that both of them were confident of their success. They were very fine batsmen. They were able to score fifty runs. Suddenly, one of them was caught out. After that another player of our team moved forward. He played well and gave a good account of himself. He easily raised our score to 110 before he was bowled out. As soon as the score was announced, there was wide cheering, whistling and clapping.
The captain of our team moved forward. He was a great player who had won many medals and merit certificates in cricket. He played so well that he was able to raise the score to 199. There was loud cheering as he was still unfatigued and untried. Thus our score went on mounting and it reached 212 when the lunch hour arrived and both the teams retired for taking lunch.
After the lunch, the game started again. Our opponents started playing. The first two players played astoundingly well and they scored 79 runs, but unfortunately the other players did not play well. Their score stood at 154. The team lost control over the game. the wickets began to fall speedily one after the other. The next player was soon bowled out. We witnessed the match eagerly as the time was drawing to a close. But the last player of the opponent team maintained the balance and raised their score to 170. The game was so well played that we felt that we could not easily have a win over the opposite team. We were doubtful of our victory. There were clapping all around and their score stood at 180 when their last player was caught out. Every face was beaming with joy. Now there was no hope of scoring any further run. The opponent team lost the game.
The time was over. There was wide clapping and cheering. The captain of our team was picked up by the youth of the college on their shoulders. To our great joy, our team had won the match. But there was so much excitement and wonder that I could not hear any voice at all afterwards. The deafening voice of the onlookers stunned us and we were feeling an indescribable pleasure.
It was a red-letter day in the history of our College, as our team had won the match that was a closely contested one. Matches are always played amongst different teams of the educational institutions, but I never witnessed so much excitement and a spate of joy in my life as I did on this occasion.