Sachin rules the dusk

Cricket: Everyone knows Indians love it. But I had a moment this week when it really, truly sunk in. I was walking home from my local shops, around dusk, in the latter stages of an Australia-India one day match. As I passed house after house, the guards were outside crouched around small radios in clusters, hanging on every word of the Hindi commentary. Cars drove by and spilled snatches of cricket out their windows. And in the shops people stood before televisions, halting work to take in the developments – passers-by peered inside for a score. On the field of battle itself, Sachin Tendulkar was tearing apart the Australian bowling attack and the whole country was hanging on every flash of his willow. It reminded me a little of Kathy Freeman’s run in the 2000 Olympics when the whole of Australia just stopped and watched and joined the moment. Magic.