Well, usually there is no point in sharing personal experiences on a forum, but personally for me this one is a very memorable one and as Sidhu Paa ji is not in BB House now, so no harm in sharing!
Feb 29, 1996, a date that I can never forget because of Sherry Paa Ji...and ofcourse the jealously guarded diary that has all gory details!😛
Like many kids, I was an aspiring cricketer too and dad had enrolled me with one of the best Coaches in Delhi, Mr. Gursharan Singh. One day, our coach thrilled us with the news that select few of us would get a chance to bowl in the nets to some Indian cricketers, who were in City to play SriLanka 2 days later (1996 World Cup game at Delhi)!...I was 13 at that time and once he told me you are one of the selected ones, naturally, whole night tossed and turned in bed, 6-8 times cleaned up my already sparkling, brand new cricket spikes shoes, slept holding a ball practicing grips every time I would wake up,(which I did whole night)...☺️
Any way...next day, 6 of us were transported to National Stadium Delhi where Indian team had it's morning nets session (afternoon ones at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium where match itself was to be played two days later).
Heart in mouth me and other kids were watching our dream icons facing Indian team bowlers as well as Delhi Ranji Trophy bowlers bowl to legends like Sanjay Manjrekar, Azhar, Prabhakar, Kambli, Ajay Jadeja etc...I was itching to bowl to Sachin, who already had become darling of kids of those times but who would pay attention to a few wonder struck kids who were only there to get some inspiration and ppossibly a few arm roll overs?
Some 3 hours of frustrating wait in pleasant sunshine of February Delhi--------And then the miracle happened! Gursharan Sir tossed the ball to me and said,"Net 3...shaabash!" And who do I find facing one bowler after other there in Net 3? Our Sherry Paa ji ofcourse!
I was a decent bat and wanted to focus on batting alone but on coach's advise had taken to off spin bowling. My first ball, Sherry Paa Ji, blocked on off and middle and himself picked and tossed it back. 5 more chaps bowled to him...then the second ball---He played it with a dead defensive bat---again a few chaps bowled to him!...Third delivery, turned out to be an over flighted one and God only knows why,. Sherry Sir, the SIXER SIDHU of Indian team, rather than coming on front foot and hoicking me straight over my head for a SIX, inexplicably went on backfoot, missed line and ball trapped him on his right pad, bang in front of stumps!-------------------------🤓
I can never forget what he did next-------------------for a few seconds he remained hunched on both his feet, then slowly lifted his head side ways, wink of left eye firmly in place and smilingly said,"OUT HOON KAKKE!----OUT HOON"
After that I would have bowled may be 12 more deliveries to him, most of them either lofted straight out of ground or straight scorching drives, but NOTHING mattered for me any more!....The fact that one of my deliveries had got him and his lovely acknowledgement is what I was living with all the time!🤣
Apart from him I bowled to Kumble and Srinath in nets, but Sherry Paa ji had become the hero for me!...Not because I beat him with a delivery but because of his super sporting gesture of acknowledging a kid! 👏
2 days later, we were taken to Stadium where India made some 270 plus runs riding on a majestic hundred by Sachin Tendulkar and yet India lost the game because of Jayasuriya massacre of Indian bowlers...and I was sad all the time, because Sherry Paa Ji could not play that game because of neck strain he got the day before!
Edited by cruiser51 - 11 years ago
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