As a journalist, my journey into the world of cricket beauty began in 1995 when my family moved back to India and I joined a new school. Up until then, I had watched very little cricket and found myself in a classroom full of teenage boys who seemed to exist on a higher plane of bliss and enlightenment when it came to the sport. However, a new friend named Ravi took me under his wing and introduced me to the basics of cricket, including his particular predilections for certain batsmen.
Ravi had two lists of batsmen he loved – the empirically best ones who made heaps of runs or made runs fast, and those who made their runs most beautifully. This introduced me to a whole new aspect of the game, where beauty was not just in the numbers but in the elegance and grace of a player’s strokes. Even inconsistent players like Marvan Atapattu, who initially struggled but eventually improved, found a place in Ravi’s heart for their beauty in batting.
As I delved deeper into the world of cricket, I discovered that the concept of beauty in batting was not unique to Ravi. Commentators would let out soft exclamations or fall silent when a batsman played a particularly beautiful shot, and terms like “elegant” and “effortless” were used to describe these players. There seemed to be an unspoken consensus on which batsmen were considered beautiful, and I found myself intuitively understanding and appreciating this beauty as well.
Through my years of following the game, I realized that beauty in cricket was not easily defined or codified. It was a subjective and elusive quality that seemed to transcend cultural boundaries. The way a batsman moved and played his shots had a certain harmony and balance that captivated spectators and players alike. Even the unbeautiful players recognized the importance of beauty in cricket, with Mike Smith suggesting that selectors should pick the more beautiful player when faced with a choice between two equally good batsmen.
Cricket, with its white uniforms, red ball, and green field, placed a high value on aesthetics. From the conventional strokes to the unorthodox leg glances, every shot had the potential to be beautiful in its own way. The game’s emphasis on tradition and technique added to the allure of beauty in batting, with players like Mark Waugh and Brian Lara epitomizing this aesthetic ideal.
As a cricket spectator, I found myself drawn to the beauty of the game, appreciating the artistry and finesse of batsmen who seemed to transcend the boundaries of the sport. In a world where beauty is often dissected and demystified, cricket’s beauty remained a constant and rare phenomenon that spoke to a deeper truth about the game and the human experience.