Technology and its implications on following cricket over the years!

Was thinking this am about the three most scintillating passages of cricket to my recollection and interestingly enough the three that came to mind were ones that i was exposed to across three different forms of media: live television, radio and reading! It goes to show you in a way how much technology has advanced over the past 20 years.

To digress a bit, when i first started getting into cricket (age 6, 1974), the first series i heard about was India vs. West Indies and it was the famous bodyline game. At that time I was quite confused why the West Indians were hurting the rest of the Indians [ :-) ].. Two day old highlights were the best we got on a neighbours television and live commentary was spotty at best. Since then we got into an era where most games started being broadcast via live commentary and i recall staying up the middle of the night when India toured West Indies..not to mention sneaking a transistor into school and getting caught a few times. Live matches on TV started much later and that too only the local game (at Wankhade Stadium). Even the 1993 worldcup wasnt broadcast live (other than the semis and finals).

I left India soon after that and while i tried to get a short wave radio to catch highlights..it was impossible and i lost track of cricket for 15 years. Players I knew retired (Gavaskar, Kapil Dev), others came and went (Azhar, Jadeja, Robin Singh)..and glorious careers were started (Sachin, Rahul...).

Finally 4 years ago..thanks to the world of the Internet..was actually able to get same day scores of matches and it was truly amazing..but nothing compared to what followed. willow.tv!! My first series was watching India v. New Zealand and while the performance was pathetic..it ushered a new era of keeping in touch with Cricket.

Now i watch games on a wireless broadand connection on a train to New York and it is truly amazing how much technology has transformed communications.

More on my 3 most scintillating moments in my next post!