The two sports almost mirror images of each other!
For years I have been telling anyone who will listen that the closest sport to professional surfing is test cricket. Both go on for days. Both have byzantine rules that confound outsiders. Professional surfers have two balls (most of them on the men’s side) and cricket uses two bails.
Etc.
I could go on all day but you get it and I’ve always wondered why no cricket stars are also surfers, since the bails n stuff would come so naturally.
Well, I’ve just found the missing link! M. Vijay from India! Let’s read about him in The Hindu!
The thrill of the wind, the sea, and the waves beckoned him. Trying his hand at a different sport, Murali Vijay enjoyed the freshness and freedom that surfing provided.
Surfing put him in the middle of nature where he could ride the waves and listen to the rhythm of the sea. Vijay found the experience “relaxing”.
The star Indian opener was at the Covelong surfing, music and yoga festival, around 20 km from Mahabalipuram on Saturday. And he was buzzing around.
Asked to draw a parallel between cricket and surfing, Vijay said, “It’s the rush of adrenaline. When you are playing high-pressure games, you cannot do exactly what you think, you just don’t have the time — much like countering and conquering a wave. You keep your mind blank, be more reactive than proactive.”
If there is one thing that I truly enjoy in this world its the way Indians use English. If there is another thing it is being right and I am so happy to be proven right re. professional surfing and cricket being twin sisters.
Should the surfers on the World Surf League form a cricket squad? Who would be the bowler? Who would be the wicket keeper?