Boxing day Test and the joys of waking up early

I have never been an early riser. During my primary school days, getting me up and ready for school was a tedious task for my parents. As I grew up, I preferred evenings and late nights for my studies instead of waking up a bit early. As a working professional now, there are days where I can doze off till noon regularly something which I am not proud of. However one of the things that can beat these years of waking up late is the prospect of playing or watching cricket.

I live in a suburb near Mumbai. During December, the weather is a bit cooler than usual. It is not as cold as some other parts of the country like the north however cool enough for us Mumbaikars to start flaunting our winter wears.
Despite the challenge of a winter morning, India’s tours of Australia especially the Test tours have compelled millions of Indian cricket fans like me to wake up at odd hours and catch up on some mouth-watering cricketing action.

There is something special about a Boxing day Test match in Australia for an Indian fan. Being Christmas time, there is a sense of festivity and a pleasant atmosphere everywhere. There is heightened anticipation around the game. In addition to this, the chance of beating Australia in an away Test match is something that every Indian fan follows the game for. For a long time, Australia has been India’s arch-rival in the game of cricket.

Whenever I wake up early for no explicit reason, my mom asks “Is there a cricket match going on ?”. She has been doing this for a long time and the same question repeated this year. As I write this, India is playing Australia in a Boxing day Test match at MCG. I have been able to watch the last two sessions every day. I normally wake up, check the score, and go back to sleep if it is too early. On the third day, I woke up at 3:45 am, too early for the match to be started. All this without an alarm :) It would be great if I can do this on regular office days.

India is in a good position at the end of day 3. Australia has a lead of 2 runs setting a target with 4 wickets in hand. I hope and wish India close out the game tomorrow (fingers crossed). It will be a great turnaround from the nightmares of Adelaide and keep the series leveled at 1–1.