For this 55-year-old Yorkshireman, watching Indian cricket live is a passion and he has been pursuing it (passion) for 15 long years. Meet Ian Jones, who anchors himself at Goa every year to travel the length and breadth of the country watching Ranji Trophy matches.
“I get the fixtures from BCCI website and plan my travel schedule accordingly. I make it a point to watch matches at different venues just to get the feel various places and their culture,” says Jones, who never played cricket in his life. “But I love watching it especially the multi-day format”.
Jones and his wife – Sue- have so far watched nine matches this season and according to him Karnataka- Indian Railways at Delhi was the most interesting. “I loved watching a match at Krishnagiri stadium at Wayanad (Kerala). The stadium is beautiful as it is perched on a mountain. It has an international appeal. I watched Kerala-Goa tie”.
The English couple also watched a match at Dindigul in Tamil Nadu when the host team clashed with Jammu and Kashmir.
Years of enjoying watching Indian cricket have made him an expert of sorts on Indian cricket and some of his observations appear true. “The wickets in general in India are lifeless and the ball would invariably keep low. That is the reason why you get plenty of wristy players from this part of the world. India’s strength is spin and it has stopped producing wickets suitable for them”.
Jones said the green ambience and cloudy weather in England made the ball move and seam. “The ball in England bounces a bit more than in India. That is the reason why India batsmen falter while playing moving balls abroad”.
He also cited the example of repeated failures by Indian opener Shikar Dhawan to the moving ball.
Now that the first phase of the Ranji Trophy format is drawing to a close, Jones will make his next travel plans according to the knockout fixtures. “Soon we will come to know who is playing where and I will make my travel plans accordingly.”
Jones is not interested in taking wings Down Under to watch the World Cup as he feels it involves too much of travelling. “You need to hop from one place to another constantly. I prefer multi-day matches as I can stay put in one place and enjoy my cricket.”
Jones, who is a diehard Manchester United fan, picked Australia as the favourites for the simple reason it was playing at home. “Also the Aussies would want to win the trophy for late Phil Hughes, who lost his life playing cricket”.
He said Andhra opener K.S. Bharat piled his 308 runs owing to the poor bowling of Goans but went on to appreciate his doggedness and patience. But he never suppressed his views on Bharat, who let his team down at Vizianagaram against Jharkhand. “I was there watching the match. Chasing 45 for an outright win with bonus point, Bharat went for a six and lost his wicket when just five runs were needed. My county-man Geoffrey Boycott would not have done that. He would have taken five singles leisurely,” Jones signs off with a smile.
