Cricket match - from News paper to the Laptop

Today, 23/02/2025, India vs Pakistan Match, I will watch this match on my laptop/Smartphone in Full HD (1080P) on JIO Hotstar. Thanks to internet/ Wi-Fi and all others technology to make this possible. Laptop itself a result of hard work of 100 years. (battery, Speaker, TV, chips, Processor, Keyboard, languages, Software etc.).

In 2011, World Cup 2011 Semifinal, first time i was watched the IND vs Pakistan match on TV. That match was won by India. Sachin were MOM for 85 runs. The TV was not colour or Full HD TV like todays TV. That TV was Black and white and that TV was the 1st TV (Onida) in my family from. The matches were live telecast on DD National for free. Today you can also watch the Indain matches for free on DD sports for free, now Test matches also comes live.

On those days, to watch the complete game is next level struggle and you have to put some efforts and take care of many other problems. But you can solve these problems through some strategy. On that time, first we have to put the TV antenna on the roof (TV Antenna ) which can be easily lost the signal. At that time there was not electricity in my village. So, the TV was run through the 12V battery. That battery was charged by the Solar plate. In the rainy season or winter season battery did not able to charged fully due to the cloudy day. In those days, if we have to watch the full match then we have to pray to gods that please don’t rain or cloudy day into my village as well as into the stadium.

And there is another problem that, the ODI match is longer game it will take around 8-9 hours to complete the game. Those battery were not enough capable to runs the TV for the whole game. If you remember, jaise jaise battery khatam hota tha, TV ke charo trf se black hone lgta tha and at the end TV will be completely shut down. And in the night, we have to also enlight the house. There was so much struggle. We have taken care the battery and its charging. We were also in school; we have to do the homework. The homework will be done when others team were playing and at that time TV will be shutdown. The 3-4 hours were enough to complete the HW. From this trick we are able to enjoy the match. Hum log padh bhi lete the, parents bhi khush, battery ka bhi problem khatam. 

In short :- Solar Panel-->> Battery--->> TV <-----TV antenna.

Before the TV, I was always listen the commnetry on radio( I am attaching one YT video :-90's Radio commentary ). Those radio's battery can't be recharged. We have to insert the 3 or 2 battery (Radio Battery). Sanjay Banarjee and Vinit Garg was the commentator on All India Radio. They were legend and whenever I listen, I visualise and imagine the shots in my mind. One line was often coming after every boundary actually that was AD from BSNL i.e. ye BSNL chauka (for Four)/ sixer (for six), connecting India with music. That experience was on the next level. It will be remembered throught the life.

On those days, we don’t have smartphones. So you cant able to check the live score. Now you can check the live score through the Cricbuzz application or other application. I was use to check the newspaper for the score. At the end, there was one dedicated page for the sports. Where you can read the news and check the scoreboard.

Newspaper --->> radio --->> TV ---> Laptop/ Smartphone. Now i am feeling very old. Late 90's kid or early 2000's kid can easily relate to this changes. In the 25-26 years of journey, we have seen many technology changes, diseases(COVID-19), economic crisis (2008) etc. I hope many more technology will come and will be helpful to increase our efficiency or reduce our efforts  in day to day life.