Bashir was a nine-year-old boy. Like most kids today, he loved spending time watching TV and playing video games on his father’s phone. It was natural for him to be lazy and so he never cleaned his room. He always ate while watching TV and never played any sports.

One day, the battery of his father’s cell phone was dead, so he went to the TV lounge to watch TV, but when he entered the TV lounge, he saw his father watching a cricket match. Bashir was disappointed, but since he didn’t have anything else to do, he thought to sit there with his dad and wait until the match was over.

A few minutes passed. He was watching the players, hitting the ball and making runs, but he was least interested. However, when he saw his father enjoying as the players hit boundaries, he started to feel a spark of excitement. Intrigued by his father’s enthusiasm, Bashir started to pay closer attention to the game. As the players continued their impressive performance, Bashir found himself getting more involved and appreciating the skill and strategy involved in cricket.

“Are you enjoying the match?” asked Bashir’s father when he noticed his son’s interest.

“Yes, it’s interesting,” replied Bashir excitedly.

“Hooray! What a six,” said Bashir. The day passed watching the TV with his father and brought both father and son closer to each other. Soon Bashir began to take more interest in cricket than just watching it on TV. It was not much, but enough for his parents to feel satisfied.

Bashir asked his father one day, that he wanted to watch the cricket matches that Pakistan has played against other countries. His father was happy to see Bashir taking more interest in sports than the video games he earlier played on his mobile phone, so he permitted him to watch them on YouTube. Bashir watched various matches. He also bought a bat and a ball to play with his father.

One day, he wanted to play cricket, but since his father was in the office, he had no one to play cricket with. He kept thinking of playing with someone, and suddenly he remembered, Ali, a boy living next door, whom he had watched playing cricket in the neighbourhood. After getting permission from his mother, he went to Ali’s house and invited him to play cricket with him. Ali agreed and they started playing in front of their houses.

Ali was good at cricket because he often played cricket in the street, so he called his other friends to join them. Ali kept hitting sixes and bowled Bashir on the first ball. He bullied Bashir too.

Bashir felt embarrassed, so for the next two weeks Bashir practiced in his car park and learned all the tricks. When Bashir felt confident, he asked Ali and his friends to play cricket. Bashir won the toss and decided to bowl first. On the third ball, he bowled Ali for a duck. On his turn to bat, Bashir hit a six and won the match. He was excited about his achievement. He had learned that playing sports was much more thrilling than spending time on gadgets. He promised himself that instead of sitting on the couch and playing games on the mobile phone, he would play sports to keep himself healthy and fit.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 6th, 2024