But this was the World Cup semi-final, so I secretly switched it on an hour later. “Why can’t Sachin come back again wearing Mongia’s jersey, they look the same with the helmet on.” In my defence, I was a 10-year-old. But, the only thing I saw was a desolate Vinod Kambli walking back to the dressing room, with tears in his eyes, and the stadium ablaze. The 1996 World Cup semi-final was a lesson in handling grief for many kids of my generation.

As we grow old, we learn the concept of emotional investment. It’s like keeping it in a vault rather than investing it around small-cap stocks. Most of us being working professionals can’t afford a mental downtime with all the commitments and responsibilities. Any such loss shouldn’t rankle so much that you can’t face a Monday. Evidently, as time passes even if the losses sting, the recovery is faster. Be it the 1999 Chennai Test when we lost to Pakistan, or that 81 all out in Barbados while chasing 120. Or as recent as November 19, 2023, the debacle at Ahmedabad. The losses hurt badly, but most of us older people got back on our feet. It’s dual in nature, the victories are as sweet. I remember, just as Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit the winning six in 2011, I ran out to participate in a mob in BTM Layout Bangalore, hugging random strangers, waving a borrowed Tricolour, and celebrating till 3am. Will I be able to repeat any such thing? Not really. Once you have made yourself immune to a loss, you won’t get drunk in a victory.

So, what’s the tangible utility of these trophies in your life? It occurred to me when India won the Champions Trophy 2025 last Sunday. A memorable day for all Indian cricket fans. But you need more such days when you have spent 70% of your life watching cricket. As these days are memory bookmarks, the days you will remember 20-30 years from now, clearly recalling where you were, watching it with whom. These memories will be stored in your brain as snapshots, like that old album you pull out from the parental almirah, to feel all mushy. Our lives are inconsequential and mundane. We have a shortage of memory bookmarks. In such a case, cricket acts as a great memory maker. Our job is to be there, when it throws such days at us, to freeze them permanently. Indian fans from the 1990s have more sad memory bookmarks than happy ones. The onus is on the current Indian team to tilt the balance in favour of the happier ones. And this team seems quite capable.

The goal is to win so much that there comes a time when there is emptiness in victories. When all your ghosts are exorcised, all bastions (like Gabba) conquered, there is no frontier that hasn’t been scaled. You get used to it. It ceases to be an event of note that gets burned into your brain. Like the Australian team of the 2000s. That’s when you can afford to miss a few of such days, but till the time memories of days like the 1996 semi-finals are still fresh, keep collecting those bookmarks.

Abhishek Asthana is a tech and media entrepreneur and tweets as @gabbbarsingh. The views expressed are personal