A tribute to Phillip Hughes: What Hughes' fateful death means to cricket and its fans

Phillip Hughes’ demise has deeply shaken the entire cricket world

A lot has been said and a lot more written about the dreadful incident which befell the cricket world last week. But if one thing came close to capturing the enormity of the situation, it was Michael Clarke’s speech (watch video here) - heartfelt and poignant. Any attempt to explain the loss is nothing but futile. That begs the question, what am I trying to pen down here. I am just merely trying to encapsulate the myriad of feelings a cricket lover must be going through.

On the fateful day that I woke up to the dreadful news, it took sometime for the turn of events to sink in. How can this happen? So many people have been hit before, they have always walked away unharmed. Surely this is some hoax news or a pathetic prank. How I wish it was. A frantic search on Google confirmed the worst.

Everything else started seeming so insignificant at that moment - client deadlines or daily chores didn't seem to matter. This, like it did for many, made me introspect about the game and life in general.

This game has given us many moments to cherish and many to lament. But in this generation of modern equipments, never once did I think we would be writing eulogies. This has put a lot of things in perspective. Never have we thought of these stars as human.

We never gave a thought to what they put their body through; the injuries, the hours of gruelling practise, or the pain they endured. We just saw the drama on the grand stage. The hours of toil behind the scenes wasn't on our minds. We never saw the human side of them. Which is why, probably, it is very difficult for us to digest this.

And I just cannot imagine what the players must be going through. As someone who has played entry level cricket, your team becomes your second family. You travel, play, prank, drink and make merry together. You form a bond which cannot be explained, which is not seen on field.

You confide not only on cricketing matters but every other worldly problem. You feel down when your mate is left out of the team. You pray and get behind him to get him back on the journey you had embarked on together. Sadly, there is no getting back here.

As a keen follower of the game, you are always on the lookout for emerging stars. For it is them who will be providing those moments which make watching the game worth it. Hughesy sure caught one’s imagination when he took the world stage by storm against the Proteas.

No matter what they threw at him, he seemed to be at ease. It looked like Australia had found someone to fill the void left by the greats of the past. But then somehow it didn't go as planned. A couple of bad series and he was out of the team.

Strong performances from others meant he was to be out of the team for sometime. Then at the brink of the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar trophy, Clarke injured his hamstring, seemingly paving a well-deserved return for his ‘younger brother’. Oh, it seemed so poetic. A beautiful chapter waiting to play out. But all of this has been brutally cut short in the blink of an eye. One can never understand the cruel ways of life.

So what does all this mean? Give up on the game? Ban the bouncer? I don't think so. This is a really sad aberration. Definitely one to be mourned.

The world will be poorer. It is not what you take when you leave but it is what you leave behind when you go. Hughesy, you have left behind a wonderful legacy. You will never be forgotten. Forever 63 not out. RIP champ.