Meet Niharbala Sinha. She is 90 and could give Mandira Bedi a run for her money.

During the “good old times”, Niharbala had created a revolution of sorts in her neighbourhood. After all not many housewives had mastered the art of cooking lau ghanto with all attention focussed on the cricket commentary blaring on the radio without getting the recipe wrong.

“My husband would laugh at me for my obsession with cricket. All my relatives and neighbours knew about my craze for the game,” says the die-hard cricket loyalist. “In those times, we did not have TVs and the radio would be my constant companion. Of course, I only tuned in to listen to cricket commentaries and nothing else. I went on with the household chores with the cricket commentary at the backdrop,” she proudly declares.

When we asked how she took to the game, she says, “It was my interest.” When we suggested that she might have been influenced by the men in her extended family, she was quick to point out that she had mastered the nuances of the game all by herself.

She takes pride in the fact that she knows the technicalities of the variety of “dismissals”. But the names of the various fielding positions still elude her.

Obviously, she is a staunch supporter of the Men in Blue but she even had a word of praise for the Aussies. “Of course, they are the best in the game, you have to agree,” she says only to add, “but they are quite an ill mannered group.” She was also disappointed with the bad umpiring that stoked a huge controversy during the second Test at Sydney.

She is quite impressed with the young blood in the Indian cricket team though. Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar remain her eternal favourites. “I enjoy watching Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni play. They hit the ball real hard. Of course, they get dismissed easily but it makes for an entertaining watch. As a bowler Kumble is good and I used to enjoy watching Srinath bowl too,” says the universal “dida” (grandma) of the small neighbourhood of Bally.

She refuses to believe that 20-20 was taking the sheen away from Test cricket. “Test cricket will always have its own charm. At times, it is difficult to sit through the entire game though but I still enjoy it. Its the real cricket, you know. One dayers are more entertaining,” she says. She even confessed remaining awake late at night to watch matches even if they were the replay of the old ones.

“Whenever there is a match, my sons-in-law ask me to leave work and watch the matches with them,” she says suppressing a smile. She has forged a formidable line-up with her grandson. In their free time both of them sit together to cut out pictures of cricketers from old newspapers and paste them in a scrap book.

“In those days, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar were my favourites. I can’t say I never wanted to meet them but in those days there was not much freedom, you know,” was her candid confession when asked if she ever wanted to meet her cricketing idols.