This was not for the faint hearted. How many breaths would have paused when the replay showed the ball missing the Sachin's leg stump by a whisker. A ball later, time virtually came to a stand still when the stumping was being reviewed. Just one frame and he was safe. If this was not enough the Pakistani fielders had other plans for the day. They looked as if they were not expecting the ball to be hit to them!! A phrase had started doing the rounds on Facebook and its apt for what happened that time - "GOD makes his own luck". Period.
The game was given a blitzkrieg start by Viru. He batted the strike bowler of Pakistan out of the game or for at least his first spell. Viru himself doesn't seem to think much about the stage, if the ball is there he just hits the shot. Simple enough. But that onslaught kept Umar Gul away from making any significant impact even later in the game.Gambhir looked comfortable till he was done by the spin of Hafeez. I personally believe that he might be one of the best players of spin, yet he just overdoes the dancing down the track. For a player of his caliber a quick 30-40 is not good enough for the team. Still, the partnership between him and sachin was a great foundation for India and the value of that scratchy 85 was just beginning to descend given the way the pitch turned.
Apart from the extras showered by the Pakis the innings that made the difference was that of Raina's. I have always believed that this so called small town boy has a Lion's heart and an attitude that can humble the uber cool metro lads. Even in the match against the aussies the way he landed Lee out of the ground was awe inspiring. Through his determined efforts India were able to pull up a challenging score.
After a cautious paki start, finally Akmal departed in the 9th over. It was an important wicket as he has a history against India and he likes the bowling attack. Once Hafeez departed, the pressure of a world cup semi was clearly showing up on the Paki team. The middle overs was where India tightened the screws and a panic struck batting line up started to dismantle. With each wicket the sound of joy blasted thorough every street, through homes with friends and family, through the Pubs and through every heart that has ever dreamt of India going into the finals of the world cup. Its a bit ironic that the last time I returned from my friends place after watching a cricket match was when india lost to SA. The heart break and the tears were just too loud to shun. The streets were quite.
A few weeks later the same streets were full of people dancing at 11:30 in the night. I joined them at every juncture , at every step and at every beat. It was liberating from the sadness and the routine that has cobwebbed our lives. It was liberating from the depressing nonsense of the political parties and the 100 crore scams. From the ever increasing oil price and the ever reducing residential land. I wrote in my last article, this is not just a game. People who were dancing with me at those traffic signals were not drunkards. I haven't seen such scenes ever on the streets and to talk about it this was just the semi final. The big one is yet to arrive.
Bring it on Lankans. Its Mumbai, the place where about a quarter of a century ago a lad took up the willow inspired by the '83 world cup win and resolved to do it for his country again. He never had a better team with him to accomplish that dream. He might not have another chance to do this all over again. This is the moment we had been waiting for since we started playing and following the game. This is a champion team which has defeated and matched champions to reach the finals. Now they just have to do it. A billion people are waiting and sachin has the cap with the most number of lives under it. Jai Ho!!!
The game was given a blitzkrieg start by Viru. He batted the strike bowler of Pakistan out of the game or for at least his first spell. Viru himself doesn't seem to think much about the stage, if the ball is there he just hits the shot. Simple enough. But that onslaught kept Umar Gul away from making any significant impact even later in the game.Gambhir looked comfortable till he was done by the spin of Hafeez. I personally believe that he might be one of the best players of spin, yet he just overdoes the dancing down the track. For a player of his caliber a quick 30-40 is not good enough for the team. Still, the partnership between him and sachin was a great foundation for India and the value of that scratchy 85 was just beginning to descend given the way the pitch turned.
Apart from the extras showered by the Pakis the innings that made the difference was that of Raina's. I have always believed that this so called small town boy has a Lion's heart and an attitude that can humble the uber cool metro lads. Even in the match against the aussies the way he landed Lee out of the ground was awe inspiring. Through his determined efforts India were able to pull up a challenging score.
After a cautious paki start, finally Akmal departed in the 9th over. It was an important wicket as he has a history against India and he likes the bowling attack. Once Hafeez departed, the pressure of a world cup semi was clearly showing up on the Paki team. The middle overs was where India tightened the screws and a panic struck batting line up started to dismantle. With each wicket the sound of joy blasted thorough every street, through homes with friends and family, through the Pubs and through every heart that has ever dreamt of India going into the finals of the world cup. Its a bit ironic that the last time I returned from my friends place after watching a cricket match was when india lost to SA. The heart break and the tears were just too loud to shun. The streets were quite.
A few weeks later the same streets were full of people dancing at 11:30 in the night. I joined them at every juncture , at every step and at every beat. It was liberating from the sadness and the routine that has cobwebbed our lives. It was liberating from the depressing nonsense of the political parties and the 100 crore scams. From the ever increasing oil price and the ever reducing residential land. I wrote in my last article, this is not just a game. People who were dancing with me at those traffic signals were not drunkards. I haven't seen such scenes ever on the streets and to talk about it this was just the semi final. The big one is yet to arrive.
Bring it on Lankans. Its Mumbai, the place where about a quarter of a century ago a lad took up the willow inspired by the '83 world cup win and resolved to do it for his country again. He never had a better team with him to accomplish that dream. He might not have another chance to do this all over again. This is the moment we had been waiting for since we started playing and following the game. This is a champion team which has defeated and matched champions to reach the finals. Now they just have to do it. A billion people are waiting and sachin has the cap with the most number of lives under it. Jai Ho!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment