Tuesday, March 14, 2006

cricket is not the same any more

It was sunday and it started off like any other. It's been boring; the way weekends, especially, Sundays have gone ever since I landed in this supposed city of gardens.

For the past year and half, this sabbath has been well spent stocking up the tummy with yummy lunch buffets at various places all across town... Regular routine consists of a late night movie on Saturday accompanied various discussions with roomies about existential questions regarding the importance of bugs in softwares.

This leads to a late wake-up, generally after people stop saying "Good morning" followed by a quick readying session of clumsily brushed teeth and half completed shower. We are then ready to hog into our favorite plate of samosas and chaat and chole-bhatura before embarking on the long walk for delicious parathas... The sun generally sets by the time we are done with this. Nights are reserved for quests of non-veg eateries where the same devotion is offered towards the food God.

This Sunday... started off promising to be the same... We were all still under the weather having suffered through FightClub the previous night. The day was bound to be as exciting as watching the clock tick by... India and England were locked in a dull test mostly wiped out by rains, Iqbal was the afternoon watch (but staying awake till it actually happens was doubtful plus the ads ensure u conk off before the movie ends) and the only glimmer of hope was the final ODI between SA and Australia.

But things I am told started off well.. For a nation that loves cricket more than a religion and where SRT is celebrated as God... people were afforded a whiff or fresh air by the way the new look Indian team resisted the ever improving Englishmen and suddenly there was a discussion that maybe India could sneak in a win.

I was relieved... so were my roomies... we cud hog without guilt into the pizzas now... and Iqbal had started too... The song "Ashayein" was pumping us up too.. Finishing the grub didnt seem as intimidating now as it had earlier... Jumping channels between the movie and our match we managed to clean every bit of food that was visible... Plans of an evening outing were destroyed there and then... We were so full that all other options except for a big afternoon siesta were thrown out of the window...

This is where Man proposes and God disposes begins to kick in. Having slept the afternoon away, we were woken up by mad cheering from Jumanjee, our aussie supporting roomie...we all woke up to witness murderous scenes at the Wanderers... Whatever little was left of the competition was being fed to the dogs with each passing ball... the African agony was so heinous that we thought the stuff being shown on TV was too graphic in nature for viewership... TV was promptly switched off to discuss the best hangouts to conduct classes in bird watching for the new arrivals in town... And then news arrived.... SA were murdered.. the magical landmark of 400 was crossed for the first time in a ODI... Though not an aussie fan the idiot box was turned on to salute the extra human effort... 434 it was by the end of the 50th... As we watched Highlights of the bludgenoing; it became apparent that Australia is still miles ahead of all the minnows and WC 07 is theirs unless there is a major miracle... Ponting is the best ODI batsmen over the last year...

And.... SA chokes the best.. They beat India to the title... We decided to watch the final slaughter as aussies would gobble up SA and we could make this team the butt of a few more meanie jokes....

So started the SA innings... Chasing history, these brave warriors were gonna fall woefully short... Would it be a 100 or 200 run defeat... Can anyone make a striking century to make this margin look respectable... Thoughts were running through thinking of decent burials for the match and the next day headlines were floating through as clear as crystal... Suddenly Dippenar was gone and Gibbs made an entry...

I was sure this was gonna be a miracle.... The largest ever defeat in a ODI... yea, thats what this was gonna turn into... and the aussie smile .. that smirky twisted look will rule the world.. AGAIN...


AND THEN IT ALL STARTED HAPPENING...
The ground was too small, aussie fielders also fumbled and mis-fielded, 434 was so huge that it blinded the SA teams sense of fear, all supposed batting guns decided to come to the party on the same day....

Runs started flowing more freely than oil in the Middle east... Anything that touched the bat landed beyond the boundary ropes... Gibbs had dropped the WC in 99 and he wanted to make ammends for the same....Every unknown face was contributing... runs kept literally flooding as the overs commenced.. the Magical Halfway mark of 220ish was crossed before the 25th over finished....

Were we to believe this? Were history books gonna be re-written in a single day.. twice over? All roomies gathered... We believe in miracles... remember, we actually thought that Ganesha idols drink milk etc etc...

We were gonna witness history if and as it was gonna be created. If this was once in a lifetime occurence.. we were ready for it...All the coveted spots in the hall were taken.. Food and booze was arranged.. A big party was ON... as overs dwindled and runs ticked off and the unimaginable was getting close to reality.. excitment was at its peak...

Nervous tension was increasing and wickets were tumbling... The old curse of choking was coming back... The art of losing a game that you have won... It was like Indian batting collapses revisited... Can they really do it or was this gonna be registered as another great effort for all its worth?

That it was going down to the wire was sure... One over and seven needed.. 2 wickets left.... Easy right... Well, no one told Hall that when you need 2 to win off 4 deliveries you take singles... Having brought the victory so close he threw it away with an untimely slog... Ntini was In and he is just as likely to be Out... SA were going to choke and nothing was goign to wipe that smug look and smirky smile off the aussie faces.. We were all dejected... But then there was divine intervention...

Somehow the next ball took an edge and went safe to third man for a single..scores were tied and Boucher, rightfully had the strike to win it all... the next delivery was thudded off to the mid-wicket boundary and History was created...

Cricket, as we have grown up watching, was never gonna be the same again. I had watched the greatest ODI ever played and it is going to make stories for my life-time...

2 comments:

Sharvari said...

wonderfully written! I wish I could write like this! could feel the excitement of teh match in the post. so abd that i missed that match!

Granger Gab said...

Shreyas,
Nice one- lots of memories! I watched that chase ball-to-ball:-) Can I suggest something - don't mind? You've written the article as if one writes on e-mail or converses.

My experience is that if one needs to hold the reader - it's got to be like we would write - punctuation marks and syntax etc taken care of:-) and not how we would speak - helps focus better for the reader!

I speak from my experience:-)