Monday, September 24, 2007

6 Runs 4 Balls and 1 Wicket....

...read the scoreboard. The match could turn either ways any moment.

Just finished seeing the 20Twenty world cup. What a match it was. Thrilling to bits with a nail biting finish. Haven't enjoyed a match like this in a while now. While I clapped with excitement every time a wicket fell, the Peapod and her cousin joined in too. Finally when sreesanth took that last catch, it was just amazing. We could see that ball rise high into the air, in a matter of seconds we knew it would be over, this way or that and yes indeed it was all over while we held our breath. India won the 20Twenty World Cup. This is what fairy tales or movies are made of.



With absolutely no hope, I started following the 20Twenty world cup. The first good match was with Pakistan, where it was a tie and they had to bowl at the stump to decide the win and we won. Second was England, the amazing 6 sixes by Yuvaraj. I missed the match because I never thought 200plus in 20 was achievable. The one with Australia, again I could not bring myself to watch Australia bat. I believed the target score of 180plus was easy with Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. I didn't want to see our poor boys panting like dogs running the field after their 4s and sixes. My loss, we won that match by 15 runs. I would have given up today. I told myself I hadn't watched a single match completely this season and should not jinx it by watching this one but it wasn't easy to keep away, since it was a India-Pakistan and a world cup final at that. A Superb match by all standards.

The best was the fact that the team had made it without the 3 senior players. Experience surely helps but you need the fire in your belly to take chances and believe you can do it when it seems practically impossible. For some reason, with the top 3 stars, there seems to be issues with ego, personal milestones and scores to be settled. The charm of the team inspite of having the best/right mix did not seem to work. Whatever little we got out of them, we were too happy to celebrate and felt content. The young team that played today, had nothing to loose. No personal milestones to reach, records only to be made. No pressure from the past. Yuvraj and Dhoni did not contribute in the final as expected but it was the never say die spirit of the team that won.

On a side note, Shahrukh was seen on the stands with his son cheering the team. Oh God he looks so ....yucks...I mean from that flamboyant Abhi in fauji, the love of my life then, to this God forbidden looks now.

Anyway, WAY TO GO INDIA!!!!! Thanks for the cup guys. This one's come in a long long time. In 83 I was just a little girl watching my cricket crazy dad jumping from his chair and cheering the team. Our house was full of neighbours watching the match. I have faint memories of Kapil Dev opening the Champagne and splashing it all around. Thank you team for reviving the magic of forgone years.
picture courtesy cricinfo.com

9 comments:

Sunita Venkatachalam said...

Didn't know you were a cricket fan.. But then this match has enthused even the moist hardened non fans (myself included :)

After the match we went for a walk with poppin in the stroller. Suddenly a guys walks to us and holds out a packet of chocolates! He was walking around distributing chocos to everyone at that late hour. Crazy huh??

Artnavy said...

I thought it was so thrilling....

and even the previous match - the 7 sixes from Yuvraj were spectacular- anush kept saying chak de :-))

for the less cricket crazy viewer the format is just right
Am glad for dhoni as well!

Just Like That said...

Nail biting, heart stopping... all this and more yesterday's match was WONDERFUL!

You been tagged, dear!

Swati said...

Ohh yes ..it was thrilling ..thrilling is a small word i guess. When we thought we almost won ...there were 3 sixes and when we thought we almost lost ....it happened.

Fuzzylogic said...

It was truly a spectacular match!I'm a big fan of cricket and to me it was ecstatic:)

Risha said...

it was really good. 3 cheers to India!! Hip Hip Hurray Hip Hip HurrayHip Hip Hurray

Maggie said...

Tagged!

Siddhima said...

Looks like I'm the only one who finds this ultra-short version of cricket ridiculous. Bowl-out??!! (Or whatever it is called) And winning this truncated version, the Indian team declares itself the world champion!

What happened to the lambi race ka ghoda proof? How many test matches or even one dayers has India won in the last few years?

I really hope you will write about Sreesanth's unbelievable attitude too, Sunita dear, AND the lost match yesterday, if you truly like cricket for its own sake and not just our team with its super-inflated ego.

Sorry, all, for being such a spoil-sport. But what to do? I feel the game itself is being spoilt of late.

Sunita said...

Hey Siddhima, glad to see you around here.
No its not about an inflated ego or even thinking that our guys are super dudes. We are just living the moment. Its just about a single game each time. Winning it when you are so close to loosing, just stirs up every single nerve you have. And its been a while we have seen something that we can truly be happy about so am happy for that. About the format of the match, 5-day test was the original but who watches them now. After the 20-20 the 50 over game also seems such a drag but that is just me. And ofcourse when we defeat the giants we are happy to make our day by just hooting and howling, we will be back to our humble selves after the next defeat :)(which we already have).