Queen crooned "We are the Champions" back in '77. Last night, a group of 7 men (more like overgrown boys actually!!) & a gal hooped around in total hysteria, miming Freddie Mercury's lyrics as they witnessed a spectacle of a lifetime!!
What a final!! India-Pakistan. Doesn't get any bigger than this. Nothing in the English language can quite qualify these encounters.
And the match lived up to its billing. Thorough humdinger. 80 fingernails dug deep into the sofa set and almost ripped the cushioning out!!
It's a well-known fact that I am a long standing skeptic of the Indian cricket team. And I have reams of historical data & heartbreaking experiences for my cynicism. We, in the past, have pulled off miracles that for most teams, in the game of cricket or otherwise, would be outworldly. Except that our miracles weren't really in the "I am beaming with pride" category. They were more in the bewildering "Is this really happening" category!! I rationalized the events thinking that given our famous Indian hospitality bindings, our teams felt waves of graciousness for our opponents & did not have the heart to inflict defeats upon them. Ever since, have priced my faith safely out of reach of the Indian men's cricket team.
However, an India-Pakistan game is a different ballgame. There I blend in with the 1-billion crowd & root for the Men in Blue. When the two neighbors clash in a sport, for me it's never just about the game. It's about patriotic loyalties - no jumping ship here.
Yesterday (Monday, Sep. 24, 2007) was as loud a call-to-arms as any. And no one on the east of the Indus was disappointed :).
At 77/6 with Pakistan’s tail exposed & 81 to get from 8 overs, celebrations had begun early. And then Turbanator Singh came on. Misbah-ul-Haq, sensing his last draw in the battlefield, unleashed his final backlash. 3 towering 6's from the cad in Bhajji's over & it was déjà vu all over again!! 2 more sixes to Sreesanth & suddenly we were staring down the barrel. Just 20 to get from 12 balls for Pakistan…
You have to doff your hats to the guys who conceptualized this format at this point. It’s designed such that the game is always treading a knife-edge. Even a whiff of an effort & the momentum swings. Its teleported cricket into the realm of soccer – non-stop, nail-biting thrill through the game.
1 tight over from RP Singh later, the game hangs in limbo at Pakistan needing 13 off the last over with last man standing, India needing 1 wicket but with all its best bet bowlers used out. In my head, I am begging God to not let this become the “Javed Miandad slaps 6 to Chetan Sharma off the last delivery to dent India’s joy” match of my generation. As my silent prayers pick up fervor, the young Jaat Joginder Sharma sends down a wide with "pressure" written in font size 160 written over it & I gasp – "Okay, here we go again!!" Misbah heart stoppingly sends the next delivery into the stands & a billion lachrymal dams are on the verge of bursting. I wonder how many people in India would have got strokes as Joginder delivered his next delivery & Misbah lofted it 5-storeys high again. Only this time, instead of some unsuspecting spectator receiving the projectile, a blue-clad Sreesanth latches on to the white orb the way a famine victim would cling on to air-dropped foods!!
And with that… Yoohoo, India won the Twenty20 World Cup!! So what if we were mauled out of the "real" thing back in May in the first round! The mind takes a minute to register the unbelievable & then pandemonium breaks loose. Hugs, hoots & high-fives all around the tiny living room.
Amazing stuff. India is in delirium the next few days. Just check out these videos of the “Victory Yatra” & the Wankhede Felicitation ceremony as the champions arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday (Sep. 25, 2007) morning to see for yourself.
1.a. Home coming video at IBN Live.com
1.b. Home coming video at YouTube
2. Felicitation video at IBN Live.com
The Gods of the country’s most widespread religion showered the most fulfilling & blissful of blessings on their legions of followers. That too without the involvement of the so-called supreme trinity of the pantheon!! What a phenomenal slap in the faces of their highn-ass-es M/s. Tendulkar & Ganguly…
Chak de India!!! Long live Twenty20...
What a final!! India-Pakistan. Doesn't get any bigger than this. Nothing in the English language can quite qualify these encounters.
And the match lived up to its billing. Thorough humdinger. 80 fingernails dug deep into the sofa set and almost ripped the cushioning out!!
It's a well-known fact that I am a long standing skeptic of the Indian cricket team. And I have reams of historical data & heartbreaking experiences for my cynicism. We, in the past, have pulled off miracles that for most teams, in the game of cricket or otherwise, would be outworldly. Except that our miracles weren't really in the "I am beaming with pride" category. They were more in the bewildering "Is this really happening" category!! I rationalized the events thinking that given our famous Indian hospitality bindings, our teams felt waves of graciousness for our opponents & did not have the heart to inflict defeats upon them. Ever since, have priced my faith safely out of reach of the Indian men's cricket team.
However, an India-Pakistan game is a different ballgame. There I blend in with the 1-billion crowd & root for the Men in Blue. When the two neighbors clash in a sport, for me it's never just about the game. It's about patriotic loyalties - no jumping ship here.
Yesterday (Monday, Sep. 24, 2007) was as loud a call-to-arms as any. And no one on the east of the Indus was disappointed :).
At 77/6 with Pakistan’s tail exposed & 81 to get from 8 overs, celebrations had begun early. And then Turbanator Singh came on. Misbah-ul-Haq, sensing his last draw in the battlefield, unleashed his final backlash. 3 towering 6's from the cad in Bhajji's over & it was déjà vu all over again!! 2 more sixes to Sreesanth & suddenly we were staring down the barrel. Just 20 to get from 12 balls for Pakistan…
You have to doff your hats to the guys who conceptualized this format at this point. It’s designed such that the game is always treading a knife-edge. Even a whiff of an effort & the momentum swings. Its teleported cricket into the realm of soccer – non-stop, nail-biting thrill through the game.
1 tight over from RP Singh later, the game hangs in limbo at Pakistan needing 13 off the last over with last man standing, India needing 1 wicket but with all its best bet bowlers used out. In my head, I am begging God to not let this become the “Javed Miandad slaps 6 to Chetan Sharma off the last delivery to dent India’s joy” match of my generation. As my silent prayers pick up fervor, the young Jaat Joginder Sharma sends down a wide with "pressure" written in font size 160 written over it & I gasp – "Okay, here we go again!!" Misbah heart stoppingly sends the next delivery into the stands & a billion lachrymal dams are on the verge of bursting. I wonder how many people in India would have got strokes as Joginder delivered his next delivery & Misbah lofted it 5-storeys high again. Only this time, instead of some unsuspecting spectator receiving the projectile, a blue-clad Sreesanth latches on to the white orb the way a famine victim would cling on to air-dropped foods!!
And with that… Yoohoo, India won the Twenty20 World Cup!! So what if we were mauled out of the "real" thing back in May in the first round! The mind takes a minute to register the unbelievable & then pandemonium breaks loose. Hugs, hoots & high-fives all around the tiny living room.
Amazing stuff. India is in delirium the next few days. Just check out these videos of the “Victory Yatra” & the Wankhede Felicitation ceremony as the champions arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday (Sep. 25, 2007) morning to see for yourself.
1.a. Home coming video at IBN Live.com
1.b. Home coming video at YouTube
2. Felicitation video at IBN Live.com
The Gods of the country’s most widespread religion showered the most fulfilling & blissful of blessings on their legions of followers. That too without the involvement of the so-called supreme trinity of the pantheon!! What a phenomenal slap in the faces of their highn-ass-es M/s. Tendulkar & Ganguly…
Chak de India!!! Long live Twenty20...
