The jinx is broken!

Thanks to a too-caught-up-in-work-to-go friend of mine I was fortunate to get my hands on the tickets for the final one dayer between India and Australia. Thanks Nrupal.

My friends and colleagues were not too happy about it. Well, they had their reasons for it. The reason being my honest admission that up until then I had never witnessed a match which was won by the team I supported. Be it the Ranji Trophy match between Haryana and Karnataka ( I was supporting Haryana; reason: Jadeja) or the ICC championship final between Australia and New Zealand ( No prizes for guessing which team I supported) or the test match between India and England ( India lost in three days. I went on day 3). The official conclusion: I am jinxed.

Well, I am a little superstitious when it comes to cricket. But, jinxed? I certainly was not. For two days prior to the match this became the lunch-time hot topic: colleagues threatening me with dire consequences if I were to go and direr if India was to lose. And I took up the challenge. “The jinx shall be broken” became my slogan. I don’t remember the number of times I had to use it. I was just short of printing it on my shirt….or forehead.

D-day.

I was trying to come up with excuses to leave early from work. But I couldn’t do better than a headache and a stomachache. These would never have worked. My excitement was far too obvious to hide behind such outdated excuses. But there was god news in store. My boss had a client-side meeting in the afternoon. Small mercies!! All I had to do was inform his secretary that I was leaving.

There were many tiny little incidents before, during and after the match that deserve a mention. I will save them for a later post. I will concentrate on the match now.

Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. Thanks to our late-bloomer Murali Karthik (he took 6), Australia was restricted to a not-so-challenging score of 193. Just when I thought we were having a good start Sachin got out. I will not dwell on it. You know the feeling (At least, he treated me with a Straight Drive before leaving). Roughly 5% of the crowd left. We started loosing wickets at regular intervals. After every wicket a portion of the crowd left. I have never understood how one can do that. I and a friend, who joined me for the second innings, simply sat there and numbly stared down the pitch. Leaving was not even an option. We are too romanticized with cricket to leave, to lose faith. But, the inevitable was staring right at our face. We wanted to enjoy it as long as it lasted. For almost half an hour we went through motions: clapping for singles and screaming till our throats ached for those rare boundaries.

The required runs kept decreasing from 80 to 70 to 60. Once it crossed 50 we started hoping again. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, to hope. I was getting comfortable in the no-pressure expectation of a loss, and suddenly these two guys in blue (Zaheer and Karthik) were teasing me with an agonizing ray of hope. Lord! I can’t go through this again! Well, I did hold on to that ray of hope and started my silent mantra which goes something like “comm’on, comm’on,……”. It’s amazing how lonely one can feel looking down at that pitch, praying for an Indian win, even though the twenty thousand people around you are cheering for exactly the same thing. It comes down to you and the guys on the field…..and of course, the scoreboard.

50…40….30….20…10….1…..We Won!!!! Clap! Clap!...Sweaty hand clapping. The jinx is broken……

And for those who left mid-way: Faith, my friends, Faith.

When is the next match in Bombay? ;)

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Pundits from Pakistan

Author: Rahul Bhattacharya

Publisher: Replika Press

Number of pages: 344

Suggested by: Nrupal

Where did I find it: Borrowed from Nrupal

Read when: September ‘07

The book:

This is a must read for all cricket fans and a definite read for non-cricket fans to realize what they are missing. It’s all about cricket. It’s not only about cricket. The book is an account of the 03-04 India tour of Pakistan.

The book starts with a debate that has been going on since the Romans! “Why do people like sports?” I found myself thinking ‘What have I gotten into?!” But the author, thankfully, doesn’t stretch it beyond tolerance and quickly gets in to the matter on hand: India and Pakistan.

He sketches an appreciable background, needless to say, involving politics, religion, The Bus and The War. A perfect platform for what was to come. And as he progresses, his narrative of the Pakistani cities, their history, the people and their hospitality is indeed fascinating.

And then begins the enthralling match by match, innings by innings, session by session web of runs, wickets, centuries and controversies. It’s a superbly compiled account of the one dayers, the test matches, and the rest days. Its unbelievable how unbiased he remains throughout the book. You know what? I can go on and on about how well its written and how engrossing it is. But I am gonna stop it now and just ask you to READ IT!!..

The most captivating thing about the book is the language. The author has an amazing way with the queen’s language. It’s not about the big obscure words; it’s about the way simple words are used to create a fantastic narration. Its music when he is describing a player and its melody when he is describing a city. There were many instances when I read and re-read a sentence or a paragraph because it was just so gorgeously written.

Recommendation: The book is refreshing for two reasons. One, as I already mentioned, it’s a rare unbiased account of an India-Pakistan series. Two, seldom do you find a sports (especially cricket) journalist who reports so matter of factually without forcing through a piece of his own mind. As I said before READ IT!!

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The Minnows versus The Whales

The 20-20 World Series has opened to a good reception. This post is not to give my opinion of the newest format of the game or to discuss its supposed impact on the other formats. I am writing this.....Because last night I saw Zimbabwe beat Australia in their opening match! I was exhilarated, to say the least, to see the underdogs (some call them minnows) defeat the world champions.

I have two reasons for my exhilaration.

Reason 1: Zimbabwe won!

Not many would have expected them to, forget win, put up a fight against the great Australian might. And put up a fight, they did, the odds notwithstanding. The team….. I mean, have you seen their line up?!..... The social and political instability in the country has wrecked the team. Neither did they have a good run up to the series, having lost a series to Bangladesh in Feb, an unmemorable performance in the world cup in March and again a clean sweep loss to South Africa in August………. It was heartwarming to see them go all out to put up an inspired performance. Anyone who follows the game in its true spirit would be elated.

Reason 2: Australia lost!

I don’t particularly have anything against the Australian team except their “We-are-the-world-champions-and-there-isn’t-a-damn-thing-you-can-do-about-it” attitude that they carry right to the middle of the pitch. Well, I guess they have good reasons to carry it. They are bloody good at what they do. What I have against them is what I had against Sampras, against Schumacher, against Federer (at least till Nadal came along),….collectively put….against monopoly. (we are not talking economics……..only sports).

I agree with those who say “what is wrong if they win all their matches? It is not their problem that no one else is good enough to challenge them.” My real issue with monopolistic dominance is its inherent perils of making the game look too easy and of making the player look bigger than the game. For me, it’s dreadfully profane. (I am tempted to go on, but I think I have got the point through.)

And not to forget the predictability; It just gets simply boring!!.....to watch a match when you are painfully conscious of its agonizingly predictable result. What is a game if the word ‘competitive’ doesn't feature in the commentary and I still have to cut my nails after the match?


Highlights of the match:

Zimbabwean fielding,…….. three early wickets in both innings,………. Taylor’s (Zim wicket keeper) brilliant batting, ………some expected Australian hard hitting,……… Taibu bowling medium pacers!,…………. the nail-biting finish with one ball to spare, ………..and the Zimbabwean victory lap.

Watching the match was a deserving finish to a tiring day:)

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