Man of the match
The match between India and England was a cracker of a contest. Both teams did extremely well to snatch tie from the jaws of victory. Whenever one team tried hard to lose the game, the other team tried harder and came out on bottom. There were some skillfully dropped catches, most accurate misses of direct hits and spectacular misfield. The third umpire not wanting to be overshadowed by players gave a contentious decision that provided fodder for the likes of Durkha Butt and Ar-drab Goswami to run a one hour debate on whether Sharad Pawar had anything to do with it. All in all, it was a game that will go down in history as one of the most incredible matches, witnessed by thousands of politicians who got free tickets. :P
It was not just politicians but also thousands of fans all over the world who were cheering for their favorite team from their homes. Among these thousands were four guys from Chennai who were cheering for Sachin and India from their dwelling in Madipakkam. Among these four guys was one guy who single handedly almost steered India to victory.
And that guy is writing this blog post now.
Hear me out before you label me jackass, which you anyway will do after hearing me out.
At the end of first innings India scored 338 runs. Ravi Shastri with the help of all his experience and common sense which he doesn’t have came up with an expert advice that ‘England needed 339 runs for victory and needed to bat really well to win the match’. We were so impressed by his ingenuity and acumen that we decided to switch off the tv and spend the evening hanging out rather than marvel at his brilliance. After all, Indians had the match safe in their bag.
But when Ravi Shastri is at the commentary box “something’s got to give in”. It did. When we returned home and checked the scored, England required just 58 runs off 48 balls or something with 8 wickets in hand. India was staring defeat in the eyes. Then something happened that set Indians on course to victory. I began to strum my guitar.
Every time I pick up guitar, pandemonium breaks loose. Dogs go scurrying for cover. Neighbors lock up their windows and stuff their ears with cotton. My roomies who have no place to go to hide themselves except bathroom, which they feel is worse than the cacophony, hurl opprobrious names, abusive words, rotten tomatoes and unclean underwear at me to stop me from creating soul-stirring music. But I was undeterred. I carried on strumming even though the sound that emanated from guitar was more like a disgruntled groan of a constipated cow. No sooner I had started to strum passionately than fell a wicket. So did a lizard from the wall.
I don’t know if it’s a common phenomenon but we guys are extremely superstitious when it comes to cricket. Once when my roomie went to bathroom Sachin hit a boundary. We thought it was a good omen and locked him up in the bathroom. He was released not until Sachin got out some thirty minutes later because we felt locking him up wasn’t a good omen. :P
My roomies were now egging me on to play guitar as they thought it was a good omen. We all have our moments of glory. This was mine. Spurred by the fact that I now had an audience who would lend a listening ear, even though their heart wished I were in a mental asylum, I began to strum faster and harder. Wonder of wonders, another wicket fell the very next delivery. Now everyone was convinced beyond that I was the lucky charm.
For the next twenty minutes I treated my roomies to an entertaining and enthralling performance during which span England lost four wickets and were almost knocked out.
When India got back into the match and looked like scoring a comfortable victory, my music became a nuisance again. My roomies felt India wouldn’t require my service any more and asked me to quit playing in a few well-chosen words that would have made any Chennai auto-driver proud. :-P
After I stopped playing, the tail enders of England hit three massive sixes and managed miraculously to save the game. The match ended in a tie.
Now, you tell me.. don’t I deserve the man of the match award for my smashing performance? ;-)
It was not just politicians but also thousands of fans all over the world who were cheering for their favorite team from their homes. Among these thousands were four guys from Chennai who were cheering for Sachin and India from their dwelling in Madipakkam. Among these four guys was one guy who single handedly almost steered India to victory.
And that guy is writing this blog post now.
Hear me out before you label me jackass, which you anyway will do after hearing me out.
At the end of first innings India scored 338 runs. Ravi Shastri with the help of all his experience and common sense which he doesn’t have came up with an expert advice that ‘England needed 339 runs for victory and needed to bat really well to win the match’. We were so impressed by his ingenuity and acumen that we decided to switch off the tv and spend the evening hanging out rather than marvel at his brilliance. After all, Indians had the match safe in their bag.
But when Ravi Shastri is at the commentary box “something’s got to give in”. It did. When we returned home and checked the scored, England required just 58 runs off 48 balls or something with 8 wickets in hand. India was staring defeat in the eyes. Then something happened that set Indians on course to victory. I began to strum my guitar.
Every time I pick up guitar, pandemonium breaks loose. Dogs go scurrying for cover. Neighbors lock up their windows and stuff their ears with cotton. My roomies who have no place to go to hide themselves except bathroom, which they feel is worse than the cacophony, hurl opprobrious names, abusive words, rotten tomatoes and unclean underwear at me to stop me from creating soul-stirring music. But I was undeterred. I carried on strumming even though the sound that emanated from guitar was more like a disgruntled groan of a constipated cow. No sooner I had started to strum passionately than fell a wicket. So did a lizard from the wall.
I don’t know if it’s a common phenomenon but we guys are extremely superstitious when it comes to cricket. Once when my roomie went to bathroom Sachin hit a boundary. We thought it was a good omen and locked him up in the bathroom. He was released not until Sachin got out some thirty minutes later because we felt locking him up wasn’t a good omen. :P
My roomies were now egging me on to play guitar as they thought it was a good omen. We all have our moments of glory. This was mine. Spurred by the fact that I now had an audience who would lend a listening ear, even though their heart wished I were in a mental asylum, I began to strum faster and harder. Wonder of wonders, another wicket fell the very next delivery. Now everyone was convinced beyond that I was the lucky charm.
For the next twenty minutes I treated my roomies to an entertaining and enthralling performance during which span England lost four wickets and were almost knocked out.
When India got back into the match and looked like scoring a comfortable victory, my music became a nuisance again. My roomies felt India wouldn’t require my service any more and asked me to quit playing in a few well-chosen words that would have made any Chennai auto-driver proud. :-P
After I stopped playing, the tail enders of England hit three massive sixes and managed miraculously to save the game. The match ended in a tie.
Now, you tell me.. don’t I deserve the man of the match award for my smashing performance? ;-)
who is gonna win ?????
ReplyDelete@herman: The best team :P
ReplyDeleteReally interesting collection.
ReplyDelete