Ooh, I don't remember feeling such a high in a very long time. And, I think, it will be so for a while. When I went to bed on 2nd April (actually 3rd here in Australia) at 5 am, I found it hard to fall asleep. In fact, as it happens after any important exam, I kept getting dreams where 4 runs of 1 ball were required & oh, I would wake up only to realise that the reality is sweeter than dreams. India has won the World Cup!
Now, that I love cricket Sachin is no secret. But then, doesn't Sachin equal cricket? Anyway, so this World Cup was a very important one for me. His last WC and all...I was hoping that India win it, of course and that Sachin get a 'Man of the Series' and 'Man of the Match in the final'. One of the three wishes came true. But, thankfully it was the right one.
Due to the time difference, we only watched the first innings of all the matches. And, very early in the tournament I realised that if we continue to ball and field the way we were, we don't stand a chance! Now, I don't know much about bowling (having concentrated on watching batting Sachin through out my life). But, this inference was not difficult even for me. Anyway, India did very well in Quarter and Semi Finals.
And then the finals on 2nd April 2011- Saturday, which suited us perfectly well as we had Sunday to catch up on sleep. After the toss goof up, when Sri Lanka chose to bat, I thought if India have to be World Champion , they must earn it against all odds. So, the outcome of toss should not matter. And then, after the first five overs, I said to Ritesh, "I think its going to be one-sided match, look at the way we are bowling, Zaheer Khan-3 maidens, and bowling is not even our strength". But, it seemed, Jayawardene (and to some extent Sreesanth too :)) played to prove me wrong. Ritesh went to work on his assignment and I started following the game through my mobile on cricinfo. After making all the Indian bowlers completely ineffective, Sri Lanka made 274. Again, some drama- India had bowled very slowly and as a result there would be a very short break. When Harsha Bhogle said that Sehwag and Tendulkar might have to miss supper and come out to bat, I was tensed. That's when Ritesh asked me if I wanted chocolate milk :) Now, the match was being telecast here from 11.45 pm which was precisely the start of Indian batting. So, no more streaming was required.
Ok, as the openers walk to the field, I say to Ritesh, I want Sehwag to be there at least for 15 overs. I don't want all the pressure on Sachin. As if I had jinxed it, Sehwag gets out on the second ball. And then, soon Sachin gets OUT. Needless to say, then all the pressure was on me! Ritesh said, "Ya, this is going to be one-sided, but in favour of SL". I called mom and started ranting- "He deserves this cup, he has been playing for 21 years, this is just NOT FAIR". Mom said, "Beta, abhi baaki log hai na, woh khelenge, jeet jayenge beta:)". Though, she confessed that she is also watching some movie on the side so that her blood pressure doesn't rise. Talk about cricket crazy people. My yet to be 6 year old nephew, Arjun has been hearing about World Cup through out the month and how Indians might get it and had a genuine query about the distribution of one cup to so many Indians.
Just when I was about to give up hope, Gambhir and Kohli showed promise. Ritesh temporarily abandoned his assignment and joined me. And when our heart-beats were getting normal, Kohli was caught and bowled by Dilshan. That got Ritesh & I into discussing some finesse of cricket like what would happen if a batsman hits a ball towards the other batsman and he hits it as well. And we kept building on that hypothesis as to if that ball crosses the boundary, who gets runs for that and similarly, if some fielder catches it, who's out? We would have continued but, then Dhoni got to bat. And then, there was no looking back. We WON!!! With a SIX!!! And that's when they stopped the telecast. We quickly started to stream to be part of the celebrations and the presentation-ceremony. Oh, it was amazing! Excitedly, phone calls were made and received. "Alright, now I'm happy, Sachin can retire whenever he wants to and even I'll retire from watching cricket then", said I. But wait, let that 100th century come along & did I hear that Indian team is visiting Australia this summer. Well then, I'm not retiring just yet!
