Finally, and the absurdity of the Indian supporter

This was written in the week after india won the world cup. Looks like i didn't press publish earlier.
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So lets channel our inner Freddie Mercury and bellow "We are the Champions" at the top of our lungs. We've beaten SL in the finals and finally lifted the trophy after 28 long years. It gives the opportunity to proclaim we are the best in the world. All the leaving work early for the midweek quarter and semi finals has been vindicated.

Surprisingly, I thought there was more importance attached to the quarters than the semis. Maybe its the fact that the Aussies were the defending champions, or the fact that Ponting is the most reviled cricketer in these parts; there just seemed to be much more pleasure in the beating the Aussies. Revenge for the Sydney test, whatever the reason, people were really pumped by the Aussie win. Then on, the discussions in the office boards and elsewhere seemed to take it for granted that the we would win the cup; that nothing could stand in our way.

Obviously that was a fallacy. If not for the generosity of the Pakistani fielders and the absurd batting from Misbah, we could have been knocked out by the superb bowling of Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz. The final too was on a knife edge until Captain Courageous played the innings that will henceforth define him.

After the quarters, the powers that be were forced into a public screening of the semis at workplaces  across the country. In Pune, it was being shown on a projected screen in one of the food courts. Around a thousand people crammed into the open air food court and eagerly awaited the match. This was our own personal stand. Miles from the venue, the voices chanting and cheering could not but help the team.

I have snickered in the past at the stories of Rajnikant movie screenings in the heartland. The seetis and chavannis thrown at the screen when the Man makes his appearances on the screen. Well, there was the other Man, He Who Must Not Be Named, playing. Each time the the camera panned across to him, the gathered crowd went into raptures, looked on the verge of Rajni style worship. Each review of his was accompanied with chants of fervent prayer to whatever you believed in. This Man is the One, bigger than Rajni, with his dominion reaching across the country, hell I'd wager, across the world wherever Indians gathered.

This world cup was about this one Man. But the final has shown that its more than that; a team effort, with a team of the entire nation. For a few days the euphoria of winning - and winning beating the better teams when it mattered - provided a release from the mundane day to day routine of life.

So let's sit back and enjoy the feeling before the IPL bulldozes over everything.

Crowdsourcing

40,000 people.

The voices of 40,000 people egging you on is sometimes not enough. As Nehra found out to his and the attendant spectator's horror last Saturday night against South Africa. This post could be about the stupidity of Dhoni in giving him the ball to bowl the last over. Or his own at bowling length when the batsman were looking to slog wildly. But that would just be quite pointless.

I had made it across from Pune to see the world cup match  between IND and SA. The Vidharba Cricket Association's stadium in Jamtha is an excellent one. We had great seats up in the fourth tier at long off. But more than the viewing, it was the noise - the shared joy and disappointment of the others at the ground around you that was the most memorable.

The crowds were screaming themselves hoarse with the chants of "Sachin [clap][clap][clap] Sachin" as long as he was at the crease (and everytime he dived about while fielding). He didn't let us down either and along with Sehwag and Gambhir provided a great platform for a unbeatable score. The crowd, however, was silenced by that spectacular collapse at the end of the innings triggered by the Steyngun.

There was a bunch of South African supporters sitting behind us in the stands who felt good enough about the score after the first innings that they fancied their teams chances and started to chant and sing boisterously. The Indians trying to silence them  never succeeded and it was great to hear them sing Shosholoza (the unifying song featured in Invictus)

The second innings though was a complete roller coaster of a ride - no team really getting on top. There always was the feeling that South Africa was going to make it through. That didn't deter Indian supporters who watched Zaheer bowl his heart out. The explosion of noise and the accompanied release of tension as each wicket fell topped anything that came in the Indian batting innings

 In the end, the South Africans were the ones singing "Ole ... Ole ... Ole". But it came at the end of a excellent game of cricket. Let's just hope that we are able to reverse the result in case the two teams meet later in the competition.

If there only were the sandstorm

The teams were the same. There are very few remnants of those teams in both the sides. Some of the victims (Kasporowicz/ Bevan) are now commentating. More than ten years back Sachin Tendulkar was having his penultimate course of the Aussie meal for the year in Sharjah. With most of this partners out, he somehow managed to drag us through to the Final. No shot went wrong. There was even a forward defensive shot that split the field and raced away to the square boundary. No one who saw that match will ever forget how he harried Laxman into taking quick singles. A man completely in control of the game sandstorm or no sandstorm.


Yesterday was like a repeat performance. Yes, there was no Warne. Yes, Raina prob hoicked a few more than Laxman did. But still you could see, the cornerstone of the chase was Sachin. As long as he was still at the crease, we were not going to lose the match. All the shots seemed to be coming back - the aerial shots, the shots through the covers, the hooks, the pulls, the running between the wickets. That this was a man who has been playing international cricket for 20 years was hard to believe. 


There have been mentions by the greatbong and cricinfo that this performance was like the performance of the team in the mid 90s. Prob true in context of this particular game, but not the case in general. We are no longer as highly dependent on Sachin as we were earlier. Though the day he retires, there doesn't seem to be anyone in the current team that can come anywhere near as close as what he did yesterday.


That knock yesterday has to be one of his best knocks - way up there with the Sharjah back to back and the second innings century against the Pakistanis in Madras (which also we lost once he got out). Almost reaching the sublime levels of the Laxman - Dravid 2nd innings at Eden Gardens or even the Sachin - Azhar onslaught on the saffers in the afternoon session at Cape Town in 96-97.


The look on Sachin's face when he went to go pick up his MOM awards was such a look of disappointment. The first time that his true emotions have prob leaked through to the media, possibly explaining what is still keeping him going all these years. The last occasion I remember a similar reaction was after Dravid got his maiden century at the Wanderers in 1996-97 and we weren't able to get Daryl Cullinan out on the last day  to take the match.


Bring back the memories. And make some more.