Cricket- World Cup- Somnia!!
I come from a country where We WORSHIP Cricket!! yes, I purposely highlighted the worship..
Scam/ No scam, Cricket is my world. I just ignore those who find happiness in telling "The match is fixed".
It's the Gentleman's game for me forever. Though Cricket would have taken different forms I am an ardent follower of Test Cricket. I love that game and oh yeah I "Bleed Blue" :) I enjoy every millisecond of Nike's Bleed Blue Ad's.
All said, year 2011 was the most eagerly awaited for any Cricket fan and for me I dreaded every single minute that I had to spend on live updates online. The World Cup Somnia! 1983, the year I was not born but historic for the men in Blue to clinch the World cup. There was a steady raise in the performance of Team India ever since. There were sure ups and downs..but still the World cup seemed to be a distant Somnia..
There were specifically two matches that I would cherish forever, one of course the ethic- The Finale!
30th March 2011..It was a Wednesday, a working day but it was more like the tense movements in the movie "A Wednesday"..Like the Airtel ad, Chai ke liye jaise toast hota hei, it was the much much awaited, India VS arch rivals Pakistan! Whola, what more can one ask for..Peter Roebuck quoted "An encounter to stop a subcontinent!" True indeed..The Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, the apt venue! The crowd was roaring..Thankfully a Day-Night match for the office goers..
The Men in Blue took over batting first and me definitely couldn't work with the cafeteria one floor above and a TV available there. Did all the talking with our always supportive (!) admin team and they agreed to play the match that day. 2.30 pm, the cafeteria was full and so were we. We had whistles, flags, and yes our very own voice to scream. The entire office was in the cafeteria, including the RVP's. Haan, who said there are some internal clashes at work? The hooting, clapping, whistling was indeed a spectacle to watch and for me who always wanted to watch a match live at the stadium (which has not been possible till date) it was AMAZING! The thrill, the joy..I fail to express what cricket fans would have felt that day..We went on to win the match by a brilliant 29 runs. And what more, the Player of the match- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar! one of my friend suggested he has to be named Sachin Itihas Tendulkar..How True..When he got out at 85, the disappointment in the crowd was so visible that most of them left back to work..that's the impact of the Master Blaster. What a match it was..
2nd April 2011, the finale- While media was busy covering "It's now or never" True cricket fans were on cloud nine that the team is in "THE FINAL" beating the legendary Aussies, and a final with our neighbour "Srilanka". Though there are so many to write about, I will stick to the winning over of the match. Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai the venue for the Finals, and for our Sachin with a packed crowd of 42,000 watching the match at the stadium!:) With a target of 274 on board which seemed pretty easy we started losing wickets. Sehwag got out for a Duck and we were worried when the Master Blaster was out for 18.. In came Ghambhir and Kohli who built a slow but steady partnership. And when the 4th wicket fell we were in need of 100 from 106 balls. With the Nike Ad's in between my pulse was sure going northwards. We were going very close and I am sure every Indian was praying that no more wickets to lose even when the deadly Malinga was bowling. We set our steady march, like soldiers about to reach the enemy line..
On to that interesting magical 49th over..5 to win from 12 and Yuvaraj singh hit it to Mid on to score a Single and now...4 to win from 11 balls and Dhoni batting..It's the World cup and the final and just 4 to win and the crowd is roaring. I do not think anyone other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni would have thought about hitting a huge 6 to win in style. I was home, glued to the match with mum, dad and Sister wide awake along with me watching the match in hushed silence. The whole nation was awake I am sure. Never did it cross in anyone's mind that Dhoni would try hit a 6 then. The commentator, Ravi Shastri was quoting 'Will Dhoni finish this in style?" That magical 6, I can still remember the hit. There were tears of Joy, crackers and what a celebration it was. For the master blaster and for the nation..That was the first time ever I saw Dhoni grinning from ear to ear other than in any Ad! The best of it was when Yuvi and Kohli carried the little master on their shoulders around the stadium..What a Feeling!! What a Pride!! What a Glory!!
In the post match presentation, SL captain Sangakkara quoted "It looked like you need to make 350 plus to make that team feel under Pressure"! which is so true with MSD and I think even then he would say "Ah! it's just another number"
Somnia Exaudiverunt!
Vive!!
ME MYSELF :)
Scam/ No scam, Cricket is my world. I just ignore those who find happiness in telling "The match is fixed".
It's the Gentleman's game for me forever. Though Cricket would have taken different forms I am an ardent follower of Test Cricket. I love that game and oh yeah I "Bleed Blue" :) I enjoy every millisecond of Nike's Bleed Blue Ad's.
All said, year 2011 was the most eagerly awaited for any Cricket fan and for me I dreaded every single minute that I had to spend on live updates online. The World Cup Somnia! 1983, the year I was not born but historic for the men in Blue to clinch the World cup. There was a steady raise in the performance of Team India ever since. There were sure ups and downs..but still the World cup seemed to be a distant Somnia..
There were specifically two matches that I would cherish forever, one of course the ethic- The Finale!
30th March 2011..It was a Wednesday, a working day but it was more like the tense movements in the movie "A Wednesday"..Like the Airtel ad, Chai ke liye jaise toast hota hei, it was the much much awaited, India VS arch rivals Pakistan! Whola, what more can one ask for..Peter Roebuck quoted "An encounter to stop a subcontinent!" True indeed..The Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, the apt venue! The crowd was roaring..Thankfully a Day-Night match for the office goers..
The Men in Blue took over batting first and me definitely couldn't work with the cafeteria one floor above and a TV available there. Did all the talking with our always supportive (!) admin team and they agreed to play the match that day. 2.30 pm, the cafeteria was full and so were we. We had whistles, flags, and yes our very own voice to scream. The entire office was in the cafeteria, including the RVP's. Haan, who said there are some internal clashes at work? The hooting, clapping, whistling was indeed a spectacle to watch and for me who always wanted to watch a match live at the stadium (which has not been possible till date) it was AMAZING! The thrill, the joy..I fail to express what cricket fans would have felt that day..We went on to win the match by a brilliant 29 runs. And what more, the Player of the match- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar! one of my friend suggested he has to be named Sachin Itihas Tendulkar..How True..When he got out at 85, the disappointment in the crowd was so visible that most of them left back to work..that's the impact of the Master Blaster. What a match it was..
2nd April 2011, the finale- While media was busy covering "It's now or never" True cricket fans were on cloud nine that the team is in "THE FINAL" beating the legendary Aussies, and a final with our neighbour "Srilanka". Though there are so many to write about, I will stick to the winning over of the match. Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai the venue for the Finals, and for our Sachin with a packed crowd of 42,000 watching the match at the stadium!:) With a target of 274 on board which seemed pretty easy we started losing wickets. Sehwag got out for a Duck and we were worried when the Master Blaster was out for 18.. In came Ghambhir and Kohli who built a slow but steady partnership. And when the 4th wicket fell we were in need of 100 from 106 balls. With the Nike Ad's in between my pulse was sure going northwards. We were going very close and I am sure every Indian was praying that no more wickets to lose even when the deadly Malinga was bowling. We set our steady march, like soldiers about to reach the enemy line..
On to that interesting magical 49th over..5 to win from 12 and Yuvaraj singh hit it to Mid on to score a Single and now...4 to win from 11 balls and Dhoni batting..It's the World cup and the final and just 4 to win and the crowd is roaring. I do not think anyone other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni would have thought about hitting a huge 6 to win in style. I was home, glued to the match with mum, dad and Sister wide awake along with me watching the match in hushed silence. The whole nation was awake I am sure. Never did it cross in anyone's mind that Dhoni would try hit a 6 then. The commentator, Ravi Shastri was quoting 'Will Dhoni finish this in style?" That magical 6, I can still remember the hit. There were tears of Joy, crackers and what a celebration it was. For the master blaster and for the nation..That was the first time ever I saw Dhoni grinning from ear to ear other than in any Ad! The best of it was when Yuvi and Kohli carried the little master on their shoulders around the stadium..What a Feeling!! What a Pride!! What a Glory!!
In the post match presentation, SL captain Sangakkara quoted "It looked like you need to make 350 plus to make that team feel under Pressure"! which is so true with MSD and I think even then he would say "Ah! it's just another number"
Somnia Exaudiverunt!
Vive!!
ME MYSELF :)
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