Tuesday, April 12, 2011

When a "DREAM COMES TRUE"


A night to Remember- 2nd April...2011


The last time I pened down my thoughts about the ICC World Cup was on the eve of India Vs England at Chinaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. On day day, I had vouched that I would be writing regularly when India plays, but the kind tension each match created (Esp the tie), my zeal to write somehow broke down.(May be it was also superstition)


But now all tensions have evaporated, the cup has returened after 28 looooongg years and we are well deserved CHAMPS (yehhhh fists go in air). I have been following the game of cricket since 1992 (At least that`s what my memory states) and never did I witness the kind of emotions on a day which will go down in the books of History - 2nd April, 2011. The day INDIA got together, cried out of emotions, smiled out of sheer joy, shouted out of pride and sang,danced, and drank on streets at Midnight oblivious of travesties of life. I too was part of the crowd and celebrations just went on and on and on................and ON.


Exaclty 10 days before the Final (India was about to play their quaterfinal against Aussies) I had a dream and quite a strange one (All dreams are strange though, "smile"). I dreamt that ,"What will I get if India wins the Match against Australia, then the semi-final and finally then the final". Imagine I was dreaming and I did not have any answers, except that I will be a tad happy, but then whats next, life moves on and proberly IPL would take over.


For the next few days I was quite disturbed and kept on looking for a answer~ Never did I realise that on 2nd April, 2011, 11.30 PM all my doubts would be answered when a cherubic muscular and tenacious lad from small town Ranchi with a sobriquet Mahi and MSD would smash the cricket ball over long on and send the entire country into dizziness and madness never witnessed before (may be during independence, not sure though..any takers??).


My dream after all did come true and I was able to see the after affects too. (hey it rhymes too,"smile"). The victory scenes are now deeply etched and entrenched in my memory and I am proud to say that our generation would be able to tell their Children and Grandchildren that "They saw, They celebrated and They remembered" 2nd April 2011, like our grand pa use to remind us of Kapil`s heriocs at Lords 1983, the only similarity though being 2 April..ableit 1983...


What a game, what a team, what player (sachin) , what a captain (MSD) what a Nation.

Proud to be Indian...


Until next time....Cheers!!!


Nanchahal.....AK...











Thursday, February 24, 2011

Sammy another Lee Germon in making- Preview SF Vs WI - Kotla


Leaving aside the first match between India and Bangladesh on 19th Feb, the 9th Edition of the ICC world cup literally started with the clash of big titans- South Africa and West Indies, today. To be honest even India and Bangladesh wasnt bad, considering Banglas inflicted the mysery on India in the last edition. Infact the match lived up to the expections too, thanks toViru and Tamin.

Now coming to SF and WI two factors had put a question mark on the match- Weather and the Kotla picth. Thankfully both of them did not play a mojor role in the final result. The pitch was flat and the rain stayed away for the major part. But factor 3rd cropped in- A lackadaisical performance by WI. Both Gayle and Pollard, one of the biggest hitters in ODIs failed without leaving any impression . Infact the match which was being built as a major clash turned out to be a damp squid and the Proteas coasted to a comfortable win.

During the match i noticed a very important remark by Mike Atherton ," what role does sammy plays as a captain in the team; He bats at no 9 and bowls dibly doblies". What is he doing in India in the first place?

I emphatise with Sammy who had the courage to take the role of captaincy when no one else raised their hands. The person who comes to mind who was in similar position was New Zealand captain in 96 world cup which incidently also too took place in India.

Lee Gormon was a name never heard before & guess what, he not only landed in the team but was announced to be the captain. The only reason i could fanthom for such a move by the NZ selectors was that he was a total suprise to the opposition (NZ are good in producing suprises..rem deepak patel , the spinner opening the innings and being successful at it too)

But personally I felt the suprise was not worth experimenting as LG not a great batsman neither a phenomenal keeper and never deserved to be the captain. It was no wonder that NZ feared badly in the World Cup, had an early exit and no one heard of LG later. (Infact he was never seen too; i cant even find him on google)

Sammy too could face the same problem and WI are in grave danger of finishing even below Bangladesh unless Pollard and Gayle produce match winning knocks and Bravos injury recovers. India will surley beat them and so would England. So if I was Sammy I would resign at the earliest as that would surely prolong his career. In return i guess Chanderpaul should take the captaincy as it would be easier to fire him or he would finally retire from Intl cricket (Gosh he has been playing for ages)

That`s my take on today`s match, I will be back soon for the biggest clash of this cup- India vs England at Bengaluru.

Till then...take care!

Amit..a cricket fanatic !!

PS: Anybody who needs tickets for Sunday......do call....GOD...for help:-)