The swirls, swings and the boomerangs. Horizons lightened up with a heart lightening display of fireworks. The dhols, trumpets & of course bale bales. It was only moments before that they were biting their nails, rubbing their hands, and taking one deep breath. What a magnificent way to drop the curtains for the ICC 20 – 20 World Cup Finals.At the end of the day it was a magnificent game of cricket, more so because India won. Every player putting their little bit to make it worth the watch. It was couple of years back that I had stopped viewing this wonderful game called “Cricket”. Then caught itself in between twisters and whirlpools of allegations, accusations & revelations. And of course lack of Lustre performances.
It was only at the persistent compulsion of my colleague that I went to watch the Indians play the England. The fire caught onto me from the Indian team. I had never seen them play with the same fire until about 7 years back. Fighting till the last moment, blasting away to glory, making faces at your opponents, experimenting with youth. In short there was a momentum, a feeling of change in the right direction.
Though I had shutdown myself from spending any time watching the perceived fixed game, I had always had my ears open as far as the immediate pressing issues that battered the Indian Cricket. Starting with Politics at the helm, the IPL, the ICL, the lobbying issues, selectors choices, captaincy situation, experience vs expertise, senior vs fresh blood. There was not a single area where I couldn’t find a problem with Indian Cricket.
With all the options weighing against, I did get a feeling that it was probably just one odd entertaining match. I was thinking plenty, before I invested my most valuable in watching the second match. And being the usual me, even though it enticed me to the last bits I decided against. I did keep an ear open for the review on the game. I was upset, I missed out a piece.
There were no doubts about the Aussies. The way they play professional cricket, very few do. But with the optimism pinned up on my heart I sat down to watch the game. The leading man with his mind, boundary specialists, fit acrobatic fielders, aggressive bowlers; everything drove the team to a well defined victory. Now there was no way that I was going to miss the final.
The scheduled clash of the Titans was always to be a thriller. Luck might have played its ball game, by giving the Indian tigers the flip of the coin. What was meant to be has to be. With the scorecard tickling a bit slower than the usual, and an always justifying performance by the Green brigade, bowlers and the crew. It was always going to be a tight match. Batsmen kept losing their places at steady intervals. Finally the benchmark was set. The leading man had made his move and for a moment it felt as if things were going well. The rollercoaster’s definitely gave the riders all the G’s. Strategy did the trick. There was a game plan, there were objectives, people knew what they were doing & there was only one team. It takes two to make it a perfect game. Opponents did their bit. In the end it was a game befitting to be the ICC 20 – 20 World Cup Finals.
The tigers tamed the world with their wisdom, their game plan, and their efforts and as a Team. Tigers won my hearts and many because they were one team. I am back to watching matches with efforts, with results, with fireworks – A New Fan !!!
