I promised a light blog. Well, of course: After a world cup victory, my blog is not far too behind. I am not going to write a review about the players or the support staff, just some great moments and how as a fan it struck to me.
As a fantasy league player, I am naturally attracted to everyday matches - but then I should have known
1. Fierce fast men like the minnows.
2. When you have a feeling that either one of two players are gonna perform, choose both rather than betting on one.
3. The scrappy players get man of the match in clash of big teams, so choose your resources wisely.
Anyways, after scoring just 7500 points along the 1.5 month tournament there is always IPL to go to. There were lots of moments for me in this world cup. It also made March and April a good passage of time for me. First there was the Ireland VS Bangladesh match, where Ireland who seemed to be cruising through lost the plot. Then India VS England, where it seemed very clear that India was playing in the second gear with their bowling and when notched up at the final stages it was enough to end with a draw. Munaf should have stuck to the offstump line rather than setting it up at a yorker length for Shehzad. England VS Ireland was the match of the world cup. It was from the books of Yusuf Pathan, who hit close to 300 to win it off for Baroda chasing a very big total. But beyond the big hitting, there was unusual steel shown by their lower order batsmen. South africa VS India seemed to be a very good match, and was poised well and I din't expect Faff du Plessis to play spin or rotate strike that well during those stages. Eventually Nehra was nailed by Robin Peterson twice over long off. India was playing catch up SA for most part of the second innings and managed to take it very close, good show indeed.
Shahid Afridi was showing enormous skill in the other group. I know he is a good leggie, but he was very attacking with his bowling . He definitely spun the wrong one more and enticed the batsmen into their demise. Malinga's toe crushers got him his second hat trick. Kemar Roach helped to fizz past Bangladesh as well. It seemed that the star players had some fun with the minnows, boosting up their averages. Hiral Patel shined for Canada and so did Cheema, but Kenya disappointed a lot. Zimbabwe should be deprived of their test status. They could have stayed back in Harare.
By the quarter finals, there were a few exciting matches and pea-brain predictions. SL made a joke of England bowling, Pakistan tore into West Indies the other two were intense matches. India VS Australia was the toughest match India faced in the tournament, because India and Australia did most things right and the match never had an outright winner before 90 overs. On the other side, a fancy shot caught in deep midwicket for Kallis and run out of AB: just the recipe for another famous SA choke.
India - Pakistan always had a different script than the usual matches. I was ok wrt to 260 as the target. I know there will be huge performances, turnarounds, pressure , but letting off Sachin 6-7 times in the match - you can't expect anything else.
The match never tilted towards Pakistan in the second half, every now and then where Pak seemed to reach towards a point of advantage they lost a wicket. Some of the wickets were well earned and some of the others had the batsman to be blamed for. A special thanks to Misbah who pressurized his team mates to hit out and get out. In the other semi, it showed how brittle that SL middle order is. Well it is not that their middle order is weak or something, but there is a huge buzz in SL that it is so. It showed in the thought process for the final and it back fired. I always believed that a new spinner always enjoys better success against India, but ultimately end up as pie-chuckers. Randiv found that in the final.
On the day of the final, the usual troubles of internet streaming din't happen - it was like watching TV without a remote. We five of us were glued to their seats for most part of the day. When SL ended up with that many runs, if it had been the SL of yesteryears they would have won it - even if it was India of yesteryears they would have won it as well. Nopes. It is a new Indian team which puts up team performances in a long time of India cricket. Of course I lost my mind when Sachin and Sehwag where both in the hut. I even shut myself out and concentrated on some other work for about 1 hour to follow. It was about 110 for 1, where I gingerly walked out to watch the match. I said to myself another partnership and we are through. Eventually Kohli got out, MSD walked in. The make or break moment. After watching how confidently he played Murali, I eased myself into sanity. At 220/3, the match was truly India's. SL just gave it up after that. Getting to see so much emotions made myself feel lighter and to take a few giggles as well.
Jai Ho!
