An Impossible Cricket Intimate

Izvor: KiWi

It had been on 23rd March 2007, the only day which I regret badly and will soon be regretting for my entire life, a Dilhara Fernando delivery experienced the gates of Tendulkar, and a cuss word emerged from my mouth for the very first and last time for Tendulkar. (God! Did I dislike Fernando after that!) There is a significant amount of raw emotion involved. There is my group of friends together and everybody else wanted the fantastic group of Dravid, Sachin and Ganguly out of the team because of their bad
Shows. I'd joined them as well. It was then I understood that I loved this game of cricket a lot more than any single-player. I wanted our team to gain, with or without Sachin. All things considered, it is THE entire world cup!
Moving just four years back on 23rd March, 2003 (pray that India don't play their quarter-final on 23rd March this year!), I kept asking that question to myself and to everyone around me - why the hell did Tendulkar play that premeditated shot to Mcgrath, when he could have seen him off and then taken on the weaker bowling of Symonds and co? I never got that answer. If Tendulkar had stayed on in that match or if Ganguly had been aggressive batting first, probably cricket would have had another meaning in my own life. I used to be 16 years of age then. Though it healed faster once we had many other new things to look forward to back then, it left a scar on many a hoping minds from my era. However the disappointment of getting so close yet so far from the World cup prize remains till date!
I'm, this world cup is not just about erasing these sad memories, but it is more about completing the process started by V.V.S.Laxman and Rahul Dravid (the stalwarts of Indian cricket and idols to my generation) on another day in the month of March it self i.e. on the 14th of March, 2001, if they showed the cricket universe that India had indeed arrived. Which was, by a long way, the best day in Indian cricket, when every bowling strategy applied by Steve Waugh had arrived at nothing and the mixture remained unbeaten building 376 within a day. Even the 2007 World T20 championship crowning day cannot match the importance of that series-turning day, which I feel could be the major reason we are nowadays hopeful about winning a world cup. From that day, Indian cricket ceased to be a one-man military and Sachin got the necessary support of pressure-relievers! If there is one moment which can really surpass the happiness of the day, it can only be on second April. Privacy includes more about the reason for it. 2011.
The Killer Instinct
It's also about remaining true to the I-don't-give-a-damn attitude developed by Ganguly from the start of that 2001 collection, when he held Waugh awaiting the throw or when he flung his shirt off after that Natwest victory in 2002. We felt these emotions making our adrenaline rush like nothing you've seen prior. Did not we? Yet I feel, it's today this killer-instinct which India lacks. The photo of a rudely smiling Ricky Ponting getting his wife together with the world cup in turn in the Times of India on 24th March, 2003 is still as fresh as if it happened yesterday. Few teams have won a big event with no brashness or the no-mercy perspective. Recall Maradona in 1986, Rafael Nadal over the last few years, Australia over last three cricket world cups or for that matter as recently since the Dutch group in 2010, if they almost took the FIFA world cup from Spain playing dirty football.
And what we did was, we failed to send the message and played tamely against Netherlands and Ireland. Also, we wanted Sreesanth dropped for his attitude issues. I wish Dhoni gave more activities to Sreesanth, giving confidence to him and letting him run his mouth down. He is a greater bowler when he is moved. I do not care, if even Sachin shows the temperament of the Ponting and smashes a tele-vision in the dressing room, when he gets out. Get extra resources on this partner wiki by browsing to logo. If the Indian staff gets branded as loudmouths and wins the world cup, it'll be ok with me and I don't believe anyone from India will have any issue either. So, pump-up the volume, soak in the temperature and let the MCs and BCs flow with full effect!
Me, You and the Cup
If I set my life in perspective with respect to what happened around the cricket field all these years, I cannot imagine my life without that Adelaide, Perth or Johannesburg victories. I could only remember the significant events in my personal life according to the cricket line India have played. I have known no other time-line. Whenever people look the listing of holidays in per year, they take into account the important things they've to perform on those times. They take into consideration going out and make a plan for their entertainment or celebrate any event. I have no other thought than which match goes to be used that day and will I be able to watch it.
Going more, I can even say (and it may sound stupid) that I'd imagined my potential four years back only till 2nd April, 2011. And I remain true to my words right now. I do not care what happens on 3rd April! I do not care if I have a future or even the Indian group has a future. I have known no other game than cricket all my life. I've played no other game. I do not have the goose-bumps when Man U conflict with Liverpool or Brazil with Argentina in basketball. I ignore hockey. I am fed up with F-1 being a sport. Yes, I do have an interest in football, nonetheless it has been regards to only two Federer and persons- Nadal. But cricket? It is opium for me personally! Up to pursuing my dream does, cricket gives me a HIGH in exactly the same way! When Sehwag and Tendulkar go berserk everywhere on earth I'm incapacitated to do any work. I feel a strange quantity of loss if I don't get to watch even an Indian loss.
An interesting fact is, I have lost badly, whenever I have betted on India earning. I win that bet, whenever I bet practically on cricket. But with India, it's just too much of heart involved. So today, I have stopped betting on India so that loss and profit do not come in picture itself, when Indian team is in equation. And it's not merely about me anymore. It's about history of Indian cricket going back ten years. A lot more than that, it is about the common man on the street, who irrespective of how hopeless the problem is, prays for an Indian win. One cricket author had said, 'How I wish the number of prayers get fits compared to the number of works '! Just to-day night, when I was having a cup of tea at a tea-stall, the secretary of the stall-owner held arguing with the owner on how India is better placed to get the cup given their strong batting line-up and his faith in the top three. But, the master was unwilling to recognize after seeing the bowling of Nehra and co washing away Tendulkar's century just past Saturday. I'm that it's the Indian team's obligation now, to prove that assistant right, to prove my hope right and to fulfill what the collective consciousness continues to be demanding through the years.
Is it Certainly About Tendulkar?
Therefore, where does the notion to all of this place of winning the cup for Tendulkar?? Is it only about Tendulkar or is it also about a whole generation, who've recognized no other HERO than Tendulkar? In his book 'All That You Can't Leave Behind', Soumya Bhattacharya writes - 'It strikes me that there's an entire generation of Indian cricket fans who are, say, in their mid- or late-twenties, remember no Indian cricket apart from that dominated by Tendulkar. They will, once he goes, understand the strangeness of devoid of him there. Identify further on an affiliated article directory - Click here: Greens Cooking. They'll need to cope with the machine. And they shall talk to future generations of what it had been like to own him around.'
I'm among those of countless fans who have lived and felt the pain each time India has failed to win the World cup for Sachin or otherwise (just in case you don't know very well what otherwise means, it means for the country). Ok! Allow me to date=june 2011 this directly. What does 'winning the earth cup for Sachin' mean exactly? Maybe, just maybe, there is no better patriot than Sachin in India, if you discard the knowing that patriotism is only about sacrificing your life on the battlefield. His often-cliched statement following a nervous 90 breakdown goes like this - 'Provided that the team wins, I am satisfied with my 90s.' (Come on! Who in the world is happy getting out in the 90s?) What does this statement mean? It simply means Tendulkar is both actually humble or not human. He desperately wants to cover his international career along with his long cherished desire. Now, what is wrong with that? Also being a Tendulkar diehard, I do not care if he reaches his landmark of 100 centuries till the ultimate or not! Even when he gets out on zero in most innings henceforth and India wins the cup, I will be much more than happy.
The Current Scenario
With that said, I'm fed up with people criticizing Dhoni and Nehra, for your other day against South Africa. Dhoni is just a gambler. Sometimes it takes care of and sometimes not. Browse here at the link needs to compare when to allow for this thing. It generally does not mean we must publicly begin a hate-campaign against Nehra. Have faith! They've been our cricketing assets over the years. If he's for the reason that staff of 11, he's the top job in India recruited through probably the most cunning process of selection. My gut-feeling says Nehra should come good in the residual matches. He's to!
My mind is wandering to the Wankhede on second April with Sachin playing that lovely cover drive to Brett Lee (many probably!) to get off the mark. Oh! How many times I should have relished that drive? However, I cannot have enough of it. I am an optimist and a dreamer! Recently, certainly one of my friends believed to me - You're building castles in the air! My answer is - Yes, certainly. I'm building castles in the air. It's now., If at all there's time for you to build those. It is time to dream. If at all the dream isn't fulfilled on 2nd April or crushed even before that, I will at least have the satisfaction of having recognized my staff with all my heart till the end. No cynicism or pessimism..only HOPE, the greatest of all feelings, coz' as Andy said to Red in The Shawshank Redemption, 'Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies '!.