T20 Blues!

1st of all Congrats to team India for pulling off such an amazing victory! It was a nail biting finish and one of the best finals i've seen in recent years. For the better part of last 10 years its usually an affair which had the Aussies running riot through the opposition and making even the best teams feel that they are freshers being ragged by seniors in a engg college hostel.

I had the wonderful opportunity to watch today's match with my sister, dad and a few of his friends. It has been a long time since my dad and i watched a match together. Today it happened mainly coz he was suffering from a bad tooth ache and he couldn't go to see the dentist because it was raining hard. So he got 3-4 friends of his @ home to watch the match and have what any mallu does on such occasions, have a few drinks! (Thy don't require a particular occasion, anything from birth of a child to divorce would do for a mallu)

After India won the toss and decided to bat, the ungles @ home decided that India needed a total of atleast 200 to win. Some even said 250 isn't enough coz guys like Sreesanth are in the team. So they made their predictions and when India had its openers walking onto the field it was an uproar from the ungles and this time my dad was th 1 who said "aara e puthiya payyene pidichu opener aakiye, athum finalil". It was a concern that i too shared. I didn't understand the logic behind team India's decision to send a debutant batsman to open the innings that too in a WORLD CUP final! With a lot of murmuring from the CROWD @ home, the men started the innings and when Yusuf Pathan hit the 1st six of the Indian innings, the crowd @ the Wanderers @ Jo'berg and that @ my home cheered along as if Yusuf were the next Sachin.

This went on and on until the Indian innings finished with 157 on board. The Ungles who'd said 200 wouldn't be enough were now putting India's chances of victory next to impossible. They were now predicting how soon the Pakis' would wind up the game. Again came the predictions which defied logic. They began to throw in numbers at will and i heard 10 overs, 15 overs and the like. Finally they all settled on 15 overs. When Uthappa grabbed Hafeez' wicket one person suddenly said "Indiaku chelapol jeyikaan saadhyatha und". The others went on say its not gonna happen.

Usually its me and my sis who have the debate about how India will win or who'll take the next wicket. But this day it wasn't supposed to be so! These ungles were all in high SPIRITS and the KICK was showing its full effect now! Dad then said India will have a good chance if 2-3 wickets fall within the 1st 5 overs. Now Sreesanth came to bowl his 3rd over and it was a riot of runs. The bowling figures were 4,6,6,4(or was it 6,6,4,4?) and when the ppl @ home saw this. They brought back their old predictions of pakis walking away with the cup within 10 overs. Imran Nazir was cracking shots like anything and it was all the more fun to watch the AGGRESSIVE Sreesanth get hit like that.

Even though it was anyone's game even now, the ungles @ home had the urge in them to support the Pakis. Then came RP Singh's next over and walks home Kamran Akmal! It was really a treat to the eyes watching Akmal's stumps fyling away and him walking away.

Like this it went on till the pakis were @ over number 16 and needing 54 runs from 24 balls. In came bhaji and he was hit for 3 sixes in that over and again the ungles who were silent for a while after the regular wickets from Irfan Pathan, started to murmur that Pakis will win in the next over. To help their cause Dhoni sent in Sreesanth to bowl and the very 1st ball is hit for a 6 by Tanvir. All of Sreesanth's aggression is flowing down his face as sweat. Ther's no beating the pitch(Mallu's read THARA standards) antics by him this time even when he got the wicket of Tanvir in the last ball of the over.

Now comes the crunch, 20 runs required from 12 balls. Dhoni sends in his trusted RP Singh and Singh does his best by taking Gul's wicket and giving away just 7 runs. Now came the last over where the pakis needed 13 from 6 balls and had just 1 wicket in hand. I thought Dhoni will entrust the last over to Bhaji as he was the experienced bowler, but instead he chose Joginder Sharma, the new kid. Again the ungles @ home murmured, "Dhoni innu mudi vettendi varum". That comment was proven right whn Sharma got hit for a 6 by Misbah. He had the strike now and Pakis now needed jus 6 runs off 4 balls. The ungles @ home started to pack up saying Pakis will win definitely and then came the wicket of Misbah and guess who took the catch "Sreesanth".

And @ the end of it all, one person said "Enthokke aayalum India nallonam kalichu"

End Result : Awesome game Dhoni & lads. Good commentry ungles @ home. Bad day for me and my dad!

A billion Salutes to the Men in Blue!