On March 24th,a Thursday, it was known that India will be playing Pakistan in the semi finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. India, playing at home, had just beaten the current champions Australia, breaking their record of 3 consecutive world cup wins. Coincidentally, Pakistan was the team who snapped Australia's unbeaten streak in world cup matches. A record that dates back to 1999. India vs. Pakistan. It doesn't get bigger than this in the world of cricket. The Ashes comes close maybe, but an India-Pakistan match is far beyond anything else. And it being for a spot in the World Cup Final made it even bigger.
Indo-Pak cricket has always been a spectacle. With the political histories of the two countries, it is a big deal. It always is, always will be.
The excitement started probably form the second after India beat Australia. With Pakistan beating the West Indies the previous day, everyone knew what was in store in Mohali on the 30th of March. India and Pakistan matches, tests , one days and T20s always create an atmosphere of unbelievable intensity. Lately, matches between the two have been few and this just added even more spice. It was going to be memorable.
People started talking. Discussions with my roommates about who should play, who will win, who the favorites are, who the underdogs are. It was cricket fever like never before. Friends started posting links and videos on Facebook about the passion of these matches. Memorable moments, confrontations between players, tensions running high. It probably is the biggest match possible (other than if they met in the final).
India had a record of 4-0 against Pakistan in World cups. Pakistan had never lost to India in Mohali. One of these records was going to be broken. Memories of Javed Miandad vs. Kiran More in 1992, Venkatesh Prasad vs. Aamir Sohail in 1996, Sachin Tendulkar vs. Shoaib Akhtar in 2003 flood back to us like it was yesterday. It was setup like no other game had been setup.
Everyone at school was talking about it. Rumors flying around that the Graduate Indian Student Association was planning on telecasting the match on a big screen. For a cricket match that starts at 5 am. Meeting people at school just to talk about it. There wasn't much talk about tactics or predictions. Most talk was directed towards it being an India-Pakistan match. Everything else seemed irrelevant. And the rumor was true. GISA was going to telecast the match in the Gym on the 30th at 5 am. It was going to be incredible.
It was finally the 29th. GISA had all the preparations ready. Everyone was confirming whether or not the were going to make it at 5 am. Whether the streaming would be of good quality. Whether we were allowed to bring drums and empty plastic bottles to bang like any cricket match in India. A facebook event was created. Over 150 people said they were attending. Asking everyone anyone met whether they are coming or not. I left school at 6 in the evening. The plan was to sleep a little earlier and wake up by 4 am. I crashed unexpectedly at 7:30 and got up at 10:30. Err. Damn, was I gonna be able to make it through the night. There wasn't any food at home as yours truly was supposed to cook and didn't. A late night walk to the Chinese restaurant to buy food for whoever wanted to eat.
12:30 am on the 30th. Four and half hours to go. In the midst of deciding whether to sleep or not, Avinash, Vivek, Kanishka and I started a game of AOE. Coincidence was that we were playing against someone from Pakistan. For us, the battle had begun. If only my laptop wireless worked like it is supposed to, we would have won. As always, we played Counter Strike after. It seemed like any other night at home.
3 am. 2 hours to go. Madhan comes and tells us to check out ESPN.com. It has Sachin on it's homepage. The title reads - 1 man, 1 billion hopes. That says it all. Again, we start talking about the match. Watching India-Pakistan videos again. Wondering who made the video because it had more of Pakistan than India. Stupid. The intensity was reaching it's optimum.
4:30 am. A half hour to go. Standing in the Euclid Avenue station. A shuttle train from Ozone Park pulls in. A lot of people get out. We know it's a part of the Indian contingent from school.
5 am. It begins. India wins the toss and decides to bat. The setup for the match is nice. A large screen. People sitting all around. It's been ages since I've seen a match in this kind of atmosphere. Sehwag gets off to a blinder of a start. People are cheering, screaming. Then, he gets out. Silence all around. It was crazy again when Tendulkar was given out leg before wicket. He reviews it. A successful review. People start to curse the umpire. This is what it's all about. He gets stumped the next ball. It goes to the 3rd umpire again. He's not out. This was simply unbelievable. Then, the middle overs come. All the screaming and cheering mellows down. Random clapping and cheering for a four , a good shot. It starts to build up again once the last few overs come around. It doesn't matter that only Raina remains. Harbhajan Singh provides a few laughs. Especially with the dead ball call when Raina (at the non-strikers end) drops his bat. Eventually, India finish with 260. I was pretty confident as long as we bowled well.
Pakistan start to bat. Pushkar and I head upstairs to our lab to watch the match there. There is always something about watching a high tension game in solitude that appeals to me. Pakistan start like India did. I fall asleep, miss the first wicket. India seems to be bowling really well. Munaf Patel is bowling perfectly and even Ashish Nehra is bowling well. A second wicket falls. Crucial. The Pakistan batsmen are getting starts. The Indian bowlers are not letting them off the hook. Wickets start to fall at regular intervals. But Pakistan bats till number 8. And dangerous men in Razzaq and Afridi to come. Razzaq gets bowled by a beauty from Munaf. Afridi walks in. The equation is in India's favor. But, Afridi can change a game. Afridi gets out in the 42nd over. We had to go down to the gym. It was electric down there. Balaji leads the chanting. People are screaming everywhere. Misbah does his best to silence us but to no avail.
India dismiss Pakistan in the last over. Pandemonium everywhere. People are going crazy. India are in the World Cup final again. India beat Pakistan in the world cup again. It was a perfect script. A close game. India face Sri Lanka on saturday in the first ever all-Asian world cup final.
Today was brilliant. Something really memorable. The whole occasion. India-Pakistan. Semifinal. Watching it at school at 5 am. Cheering, screaming like everyone would have back home. and most importantly, India win. The final is going to be special too if we win. Though even a world cup win might not take away the intensity of this one.
Atu
No comments:
Post a Comment