Life is a pitch

      Life is a Pitch.Well, I am not talking about a sales pitch or anything to do with my voice. It's about the cricket pitch.Ever since class five , cricket has been a part and parcel of my daily life. So much so that I relate every other situation in my life to cricket. I usually think of Rahul Dravid when the chips were down and I have to fight hard to achieve something. Sehwag's batting comes to my mind when I give a presentation and then I tell myself to be my natural self ( play my natural game in cricket terminology). I recollect Sachin's Sydney double century when I have to adapt to a new situation just like he did playing just on the on-side. I usually associate helping a new team member with Steve Waugh batting with a rookie and helping him along. Now then I guess you know why this blog is titled 'Life is a pitch'.

     A couple of posts here are on some of the unforgettable knocks that I have seen in the past from two great left-handers. The post 'Befuddling the best'  is on Adam Gilchrist and how he propelled Deccan Chargers to the final of IPL-2 . The post ' Murderer from Matara' is on another great left hander Sanath Jayasuriya and how he started the slam-bang kind of cricket way back in 1996. There is one post 'Rising to the occasion' which depicts how I relate cricket to my life. The post on 'Cricket Aaj Kal' is about how the game has evolved over the years and the differences between cricketers/cricket then and now.

Cricket Aaj Kal

       I was watching the match between India and Pakistan when Dravid and Virat Kohli were batting. There was so much difference between their styles and more importantly their attitudes. For a moment, I imagined Gavaskar and Kohli batting together and wondered how it would be.Cricket has evolved  and changed so much during the last few years. And then I thought of Cricket Aaj Kal. Inspired by Imtiaz Ali's recent movie 'Love Aaj Kal' starring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone, I felt I could perhaps write a post how cricket was in the yesteryears and how it is now just like the movie explains how the expression of  love have changed over the years. So over to 'Cricket Aaj Kal'  now

Click here below link to view the 'Cricket Aaj Kal' presentation. ( since the post had a lot of images, a presentation  has been preferred to a blog.)

Rising to the occasion

          It was the 13th of July, 2002. I was warming up to watch the Nat West series final between India and England. Warming up in a cool manner, I had just gobbled half a litre of ice cream. The calling bell rang and I opened the door to find my parents. Both Mom and Dad were a bit dull and tensed. Oh! I had suddenly remembered that they had gone to get the results of my blood and urine samples for testing sugar. Things were now clear to me. I came to know from my dad that the results had confirmed that I had 'diabetes'.

      And the sugar levels were quite high. ( 341, a far cry from the normal 120). My hear sank. I felt very sad that I was a diabetic at such a young age. My parents were even more depressed and dad started making calls to his diabetic friends. I felt that Lady Luck was very harsh on me and my family.

  But there was someone else who had also ran out of luck. The Indian team seemed to be heading towards another defeat in yet another final. At the end of their quota of 50 overs, the Poms had get a mammoth target of 326 for India to chase. During the break, I went out for a walk. As I started walking, the thought of diabetes was haunting me. I spent some time brooding about the past and worrying about the future. Then I cam back home.

   By then, the Indian openers had given India a rollicking start. The 100 was up in the 14th over. I was excited but not sure whether the Indians would be able to maintain the run rate. My fears turned out to be true as the next five wickets fell quickly. The score was now 146/5 and with only Yuvraj and Kaif to follow, India was in dir straits.

  But as you all know, what happened in the next one hour was sheer magic. Yuvraj and Kaif scripted a great win for India. After the presentations were over, I realized that I forgot about diabetes and was instead enjoying myself. The words of Harsha Bhogle echoed in my ears ' A lesson for every Indian youngster. A great lesson indeed! Yuvraj and Kaf had shown me the way, Fight when the chips are down. Never give up. Believe in yourself.

        It was then that I said to myself  'I will fight diabetes'. On the other hand the fact that many handicapped peoeple emegered victorious in history made me more determined and resolute to fight diabetes.

       Basking in the glory of a great Indian win and mentally preparing myself for an exciting future with interesting challenges, I fell asleep. But since then I have been awake to face this new challenge in life-Diabetes.

The Murderer from Matara

              It was March 2nd in the year 1996. Many Indian cricket fans do not remember the date but if they hear the following words they will surely recollect what I am talking about

             Sanath Jayasuriya | Manoj Prabhakar | Feroz Shah Kotla| Defeat | 4 overs for 47

       I am sure most of you remember that I am talking about the league match between India and Sri Lanka at the Feroz Shah Kotla in the 1996 Wills World Cup. It wasn’t any knock-out match as such but whenever India plays Sri-Lanka scenes from this match usually flash through any Indian cricket fan’s memory. Especially if the fan was a high school student like me in 1996. Well, let me go years down the memory lane now.

         It was a Saturday and the school was over. I with couple of my friends rushed to the school canteen to find out the score of the India Sri Lanka match. It was around the 40th over. India was batting. Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin were at the crease. India was doing pretty well. I heard a few voices saying that India had a very slow start and a look at the scorecard confirmed that. Manoj Prabhakar opening the innings with Sachin had made 7 off 36 balls.

          Sachin Tendulkar was at his best in the last few overs. It was extremely well paced innings with a steady start and accelerating towards the end with the last 37 runs coming off a mere 15 balls. Azhar played the support-act well made a useful 70 off 80 balls.  Ravindra Pushpakumara was hit for 23 runs in the final over and India made 271. I was thrilled to see Sachin bat the way he did. I can still remember how we shouted for each boundary that he had hit.  Little did we know what lay in store for us.

       I started from school and wanted reach home as soon as possible. I missed the bus and so started walking towards home.  On the way, I stopped to have a samosa at a shop. The shop keeper didn’t seem in the best of moods and as I glanced into his T.V set I soon found out the reason. I was shell-shocked when I saw that Sri Lanka was 42 in 3 overs. For a moment I wondered if there was something wrong. Perhaps it was a highlights package or maybe there was something wrong with the scorecard. No…that was the truth. Jayasuriya and Kaluwitrana had broken loose and Sri Lanka made 50 in less than 5 overs.  My friend who was along with me reminded me of our sentiment of India doing well when we got busy in some other activity and stopped watching them.  Hoping for the best, I resumed my journey.

          Sri Lanka had made 100 for the loss of 1 wicket by the time I reached home.  They lost 4 wickets but Ranatunga and Tilekeratne ensured that they won.  Jayasuriya and his opening partner Kalu hit Prabhakar for 11 and 22 in his first 2 overs. It surely wasn’t Prabhakar’s day after making 7 off 36 balls earlier in the day.  He tried bowling off breaks later but ended up giving 47 in 4 overs. He never played for India again. Jayasuriya was finally dismissed after making 79 off 76 balls.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  I was cursing him for ruining our day and denying us the match and Tendulkar the man of the match award.  I am sure there were a million Indian hearts that watched the match in disbelief that day.

                   When I look back at Jayasuriya’s innings, I feel it was a path-breaking knock. Remember that the innings would have a great one even if was played in today’s T20 environment. But the fact that it came at a time when a slow and a steady start was the norm of the day made it very special. 270 in those days was a very good score. Sri Lanka chased it comfortably thanks to the mayhem by Jayasuriya upfront. That was just the start for Jayasuriya. He made a brilliant 82 off 44 balls that knocked out England.  A few days later, he made the fastest hundred and fastest fifty against Pakistan at Singapore. Sri Lanka had the wood over India for the next 2 years especially in the matches played in Sri Lanka. Each time India would struggle and score around 230-240 only to be chased by Sri Lanka with ridiculous ease. Jayasuriya on many occasions would be their hero. There have been many such knocks against India including the 98 in the recent Compaq Cup and each of them still reminds me of that day in Feroz Shah Kotla. Such is the effect of the Feroz Shah Kotla knock!

P.S - The image is taken from  http://blogs.abc.net.au

Befuddling the best

                 'It is important that we give our best on the field. The result will then follow.'

            How many times have we heard cricket captains say this?. This statement holds well on most of the occasions. There are however a few instances like giving your best might just not be good enough. Usually in situations like this, it is the work of a genius, an unstoppable force that thwarts the spirit of the opposing team which finally ends up on the losing side. The semi-final match of the second IPL between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers was one such instance and it was brutal power of Adam Gilchrist that ended all hopes of the Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

             Coming into the semi-final, the Delhi Daredevils team was in red hot form winning 10 of their 14 matches. Deccan Chargers after starting off well in the tournament with 4 wins lost their way and was the 4th team to make it to the semifinals with 7 wins and 7 defeats edging out Kings XI Punjab on net run-rate. Delhi Daredevils was clearly the favourite going into the match. Deccan Chargers were a capable team but then they needed something special to pull of an upset. In the end their captain Adam Gilchrist did the special act for them.

        Chasing a target of 154, it was important for Deccan Chargers to get off a good start. One of their big players i.e. Gilchrist, Gibbs, Symonds and Rohit Sharma had to make a big score for them to win the match. Delhi had already had a taste of Gilchrist’s prowess in the league match when we smashed a 64 off 33 balls. It was only Rajat Bhatia's canny bowling and an irresponsible display by the Deccan lower order that saved the match for Delhi. It was imperative for Delhi not to allow a Gilchrist, Gibbs or Symonds stay at the wicket for too long since they had the capacity to take the match away from them.

         The first ball from Nannes was defended by Gilchrist. The next ball was a wide. And then it was all mayhem. The second ball that was pitched short was dispatched to the square leg boundary. The next one went in the opposite direction. The next one was over backward point.  The next was in the gap between mid-off and cover. The last shot of the over was a mere defensive push by Gilchrist that raced to the boundary. All different places but the result was the same - a four. 21 runs came off the first over.

    Nehra ensured that it wouldn't storm from both ends by nailing Gibbs. It was 24 at the end of 2 overs. Pradeep Sangwan who had troubled Gilchrist in the league match was brought in It didn't make much of a difference this time though with the first two balls disappearing for boundaries on either sides of the wicket. Sangwan bowled the next ball further up but the result was the maximum for Gilchrist who swung him across the line and planted the ball 20 rows over the deep midwicket fence.  Nehra bowled his second over trying to stem the full but Gilchrist was at his best hitting him for a six and a four.

       At the end of 5 overs Deccan was on 59 for the loss of one wicket with Gilchrist making 51 of those off just 19 balls.  Delhi had to do something now to stop Gilchrist who was in a hurry to take his team to the final. Delhi captain Sehwag who had an ordinary IPL came in to try and stop his opposite number. Gilchrist however was in no mood to relent and hit him for a four and 3 sixes in that over. Spin or pace didn't seem to make any difference to him. The fielders turned mere spectators watching the ball disappear to different parts of the ground. In fact the spectators seemed to have a better chance of catching the ball than them. There was another spectator too at the non-striker end. Azhar Bilakhia had made 5 off 11 balls till then and was perhaps thanking his stars for getting to watch an innings of the highest order from close quarters. The fact that it was a power-play didn't help Delhi either. Deccan Chargers had made more than half of their target 84 runs in the first 6 overs and needed a mere 70 runs off the remaining 14 overs.  Gilchrist hit another couple of boundaries before holing out to Nannes off Mishra. The match was literally over by then with Deccan needing less than a ball. (52 off 60 balls.).

          Over the past decade, one got to witness such high octane knocks from Gilchrist. His knocks in test matches usually came at a situation where the opposite had Australia in a spot of a bother only to be blown away by Gilchrist. His one-day innings at the top of the order often helped Australia get off a fiery start and chase competitive totals with ridiculous season. In the 20-20 arena, his century last year against Mumbai Indians was a breathtaking effort but in the end it was just a one of very few victories for Deccan Chargers which finished at the bottom of the table in IPL-1.  Coming into this season with the added responsibility of leading the side Gilchirst was determined to put on a better show and prove his team's worth. His cameos in this tournament helped Deccan win a few matches and make it to the semifinals. Gilchrist somehow managed to reserve his best for this moment against the best side of the tournament thus far. They did give their best on the field, but then as many international teams realized over the past decade there was nothing much that they could do.

P.S - The image is taken from www.cricinfo.com