Jubilant Despite the Loss

The morning dawned murky and annoying. My mind was elsewhere. My friends were on the field while I had to sit at home and watch the match on the idiot box. There was a great longing in me but there was also happiness for my friends. Nothing comes my way easy and I have always had to strive and struggle even for the simplest of things. So I ain’t complaining.

From 17 without loss to 24 for 5, the Indian top order collapsed, leaving all of us shocked beyond words. I wanted a Sehwag blitzkrieg, I wanted a Kohli showdown but never once did I expect the top order to tumble down. Least of all, I didn’t expect the Indian Captain to bring about the change in the score card. Just when I thought that the game was done for, Dhoni walked out to the middle with a determined expression on his face. The phrases “from then there was no looking back” “it was a smasher of an innings” definitely do not hold good because this innings was way more than all of that. This was an innings which was spread across for more than forty overs and this was an innings which required every sweat of his, every ounce of his energy. The fact that he gave his everything to give India a chance to fight was worth watching. There was nothing left of him, the cramps were taking a toll of him but there he was, pushing the singles to doubles and never once letting go of the chance to get an additional run.

With Raina and Ashwin, he slowly built up the Indian innings. Fifty turned to hundred and hundred to one hundred and fifty. There were ten overs left and the Indian fans oozed hope and support.

The Indian innings came to an end after a hundred which is worth remembering in a long time because this was a century which saw the beauty of commitment, which saw the wonderfulness of patience, which saw the magnificence of a leader, which saw the radiance of a true performer.

These words are not out of the fact that he was successful today. I have and always had great respect for Dhoni but I disliked the fact that people never saw the dip in his form in the past two years. He has done a lot for Indian cricket; there is no doubt about that. My only qualm was that he was standing up to his potential.

If there is one other thing that I am proud of after today, it would definitely have to be the Indian seam bowlers. When Bhuvaneswar Kumar breached Mohammad Hafeez’s defense in the first ball of the first over of the Pakistan innings, I was left speechless. There was swing, there was movement and there was amazing dynamics.

Ishant Sharma hit the deck hard and Ashoke Dinda proved that he was a worthy addition to the Indian bowling line up. The ball swung and created a lot of trouble for the Pakistani batsmen but they were smart enough to learn from the Indian mistake and that was to see the new ball through. Once that was done, I knew for certain that the game was theirs. The ball came onto the bat nicely after that and all they had to do was stick to the 4 run an over strategy which was what they did. Nasir Jamshed played a brilliant knock which almost overshadowed the Indian Captain’s innings. He stayed throughout the Pakistan innings and took the game away from India.

When Dhoni was announced the Man of the Match, there was pride in his eyes and I knew then that he was looking at more than this particular match. The top order failed miserably, no doubt about that but there is nothing major to worry about that because when they click, they can be lethal. One worrying factor about the Indian team was the seam line up and today proved that we have gems whom we can be proud of.

From,

Not an analyst, but a fan.

Aishwarya Kumar.