Hi Guys,
I was quite busy
for the past few days and it has been really difficult to think about a topic
to write and I was also not able to read my follower’s blogs. It feels so good
to be writing something again. Also, I am going to write about Cricket after a
long time.
Last time, I
cherished watching the match was the 2011 World Cup Final, when Dhoni sealed
the Cup with a six. There was no time for celebration and within a week, the
players were in IPL. It turned out to be very boring and people hated to see
players in different teams. Gayle’s blitzkriegs lighted the tournament towards
the end and the last few days were much better than the first few.
Then India went
to West Indies and… Well, what happened there? I don’t remember exactly. Many
of the key players were down with injuries and some were given rest and young
Indian team managed to win the ODi series and test series.
Then came India’s
worst ever performance in the last 10 years. A team, that was performing well
in overseas failed miserably and didn’t even come close to the performance of
the English. Except Rahul Dravid (and occasionally Sachin Tendulkar) no one
else seemed comfortable. Contrastingly English Players were so comfortable against
our bowling. Even their tail Enders batted well and Indians came back without
winning a match.
Then England
came back here for an ODI series. I think Champions League was conducted in
between. I was expecting some tough competition, but English surrendered
without fight. It was tough to believe that the same team thrashed India two
months back. So, the hunter became the hunted.
So, slowly my
cricketing interests were diminishing and then came the India vs West Indies
series. I had no interest in the series. I thought India would be comfortable.
But, life is full of surprises.
Indians were
trailing by 95 runs in the first innings. I thought, it was tough and Indians
may lose. But, then our spinners bundled out the West Indies batsmen and after
a long time our top order clicked. Everyone contributed and India won.
Then, it was day
before yesterday. I was seeing some video in Facebook, when my friend pinged, ‘Karthi,
watching SA vs Aus match?’ I replied no and thought something interesting was
going. I just then checked the score and OMG! Aussies were 21-7. I started to
type a message to send to my friends and now they were 21-8. I started sending
and now they were 21-9.
I had checked
the scores in the starting of the day and Clarke was batting brilliantly. So, I
was confused how Aussies were playing their second innings. Then, I came to
know SA was all out for 96. 17 continuous batsmen (SA’s last 9 and Aussies
first 8) were having single digit. It was heaven for bowlers and hell for
batsmen (or, was it?)
I thought in the
conditions, it was difficult for SA and Aussies had an upper hand. But, then I
didn’t know Smith was always brilliant in fourth innings. He hit his fourth
consecutive century in fourth innings and increased his fourth innings
average to 85. The match was over by the third day. What a match!
Both the matches
have some similarities. The team that batted first had a huge lead and then
collapsed in the second innings (though the magnitude was different). Both team’s
batsmen failed miserably in first innings and came back strong in the second
innings. Two debutant bowlers (Aswin and Philander) collapsed the opposition batsmen
in the second innings and both of them got Man of the Match awards (only third player in their respective countries to do so).
So, Cricket has
again become an interesting game to watch!
Happy Reading!!!
What a match it was Aus vs Sa. Great match, I could not believe what was happening. Also Peter Roebuck, has died yesterday. He was one of my favorite cricket writers.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice Sunday Karthick:)
karthi i think the friend who pinged you to watch the aussie match is me.. Right ??
ReplyDelete@Arti
ReplyDeletethanks for the comments... very sad... RIP Peter Roebuck... one of my favorites too:(
@Jothi Kameswaran
ReplyDeleteyes... thats u...
great to see u in my blog...
R Ashiwn Talented player for india..
ReplyDelete