This day, those memories

Pakistan required 4 of the last ball.  The audience (both at the stands and at home) on the edge of their seats! Most Indians were confident of an Indian victory (why not? This was 25 years before Twenty-20, and to score a boundary of the last ball of a match was unheard of!).

You know what happened next! Chetan Sharma bowls a lolly full toss, which Javed Miandad tonks over mid-wicket for a six. Javed Miandad dances like a mad-man back to the pavilion. The crowds are ecstatic. Pakistan has won the Sharjah Cup again, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!

The camera zooms to Chetan Sharma's dejected face! Almost every Indian (me included) cursed Chetan Sharma that day! How idiotic can the bowler be? I mean he could have bowled anything but full toss!! Hell, he could have even rolled the ball over!

Forward to the winter of 1997. KV Minambakkam school grounds. A cricket match between Class XII vs Class X. The seniors' batted first put on a decent score.

The juniors started their innings cautiously. Jaggi took the first wicket. Junior's main batsman Karthik was out cheaply.

The senior team captain handed over the ball to me for my spell. I took two wickets in two balls in the first over, and suddenly the task was uphill for the Juniors, but they fought on doggedly.

Sapta and Ramji rushed through few quick overs and tookfew wickets as well. It was a close contest.

12 required of the last over. I was required to bowl the last over. Manish was on strike.

He swung and missed the first two balls. 12 required of 4.

Manish flicked the next ball to mid-on and snatched a 2. 10 required of 3.

A single denied of the next ball, 10 required of 2. We were confident of victory now.

Manish edged past the third man to score a four off the penultimate ball of the match. 6 required of 1.

As I ran in to deliver the final ball of the match, I told myself, whatever I do, I won't bowl a full toss!

However the moment I release the ball, I know it was done for. The ball was full and Manish tonked it over long on for six!!!

17 years have passed since then. But to this day, whenever there is a close encounter (in a life or a game), I see the image of Manish Biswas carting my ball over long-on!!

It's after-all a game you say! Well someone please tell that to my heart!!!

Dear Chetan Sharma, 

Never did I realize, that one day, I would empathize with you. I understand that you never meant it to be a full toss. Things just happen and you don't have control over them! And it takes an eternity to make peace with such mistakes!

Could you please help me, how did you get over it (if you really did)??

Once bitten, twice shy

Once bitten, twice shy.
Twice bitten, must never try!
Thrice bitten, must go and die!
Still I'vent learnt, I wonder why??

Maybe its just my brain,
which has gone insane!
When I don't abstain
from taking the same old lane!

Is it hope?
or am I on dope?
to think that I can cope
this drift down the slope??

Someday I will anchor
and fight away this rancor!
Despite being infected with canker
But the thought will still hanker!!

Un-awakeable Dream

Sneaked upon me when I least expected
got smitten by the art you've now perfected!
Do you know how big a dream you've erected?
But I know I will stand dejected!!

I'm stuck in a dream from which I can't awake
But dreaming of you, makes my heart ache!
I am no John Milton or William Blake,
to use words and melt objects opaque!

To dream on is sheer madness!
But to awake would mean, drown in sadness!
You may call this attitude callous
But you haven't beholden my dream Alas!!

There are ones that some can't forget
While for others there are ones that you can't get!
The ill-fortune to experience both is mine, you bet!
Not a night passes by (or is allowed to pass by) in this sweat!!

(to be continued....)

What is Dravid like in real life?

Well read this http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/inspirational-story-rahul-dravid-conversing-bed-ridden-fan-skype


And a funny exchange between Saurav and Rahul in the commentary box

http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/rahul-dravid-sourav-ganguly-banter-commentary

Lament of a confused mind!

It was just a prose
were the words you chose!
All the water of the oceans, sprayed with a hose
Alas, the fire caused still couldn't be doused!


I ought have been stupid
to think my intentions were lucid,
Even with the help of a druid
How could I reshape a stone as if it were a fluid!!


Wonder whether all this is for fun?
or you just wanted me stunned?
There I go roaming nomadic as a hun,
believing a plausible story you've spun!


I still believe these all to be an assumption,
that I arrived at, using a flawed Holmesian deduction!
Wish I could win a temporary injunction
before there is a severe destruction!!


Amidst the trees of lament and woe,
reading the signs that advise me to let go,
Wondering if I should join the flow
or do I risk another below the belt blow??

Colors

This one time
A friend of mine,
Commented on my complexion,
After some introspection.
I decided to answer in many lines.

I've been deep in blue,
Even though many near me, had no clue,
There are times when I've been red with rage,
When others were not on the same page.
But shades have changed as wind blew.

In all these years, my body has seen,
the one shade that was missed was green.
Few friends have questioned me why,
incapable was I, of this, even when I tried?
guess then, my heart was too strong to wean.

I wish I were young and old together,
As its become tough being neither.
If I were 10 more years old,
With a heart more bold,
I could travel in all weather!

Had I been 10 years younger,
I could at least satiate my hunger.
my position wouldn't have been so futile,
I could have managed to be more utile.
and finally would have been the winning number.


(PS: An lame attempt at writing a limerick)

Draxman Saga

13 summers ago, on this very day, My friends and I decided to bunk college and go to a movie, a decision which I have regretted till this date! Why you ask? Well, it was on that day, a partnership in cricketing parlance, known as Draxman union began. The Draxman Saga (Dravid - Laxman) is something that cricket lovers of my generation (30ish something) will recall with fond memories.

For those who came in late, back in 2001, the Indian team wasn't world beaters (Well they aren't so even now, but at least they weren't as consistent as they are now!). The Indian team had got their worst pasting in Australia back in '99, then came the match-fixing controversy. The public had lost confidence in the team. A new Captain was at the helm and the team was picking one broken stick at a time.

Meanwhile, the Australian team was on a roll. The juggernaut had won 16 tests in a row. And just a week back, they had steam-rolled India at Wankhede in under 3 days! The Aussies had already started their mental disintegration tactics. Michael Slater continued to sledge Dravid at Wankhede.

Eden Gardens wasn't a lucky ground for India as well and but surprisingly India managed to restrict Australia to under 300 for around 8 wickets on day one. But then Captain "Ice Man" managed to get Australia beyond 400 on day 2, while India was reduced to 128/8.

On day-3 India was asked to follow-on, we were able to witness the magician Laxman at work. He did score a century. But like all Indian cricket fans at that time, we thought the innings was just a flash in the pan, and the floodgates of wickets would with the fall of just one more wicket. On day 4, my friends and I wanted to save ourselves from another heartburn, hence decided to bunk college and go to a movie (For the record the movie was *Minnale*, which became a cult classic in its own right, and continues to remain even today, one of the favorites of many my generation).

While returning home from the movie, I avoided discussing the match with others. Only after I returned home was I aware of what I had missed. I regretted that decision so badly, that I decided to bunk college again the very next day in order to catch the action on day 5. Not that I was confident that India will win, I was only hoping to watch more of the Draxman partnership.

What happened on day-5 is history. You don't need me to say what happened, you can read that on Cricinfo. The Indian coach in his book "Indian Summers" calls this innings as the biggest comeback since Lazarus. Well, I don't know what he means by that, neither do I know who was Lazarus. But that one innings was the turning point in Indian cricket.

An average Indian fan was always a "die-hard". He/She would have continued to support the team, come what may. But that one inning gave the average Indian fan confidence to trust the team to bounce back even when the chips were down!