Its a good feeling to watch India making sure that the Aussies will not win the World cup for the fourth time running. Its an even better feeling to stand in office with a couple of other guys and watch the match on a laptop. The excitement needs to be controlled since we do not have the freedom to scream out our feelings, and this adds to the nervousness of the moments. With no nails to bite, I was ready to bite off the skin on my fingers as Yuvi and Raina started to rebuild the chase. Every ball, we cheered, every run we celebrated and with the target getting closer, we drifted closer to the edge of our seats. We were not going to fall off, but rather were gearing up to jump off the seats and rejoice in the victory that was soon to follow.
The era of Aussie domination in cricket had officially come to an end. Ironically, when Steve Waugh had the record for maximum number of consecutive test match victories, India ended it with the help of Very Very Special performances by Laxman, Dravid and Bhajji. Its good to see that on this occasion, the youngsters took the mantle upon themselves and clinically sent the champions packing. The match started at an odd time for me- 2am PST. Being the lazy fellow that I am, I woke up to see Ashwin bowling the carrom ball to Shane Watson and figured that sleep was more important than watching the men in yellow scoring some runs.
I cannot explain how glad I was after finding out that I had slept through a Ponting century. Frankly, I hate the guy for his attitude and gamesmanship, so I wouldn't have enjoyed even a single moment of it. So I got up to a sensational pull shot from Sachin off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson and thought that Sachin would end up scoring a revenge-century against the Aussies. I thought I'd be able to watch God score his century by the time I got to office, but I was disappointed to find out that he had nicked one to the wicket keeper soon after his 94th half century.
When I heard that Yuvi was playing well and stabilizing the innings, I was driving at an insane speed of 35mph on highway 101, thanks to a few thousand cars with brightly glowing brake lights feebly visible through the heavily drenched windshield of my car. The wipers were in full swing and were frankly going faster than the speed of moving traffic on the freeway. I was thankful to any cars heading off towards the exits, freeing up traffic for me. I was not disappointed after all the delay as I still got to watch Ponting get taken down by Yuvi. As I can see it, Yuvraj now has the right temperament and is in the right phase of his career, having tasted the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of being a star.
With Sachin slowly but surely heading towards the end of his career, I think its about time the Yuvi era took shape for Indian cricket. The lucky charm called Yuvraj Singh keeps rolling- When Yuvi scores, India wins. Hoping for two more MoM performances from him in this World cup. Anyone in the US planning to sleep on the night the match between Ind and Pak takes place next week? I shall plan not to.
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