Last Friday, I was on a bus to Goa. Last Friday, India beat Pakistan in an absolute thriller in the first Twenty20 Cricket World Cup. And while I did not get to see it live, I enjoyed every ball - thanks to my friends who cared to send me ball by ball analysis and commentary on SMS for the last 30 mins of the match!
India batted first and managed a not-too-impressive 140 odd runs. Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals, giving us a good shot at victory, until an Ajit Agarkar over that cost over 20 runs, and brought defeat in sight! The last over still needed around 10 runs, and then it was 1 off the last two balls! Then a dot ball by Sreesanth, and guess what, the last ball was a dot too! Scores tied - and on to the bowl out!
So what's a bowl out? Each team selects 5 bowlers, to take a go each at the stumps. The team scoring more hits wins the encounter.
Sehwag goes first, and gets the hit! Pak misses. India 1-0. Harbhajan goes next, and hits! Pak misses again! India 2-0. Robin Uthappa then goes up, gets the hit, and does a little jog, taking his hat off to the crowd! Afridi takes the bowl, and misses! India win 3-0! (and maintains it's spotless record against Pakistan in the World Cups). And to add to the fun, the Pakistani captain later makes a statement that the team was not aware of the bowl out rules! Lol...
Interestingly, my bus was about to get out of cell phone coverage area beyond Kolhapur - but through some divine intervention, the range stayed on till the last ball of the bowl out!
When I first saw Twenty20, I was not too impressed - it seemed like slam bang all the way. However, this world cup has seen the game mature, and teams coping better with it. The matches have all been exciting, the differences between the super powers and the newbies gradually becoming smaller and smaller and matches more equally balanced, new strategies and new ploys bringing a lot more to the game, and of course, it's all over in just around 3 hours! Interesting times ahead...
Oh, and by the way, last Friday, Dravid resigned as India's captain :)
2 comments:
Twenty20 is what got me started with Cricket. I simply do not have the patience to track a match all day. This however, is simply amazing. I've never been a cricket buff.. But with Twenty20, I'm hooked!
Oh.. And did I mention.. The Indo-Pak match was the perfect thing to get started with. Heart Racing, Blood Pumping.. Excitement! Wow.. I was Yelling at the top of my lungs when it ended in a tie.. And the Bowl out reminded me So So much of Chak De! Real Neat!
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