Cricket - A Game of Emotions

History repeats itself, but not always :). -- this came to my mindafter today’s quarterfinal match between Australia and India which India won. All these years, at least since our generation started understanding cricket it has been always Australian team that prevailed in crunch situations on any given day in WC. They have given us a lot of heartbreaks during all these years & WC 2003 Final was worst 'trouncing' of all.

I remember, it was a league match in 1987 Reliance WC and India lost that match by 1 run. I asked dad, why did we lose and he said "this is game of cricket son. We need to learn that we can win and not to lose the grip till last ball" I remember just nodding to his statement but never fully understood what he was saying untill after 4 yrs when India lost to Australia again by 1 run, this time in 1992 WC. India did not do well in that WC but still it was heart break for sure. Allan Border went wrong in his calculations and had to stay with Moody for the final over. As he bowled last ball Jawagal srinath hit it to mid wicket and we all thought it’s going for six. Out of no where Steve Waugh shows up on the boundary and to our surprize he drops the catch. But recovers, picks it up fast and throws it to David Boon (temp wicket keeper). He was brilliantly quick and gets Raju run out. Raju was quite lazy running to the danger end thinking Javagal won the match for india (which he almost did).
Then came league match vs. Australia in 1996 WC. Sachin was in terrific form and looted 19 runs from Mcgrath's single over. This followed by a shabby over from Warne and then McGrath came back again. 2nd ball and he was hit for a bigee over midwicket boundary for a huge 6. Macgrath ended that over with a boundary from a full toss which was driven through the covers. Taylor had to stop him and he brings Mark Waugh on. India chasing @250 and sachin comes down the track, M E Waugh bowls it wide of the off stump and Ian Healy did the rest. India eventually lost the match it should have won.
99WC: Mark Waugh was playing under shadow but it was his day since he always relished Indian bowling. He scored 85 odd runs to take Australia to a big total. Mcgrath made sure early breakthroughs by getting out Sachin and Dravid who were India's in-form batsmen.

99 Finals: Australia Vs Pakistan. All eyes were on this game, especialy Australia, since they had just played 2 best matches in the cricket history and managed to stay alive to play the finals. First one was their last super six game against SA and a memorable semifinal which was tied. Australians were always confident to win the finals but Pakistan was in full swing too with all the telented players in. Pakistan had defeated Australia in league matches. On the day of the finals, match turned out to be on sided. Australian bowling and immaculate fielding saw a very small total from Pakistan on board which Australia chased easily.

And the saga continued till 2003 Final where they put up a mammoth total of 350+ on boeard leaving india helpless and were never in the game that day. Story continued in 2007 WC where Adam Gilchrist started the proceedings for Ausies and he socred an audacious, trade mark Gilchrist century almost paralyzing Sri Lankans.

Ask any Indian or Sri Lankan or Pakistani or South African or British about it and turning the pages of the history backward everyone will always say that when it comes to WC, it is always Australia that they fear the most. Australians have always denied world cup to these teams in recent past. Over the years, they have art or skill to win or steal the big shows. ‘Clicking at the right time’ or ‘doing it when it matters most’ attitude & thus clinching victory from jaws of defeat is what Australiasm is all about. Just before the game between Australia and India there were talks around to keep an eye on Ponting since he had not clicked yet. I was watchng the game and saw Dhoni losing the toss and Aussies elected to bat, the same old tactics they have used to defeat India over the yrs. Haddin and Watson were cautious but scoring at a rate of 5 per over. Then a couple of wicket fell which brought Ponting to the crease. Looking at the player or his stats or sixth sense whatever, I was sure that today is gonna be his day and that’s exactly what happened. He scored a ton to take Australia to respectable score of 260. Now it was a turn of the men in blue to show their skills with the bat amidst heavy criticisms they have recieved @ their bowing and captaincy. Sachin & Sehwag were looking majestic and already scored a couple of quick boundaries each of Tait and Lee. Sehwag falls early and gambhir walk in. There was a healthy partnership of 40-50 runs bet them when Sachin was caught behind the stumps. Gambhir was run out after scoring 50 and Dhoni went away cheaply later. Yuvraj - Raina had a big task ahead with @70 odd runs to win. This pair was the last recognized batsmen in indian batting line up. Australia was tightening the screws slowly and RR jumped above 6. Next few overs were to be the deciders where match is going to swing. It was Yuvi who stuck Lee for 14 runs with 2 majestic boundaries, this was followed by an expensive over from Tait and this exactly where the tables were turned in India's favor. Eventually India went on to win the match with 15 balls to spare.

After 2003 India vs. Pakistan match, it was first time ever when this match was such a big hype and atmosphere was very well created in advance for this match. After India’s win today, it quickly became talk of the town and there were emails flying around about the same. Main reason of it as I can see is the face of Australian cricket has developed over the years. Apart from playing professional cricket they are well known for their Rude (mis)behavior on the ground and known as bad boys in game of cricket. Despite of their arrogance, cricket lovers always accepted them on account of the quality cricket they were playing. But things were different now with gr8 players gone suddenly Australia was looking an ordinary team. After losing quality players like McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Aussies were no more a formidable opponent and now people wanted them to lose and they were looking at India and Pakistan to do it. And to delight of all of us, this is exactly what happened.


If we were thrilled by India’s victory over Australia, what lies ahead should be an even thrilling contest. India Vs Pakistan, in a World Cup semi final, in front of India’s home crowd..It does not get bigger (and better) than this!! Though India start as favorites, we can never discount Pakistan’s ability to spring a surprise. Hoping to witness history being made and India marching on to the Finals!