First Love Part 2

I wrote about my childhood experiences with my first love and the matches i watched in a stadium.Most people often think that matches are supposed to watched on TV rather than in the stadium due to many reasons ranging from ticket prices...to time constraints...to view on television being better than in the stadium.Agreed television has revolutionized cricket we can sit on the couch and watch the games at our convenience.But,the fun of watching with 30000 people who are shouting India...India... and cheering on the players is a lifetime experience.

The T-20 final at chennai with 40000 people shouting  Csk...Csk,Dhoni...Dhoni...,Ashwin...Ashwin.. and what not! but nothing beats an India Pakistan Affair as i was privileged to see a test match in blazing sun which ended up in a stalemate eventually but the highlight of my India Pakistan would be seeing the players in a practice session and Me and My Father shouting aloo...aloo and so the other 30000 when Inzamam-ul-haq walked in to bat.

After the disastrous 2007 50 over world cup then came the concept of a T-20 world cup.So as usual i asked my father 20 overs?? seriously?? how can we play a 20 over world cup?.So when the schedule came i plotted how India can progress on and win it.I did it with my dad and i expected us to lose one game in the super six which we did against New Zealand and coming to the possible opponents my father told me that we might face australia in the semi-finals then i told India going out in the semi-finals yeah well beating australia is impossible,back in 2007 beating australia was unimaginable.

The tournament started India,scotland and pakistan were in one group.Pakistan beat scotland and India vs Scotland was washed out.So India vs pakistan again threatened to be a wash-out but the game went on India were cruising onto a win until some poor bowling and mad hitting happened and then some brilliant fielding to take the game to a bowl-out.There was no super over then and bowl-out was a concept adopted from football as a kind of penalty shoot-out.Pakistan Couldn't hit the stump one time and Sehwag,Harbhajan and uthappa guaranteed the win what a match that was!.

India went on and on as per me and my father's calculations and the loss against new zealand and the match vs south africa turned out by a virtual quarter-final and against the proteas who were the hosts of the inaugral edition of the T-20 competition.We dominated the match and it turned out to be another choke for the proteas and faced the mighty Australians in the semi-finals.
Cometh  the hour cometh the man Yuvraj Singh who smashed 6 sixes off 6 deliveries and expectations were high from high and boy he did not disappoint,70 off 30,out of the world hitting really! and in the second innings Hayden threatened to take the match away from India but with good bowling and the Australians blowing the chase India were in T-20 Finals against pakistan.

India vs Pakistan
This is the type of the game i want everytime,with the match swinging in both team's favours and India prevailing at the end."In the air..... sreeshanth takes it India win! ".These were the words said by ravi shastri when India won.6 were required of 4 balls i guess and misbah went to the scoop and when the ball went in the air i thought it was a six only for 2 seconds.
After the celebrations in johannesburg,chandigarh was celebrating too and we burst crackers and rejoiced.....






   

My Grandfather! :)

Whatever I do I see him here
Wherever I go I see him there
I associate this city with him
The association now is dim

He taught me a language in 15 days(Tamil)
Slowly slowly phrase by phrase
I unlocked it like a crossword maze.

He always believed in me when no one else did..
Even though I came for 10-15 days I always was his grandkid..

Whatever he bought he bought in pair
He was supposed to come to not go...its just not fair

Whatever I know about Pune
Its because of him
If I can read Tamil even slowly slowly
Its because of him

I came to Pune yesterday
He didn't greet me
I looked for him
He didn't meet me

His presence seems to be there
Bitter truth he isn't here..

He was the typical granddad
Full of love and full of warmth

Thank you for the memories!!

Train Travel's Scene

On her mothers lap she lay there
Hair seeming like fountain
Her face so cute and still seemt bare....

Far away cars passed by...
Trees stood still
Weeds swinging away
Admiring the rain...
The summers gave them strain..
Water released their pain...

Tomorrow will be hotter
They know it.
In their temporary joy
They dont show it.. 

Yuvi!!

First game blazed to a fifty
Won us the game batted so swiftly

19 year old diving in the covers
Bowlers used to run for cover

When he was in form he lead bowlers,opposition captains to a merry dance
When he threw from point no one had a chance

Sixes he hit that no one could
Won us world cups that we thought no one would

Flintoff barked broad paid the price
Six sixes he hit we were more than surprised

Played with cancer to fulfill our dream
Scored a century didn't even scream( India vs west Indies at Chennai)

He was down with cancer
But never out..
So much pain he endured
People still shout..

Ton after ton
He is Indian cricket's progidal son

I hope he plays world cup 2015 and plays the way he has played his entire career
Yuvi 

First Love Part 1

First love is special it need not be a girl necessarily though,it ranges from a bike riding to simply doing an activity we like.For me it was cricket and it wasnt Sachin tendulkar who made me fall in love with this sport it was Rahul dravid!

I've been watching cricket since I was 5 but i can remember the famous win over England in Natwest series 2002,i was 7 then,dravid and yuvi chasing 272 and the final chasing 326 against all odds kaif and yuvi playing the innings of their lives back then.We switched off the tv and sat in the balcony when we were 140 odd of 5 after sachin,dravid and mongia got out after a promising start given by ganguly and viru.So by chance my dad thought lets check the score and i probably said why we must have lost anyway and we three sat in silence of 3-4 seconds and i started jumping in joy after seeing the score.Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif not only their sucessful partnership at point and covers respectively in the field were at the centre at the mecca of cricket the lord's chasing an improbable target of 326 after all the senior pros got out.Each run after was cheered by me with my plastic bat in hand and i was running when kaif and yuvraj were running.Yuvi got out kaif carried on with support from harbhajan.Flintoff got two wickets and it was tense again.Kaif struck two boundaries and with some luck in the second last over by darren gough India got home in the last over with some crazy celebrations to say the least why not??? chasing 326 back then was like chasing 400 today because for the simple reason it wasn't possible.

Before Ganguly's celebrations at lords in 2002 i watched India vs Zimbabwe and i watched and prayed that douglas marillier doesnt play well and even i screamed at him so did other people at the stand where i watched the game.India Won.I also watched two other test matches in mohali the first being India vs England Where India annihilated England and wrapped up the match in 4 days thanks to bhajji and kumble, and the second was India vs Pakistan where kamran akmal and abdul razzaq batted,batted and batted and saved the game.Match Drawn.We narrowly missed tickets in the VIP stand courtesy the mailman but thanks to Srikanth Chittappa for sending them.Before the match though i had a once in a lifetime experience of seeing my heroes at a net session and i saw every one of them sachin,dravid,viru,sourav,nehra,kumble, but my eyes were glued to rahul dravid only well what can i say i was a big fan since the 233 at adelaide 2003.

May 28,2011 IPL Final CSK vs RCB(Chennai)
I was doing jugaad for tickets everywhere and i had given up.My brother Vijay went to the stadium to buy tickets and i was excited of the prospect of seeing my heroes live but soon my mother issued a warning to not get sad as tickets will be sold out perhaps.so with absolutely no expectations i slept.two hours later my brother arrives i was half asleep or half awake maybe.there's something tickets....vishnu...final....going on so again in excitement i wake up and there it was the IPL Final ticket and i was so very happy at that moment.my mother again issued a warning not to cry if csk loses.
Chepauk Stadium i was looking at it like i was seeing Taj Mahal the second time,it was really that beautiful or maybe the occasion.The Equation is simple for CSK get runs first get gayle while bowling.
Ashrth ball in the first over of second innings got gayle and CSK won 85% of the match.In the end it turned out to be Men vs Boys.I got to see Ashwin,Raina,De Villers,Kohli,Bollinger as they were fielding in the boundary.It was an unforgettable experience to say the least and ill write more in part 2.

2254 PM 17/6/14