It was a highly eventful Sunday evening that didn’t need Netflix to keep you hooked on to a thriller. With usual hype and frenetic ‘media’ build up, people of all ages, bound by our famed ‘cricket’ frenzy, watched the ‘Men in Blue’ (Coach Dravid continued in orange jersey !) take on mighty ‘Aussies’ in their opening World Cup encounter. This was also in progress as curtains dazzlingly came down on the ‘Hangzhou’ Asian Games post India’s truly spectacular show with record medals tally of 107, that many preferred to follow ! Yet, cricket mania ensured that Chennai had its full Indian ‘barmy’ army in attendance.
Foregoing the our ‘Sunday afternoon siesta’ we applauded our bowlers weaving a web of spin that tied the Aussie batters in knots as they got bundled out for a paltry 199, after opting to bat first on what was not considered a difficult pitch. We were all pretty smug that it wouldn’t need much from our boys what with ‘Hitman’ starting the way he does. But ‘kahani mein twist hai’ was horribly apparent as India was down 3 for 2 in no time. Akin to 1983 WC famous 19 for 5 of the historic ‘Turnbulls’ match against Zimbabwe, which had got Kapil rushing out of the shower to rescue ’Team India’, it seems that something similar was happening with KL Rahul, who had to bat lower down at No.5.
Many switched off their TV sets, some decided to take a walk and many tuned in for the awesome ‘Closing’ ceremony rather than get frayed nerves watching India struggle. Boy did they miss a virtuoso ‘Jugalbandi’ between two batting maestros. Initially there were gentle beats with slow ‘taal’ as they ran singles and twos and even a blip when Virat was dropped when just on 12. Thereafter, they got into what artists call their ‘Zone’, the two masters complementing each other nuanced with deft touches and from time to time going into crescendo (of classically hit fours ! ) but never out of sync with each other.
To ask who was better of the two wouldn’t do justice to their intense commitment, never to go off ‘tune’ when looking at a tricky target ‘sur’ set by the opposition. Spellbinding was their class, maturity and artistry. It was cricket’s ‘poetry in motion’ as King Kohli effortlessly flicked pacers & KL produced classical late cuts reminiscent of Viswanath ! That both Virat and KL narrowly missed their tons was less significant than the way they battled, set templates to other batters, rotate strike, take singles, take the match deep.
This World Cup did start with an amazing double century partnership in the first match when Kiwis rocked English and then South Africa pulverised Sri Lankan bowlers but the latter didn’t give up without a fight ! Surely, Big players perform best on the Big stage !
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