Some of us looked forward to that
particular weekend as a special one. After long, we had planned to play a
cricket match – weather was on our side and so all of us reached ground at time
to start off the much awaited game.
In the excitement of playing, we
made a mistake that seems a blunder when looked in hindsight – we kept the
match to be of 20 overs – and even forgot the fact that we were playing at 5000
plus feet above sea level. And as luck would have it, we lost the toss and
opposition chose to bat first.
At the beginning things went well
– until one of the opposition team member decided to take us all to the
cleaners. Suddenly all our bowlers started looking like kids playing against a
high class professional athlete. Catches dropped, balls went through – shots
that would fetch just a single, started getting two and threes. The trouble of
playing after long break – is that your body is usually a couple of steps
behind. Dives to stop or catch the ball came usually late by a few seconds, legs
went forward and torso seems crawling behind, scratchily. On top of that, there
is a lot of frustration from everyone, because when you are on ground, nobody
wants to lose, or nobody wants to lose like that. All of that lead to chaos – after a couple of
failed attempts to control that chaos, and bring the team back – I did what
seemed like the only available option at that time. We waited for it to get
over. The opposition batsman, who dented us the most, was considered to be
better than us – and he batted as if he knew that well. In penultimate over of
the innings he hit me over my head for six with complete disgust – gulping down
I delivered another ball – only to see it being sent for another boundary. The
next ball went in air again, and to our great relief the catch was taken this
time. He scored a century, before getting out and probably batted us out of the
game.
We were set a target to chase 203
runs in our 20 overs – a tough ask by any standard. Our innings started and
soon it was falling apart like pack of cards. Fresh bowlers of opposition, looked far more
threatening than they actually were – against our dilapidated batting line up. To
make matters worse, the outfield was very slow – square cuts through ground
that would fetch an easy boundary on any good ground, would only get you two if
you ran hard. Realizing this, I tried to be too cheeky too soon and attempted a
Dil-Scoop, only to miss the ball and get bowled in a funny looking fashion.
The rude reminder of the fact
that body was not backing up what mind so desperately wanted was not pleasant. We
lost the game, and some of our players left ground, dejected at the loss which
they would soon forget.
Those who were there, thought to
give it one more shot, though this time for only 10 overs. We started another
match – and this time we won the toss and chose batting first. I opened with
the fastest runner on our team, and we ran many doubles. He was a great athlete
and a pushy partner when it came to take doubles. Had it not been his insistent
Dhoni-like running, we would have only had half the runs we made in our
partnership. After a stable start without
losing a wicket in first five overs– we had our share of power hitters who helped
reaching the score to 58 in our ten overs. At best – looking at their batting
line up, this was a modest total.
On taking the field we were
determined to give our best to defend that total. 4 regular bowlers left us to
squeeze two overs from somewhere and luckily one of the part time bowlers
stepped up.
Our regular bowlers started
decently – and finished their overs quickly. In last two overs – they needed 16
runs and we had two overs, one from a part timer and one from me. I tossed the
ball to the part timer and he bowled us an amazing overs just conceding 6 runs,
with no extras. When they needed 10 in final over – and centurion of the first
innings at crease, they seemed very confidently placed. To be honest – I thought of the part timer to
be better bowler than me, but just the fact that I had slightly higher
confidence and match awareness, made me consider myself as a bowler on that
team. When taking that last over, I was touch nervous. We had 10 runs to
defend, 4 more than what I had expected to be defending in last over, so
suddenly victory seemed within reach!
First 2 balls, the batsman could
not connect – third one where he connected went upwards and not far enough.
Wicketkeeper dropped the skier, and the batsman did not run. Of course he was
still backing himself to get 10 in final 3. Beneath a veneer of a heavily built
body, I could finally see some panic. “Pressure gets to most of us.” I told the
umpire before 4th ball which again got an outside edge that dropped
before the keeper. Now, if they wanted to win, he had to hit a six and a four
at least – fifth ball went on ground and they did not run. All I had to do now
was to bowl a legal delivery and we would win! All team members suggested to be
careful and not to deliver a wide or no-ball, I delivered a low full toss that
went for a four.
After a crushing defeat – this hard
fought win came as a great relief. It restored the single most important factor
in success, self-belief for all of us. It was like being in love again after a
bad break up, makes one feel alive again whenever remembered.
