It was 12.53 AM, 28th of June. I was lying in bed, trying to see the streaming video in different positions. I was twisting and turning. I was in a dilemma. Should I shut down and sleep or should I watch it? It was still not the best position to catch up. I tried keeping my mobile horizontally in different positions. But it kept falling. At some point of time, I was resting it against the side pillow only to disturb my wife’s sleep. She asked me, ” Which video are you watching and can you lower the volume?” I wondered how on earth she could ask such a silly question on a day in Guyana and night in India when India was defending a well-made 171/7 in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup?
I believe we love beating (on our terms) two teams- our neighbour and the global coloniser. I watched the rain-interrupted match between India and England in the ongoing T20 World Cup. The whole world was criticising that all the Indian matches were planned with the Indian timings in mind. So I felt it was my responsibility to make sure that I watched it and made our country come out with flying colours! It was time for national pride, after all. WC called MG a ” seditious half-naked fakir”. If they have boasted that the sun never set on the British empire it was time for us to play and bring sunset to their World Cup campaign. In that sense, I was passionately patriotic and apolitical.
A couple of days back I watched the India vs Australia match and had a good sleep post the same. However, I decided to take a big decision when I saw that England was down with 5 Wickets. Axar Patel, Bumrah and Kuldeep were on a roll and it was time for me to roll out of bed and hit the big screen to watch the rest of the game. After all, these moments don’t come that often in life given the predictably unpredictable nature of T20 games.
Earlier Nasir Husain, former English captain warned that for India to win they need to get Butler out. I was bowled over by the sound of the wicket falling at a crucial moment in the match, particularly the one taken by Axar Patel which sort of opened the floodgates. By the time it was 5 wickets, I was sitting stretched on the sofa ready to witness one of the best wins in a late-night match. The sheer sound of the bowl hitting the wickets is something which cannot be explained in words. Two spin bowlers in tandem taking wickets was a treat to watch. I went inside to get some munchies and it was one of the best late-night watching experiences I had in years. The best part of watching live cricket is enjoying the ambience and also listening to some great commentary. By that time my elder daughter also joined me to cheer as well. After seeing the result of our one-day final I have also decided to enjoy every game not save anything for the best of future.
Cricket moves us as a family and we had our moments of Oh No’s and Wow’s. I liked the way Harsha Bogle commented when wickets were falling, ” Another batsman goes and another boarding pass is issued for Bridgetown“, Ravi Shastri came up with his traditional line ” Falling like nine pins” and “India all over England like a rash“. It was a treat to watch how our Indian bowlers got the better of England. Call it hunting in trios. I never knew that there is a Roar Score these days in Cricket. Now and then when the wickets were falling the Roar score decibel levels were hitting its altar.
We haven’t won a World Cup in 11 years and after the Nov 9th 2023, loss ( which still hurts) we all had a view that we will choke when it comes to the big stage. Also, this was the time to take revenge for the T20 2022 semi-final exit. As Sandip Roy wrote,” Revenge might be a dish served cold but post-colonial comeuppance, it seems, must come with a stiff upper lip. MG is having the last laugh…
Katy Perry captured it magically and nicely through the lyrics of how the penultimate frontier was crossed by India as she roared …
I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sat quietly, agreed politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything
You held me down, but I got up (hey)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (hey)
Get ready ’cause I’ve had enough
I see it all, I see it now
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