Desi Girl Talks Cricket World Cup Final

March 30th, 2011:
India vs. Pakistan

I've decided to abandon my usual format for the semi-final and final World Cup matches. Why? Because both these matches deserve much more than sheer bullet points. So India went on to challenge the Pakistani side in their semi-final. Needless to say, the excitement and expectations of the match had every Indian and Pakistani reeling with passion. The Indians want the Men in Blue to win for a number of political and apolitical reasons while our neighbors perhaps wanted their side to win for alternate reasons ala winning on Indian turf. The scene was set and as the anthems were sung, both teams found themselves bombarded with pressure. Best place to find stats etc, is of course my one stop shop Castrol Cricket!

If you've watched the match, you know how it went down. With Dhoni choosing to rid the side of Ashwin and replacing him with Nehra, Indian fans all over, who consider themselves ultimate cricket gurus, couldn't fathom this team change.Why would Dhoni make such change? On a pitch like Mohali's which turned and how! Even the likes of Navjot Singh Sidhu found himself confused. However, we decided to take our chances and pray for the team.

With Sehwag setting the scene and hitting some seriously "item girl" like shots, his time at the crease was shortlived. And while the rest of the team fought tooth and nail, it was really Sachin who the whole world stood in awe of. No, he didn't score a century but the maestro found himself four times lucky. The Pakistani teams lackluster fielding allowed Sachin four lives until his luck finally struck out. However, while the experts suggested the pitch was easily a 300+ scoring the ground, that was clearly not the case. 260 was the final score for the Indian innings, but would that be enough? A friend of mine actually believed that the score was more than the team needed. "Mark my words," he said. "India is 30 runs over the score they need." This was quickly followed by Suresh Raina's remarks post the Indian innings, "Do not underestimate us," he said as he walked into the pavillion.

The Pakistanis walked in very positive; sure they would do this and how. From the get go, they hit some fabulous runs immediately until it all fell apart. The Indian fielding proved to really be on top of its game while the bowling was just plain HAPPENING. Every single Indian bowler was used to their advantage and between them managed to bring down the team.

India won and as a Desi girl, I couldn't be happier! Emotional. Happy. In all honesty, both teams really went out and did what they do best. But like one prominent Indian cricket writer said, "No team that drops Sachin Tendulkar three times, or was it four, deserves to win a crunch knock-out game." And the likes of Imran Khan agreed too. Look, at the end of the day, it's all about crucial wickets and if you are a point where you miss this wickets, then you can only blame yourself. Sadly, the Pakistani's, an otherwise pretty strong side, have nothing but their fielding and butter fingers to blame. 


What fascinated me most was the number of people who lost faith in the Indian team the minute Sachin went was out. I never doubted my team for a minute. In fact, I found myself convinced that the team would win. I find myself emotional just typing this piece out. I insist you take a read at my statuses on Facebook I kept updating as the match was going on followed by highlights of the match! If you don't have tears in your eyes, then I don't know what to tell you! 

Here's how it went down on Facebook:

And it beginss!!!!!!

Okay serious advice to Afridi: LEARN ENGLISH PRONTO!

My favorite men in blue followed by anthem! Always makes me tear....

Okay, tears wiped, here we go!!!!!

Tendla always gets the most cheers - rockstar!

Sehwag has officially called the shots people - now that is how you play to the apparently awesome Umer Gul.

Just felt like singing...OH JAANE DE JAANE DE THODI HAWA AANE DE :P

Hello Umer Gul, have you met Sehwag?

GOD is on the field! SRT baby!

Mess with SRT? Ab dekh!

If a cat has 9 lives, then hello, this is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!

If Saath Khoon is Maaf then for SRT, it's 7 OUT Maaf!

50 by the Master Blaster!! And he's just getting started!

It doesn't matter who wins or loses, as long we we win!

OW! They actually HELD ON to a catch!

Muahahah Sachin and Yuvi!!!

Ab toh jeet pakka!

Uh whatever people - SRT still best player in the world. I'd like to see ANY other player get so lucky.

Why is everyone losing faith already? Pakistan hasn't even come out to bat yet! Calm down.

More Power in the PowerPlay please!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not over till it's over!

"Do not underestimate us!" Says Raina. You got it dude!

Quick early wickets please Team India!

Shane Warne predicts India will win by 8 runs.

Sorry Pakistan but you'll NEVER be able to field like us. NEVER!

It's good to think you're good..but the best??? NO WAY!! I hear the next bus back home is in 15 mins, if you run Pakistan, you may make it!

World Champs ladies and gents! WORLD.CHAMPS!

To all my Pakistan friends, it's okay think you're good, but the best? Nah. And to all my Indian friends who lost hope, India will never let you down. Jai Hind! GO INDIA!

Yeah baby! Never underestimate the power of over 1 billion blessings!

Bleed Blue ONLY! Clearly that is key!

Desi Girl Talks Cricket World Cup!

March 24th, 2011:
India vs. Australia

If you're Indian then you know the importance of defeating world champions Australia. But it isn't just about kicking some Aussie butt, it is also all about Sachin Tendulkar wannabe, Ricky Ponting. The man is definitely one of the most disliked Australians in India. Mind you, Desi's adore Brett Lee and Shane Warne so really, it's just one man. Indians all over prayed for an Indian win simply so they could see Ponting's otherwise arrogant attitude literally flush down the toilet. But the question really was, would they do it? According to Castrol Cricket, who favored an Australian win by 56% over India, it was really going to be a nail biter. When a comparing both teams, quickly it became obvious. India may have an advantage over Australia in batting, but when it came to bowling, the Aussies are well, far ahead of us. And with the latter also having a slight advantage over the Indians in terms of fielding, it was going to take a lot more than just the prayers of a billion people. With rage in our eyes and passion in our hearts, we all sat to watch one the most anticipated matches at the Cricket World Cup.

Howzatt!

* Ricky Ponting, whose last World Cup this landed up being, landed up hitting 103 pretty fabulous runs. When it comes to cricket, I have to give the devil his due and so, Ponting's 103 really did land up being quite a fab one. However, the minute he did score his century, I smiled. It was a clear indication that the Aussies were going down and thus, it was now or never for Ponting. He leaves the world of cricket in style with his century.

* And that is pretty much all we can talk about with regards to the Australian batting. No one really went on to do anything too spectacular. However, the Indian bowling was really gosh-darn dhamakedar!

* Ravichandran Ashwin really is impressing us! A great spell with the ball taking 2 wickets, taking the vital Ponting wicket and fielding like a star has put Ashwin in a pretty favorable position in the team.

* Zaheer Khan did his thing with the ball too! 2 wickets babay!

* Hallejuah! The Indian team finally realized the need for good fielding. And they fielded like total pros. There was diving, catching, saving runs. And while we look at saving 2 runs as nothing to boast about, it is really quite remarkable on part of the Indian team who more than often get lazy when it comes to getting dirty on the field.

* And then there was Yuvraj Singh. Before I go on to talk more about sada munda, let's just gush over his bowling. 2 wickets for the dude too! And with that, the Aussies were done. Final score: 260/6.

* Sachin T's 53 really gave the team a great start and a solid foundation. Badda-Bing! The Men in Blue were ready to win, win, win!

* It was Gautam Gambhir's 50 that really was impressive. No hanky-panky. Just simple straight cricket. Great strokes and fun dhinchak cricket. However, he did pull a WTF moment on the team which we will get to soon.

* When it looked rather dull on the field and well, the Aussies looked on time during the Indian innings, it was Yuvraj Singh who came on board to some much needed damage control. He arrived and showed the Indian team that he can deliver when needed. With his trusty bat in hand, he played his natural game taking the game home! Not sure what made him play so gosh darn well (perhaps, a young pretty girl in the crowd caught his fancy), but whatever it is, we'll take it!

* Joining Yuvi on the field was Suresh Raina. Scoring 34, he knew his job; support Yuvi and take the time to its win. And that just what he did. He ran between the wickets, forcing Yuvi to the same, looking for opportunities where the arose. Fabulous contribution. And check out what he said about his innings. "Just as I was walking out, Sachin give me a high-five in the dressing room. I was boosted by that gesture. I knew he wanted me to win the match." Inspired much?

* Brett Lee deserves a mention for his go-getter attitude. The dude, who found himself bleeding (bleed blue baby!) after a fielding mishap, came right back on the field to support his team after he was quickly bandaged. Now that is some dedication. Good one mate!

Googlys!

* Talking about Gautam, his run out was literally a case of suicide. 3 balls in a row, he decided to run without using his brain and what happened? Well, he got out! And then he walks off in a huff. Goodness, I'll never understand what he wanted. Loo break?

* Virat's unnecessary shot at a full toss was really amateur. So sad since I expect so much more from the youngster.

* The quick wickets after Gambhir was a bit worrying, no? Bang, Bang, Bang we saw Gambhir, Kohli and Dhoni crumble. Yet again, the middle order collapses.

* What was up with Ponting's outburst with Raina? While I don't mind some drama on the field, it really is unnecessary for the captain of a team to get worked up for no reason at all.

* The Aussies bowling. For all that talk about how good they are, what on earth happened?

So we won! We won! It really was a nail biter which had me going until the very end. But India did go on to create history as they ended Australia's 12 year reign as World Champs. However, it isn't over yet. India play Pakistan in the Semi's and you know that means one thing: CARNAGE. Irrespective of how crazy the public will get, it is one match that will test two of the biggest and best teams in the world. But watch out for a more detailed post about the India-Pak match tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm Bleeding Blue like no other and still high off beating the Aussies. And so I'm going to sit back and bask in the glory of it all!

Castrol Cricket Goodies!