Chronicals of a chronic cricket fan.. Part III..

6th December 1991 -

I young kid was glued to the TV set, watching cricket being telecast live from the land of Oz for the 1st time on Door Darshan. India were playing the West Indies in Perth. India batted first, and as used to be the case very often in those days, failed to cope with a fast wicket, and were blown over for 126 only. But our bowlers soon staged a comeback, reducing the Windies to 76 for 8, and then 113 for 9. And then Anderson Cummins and Partick Patterson began their last wicket stand. Slowly but surely the chipped away at the runs. By the end of the 40th over, scores were level. Mohd Azharuddin, the captain had bowled out all his four regular bowlers by then, and had to resort to Sachin Tendulkar. The young kid who had seen the last 2 wickets for West Indies add 50 runs and frustrate all Indian bowlers, had finally had enough. "Now we have even run out of main stream bowlers. They are surely going to score the 1 run needed and win." He thought to himself and switched off the TV.

Later that night, when he switched on the TV for his dose of Door Darshan Samachar, he got the shock of his life when he heard that Sachin had taken the last wicket and the match ended in a tie !!

15th January 2011 -

A young professional was watching a live steaming telecast of an match between India and South Africa being played in Johannesburg, on his laptop. India batted first and were blown over for 190. South Africa began the chase well, but faltered in the 2nd half of their innings. Indian bowlers reduced them to 177 for 8. But then Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel took South Africa to within 2 runs of victory. Given that Harbhajan Singh had bowled out, and Zaheer Khan had just finished an over from the other end, skipper MS Dhoni opted for the ever lethargic Munaf Patel to bowl. The professional had had it by now. Munaf Patel's fitness levels reminded him of cricketers of 70's that he had seen on achieve footage on Youtube. "All hope is lost." He thought to himself, closed the window and decided to do something else.

When he checked the Cricinfo commentary and score 5 minutes later, he saw that lazy bones Munaf had had Santa Clause visiting him 3 weeks late and gifted him 2 wickets of wide long hops (video), and ensuring that India had won by one run !!

P.S. - Here are Part I and Part II.