Finally We Did It !!

I know for the past few days with all the Football mania going around I have been completely ignoring my first love, Cricket. But then come to think of it, the Indian team hasn’t given us much to cheer about from their West Indies tour off late. The bad loss in the one-day series, there but not-there close finishes in the previous two test matches, poor form of key players such as Irfan Pathan, Youvraj Singh and M. S. Dhoni – just some of the excuses available.

Indian Team – Jadoo Ki Jhappi

Then again, as they say Cricket is one un-predictable game and we have the Indians doing the un-thinkable; Rahul Dravid’s gang claimed a first series win in the Caribbean for 35 years as the West Indies stumbled to 219 all out on the third day of the fourth Test chasing a target of 269.

I stayed up till 4.00 am watching the last innings of the last crunching Test match and thankfully the Indian team made it all worth it. I won’t deny there were moments when I thought that the game was slowly slipping from our hands, especially when Harbhajan Singh was balling to Deenesh Ramdin. No doubt, Ramdin showed a lot of courage and cool-thinking against top spinners such as Kumble and Singh but maybe if had smiled a little, he would have scored at a faster rate (just my opinion).

Even though the credit for the victory was tagged onto Rahul Dravid and Kumble, I strongly feel that young lad Sri Sreesanth also played a crucial role. He ripped through the West Indies top order, first sending Chris Gayle back to the pavilion with just the second ball of the innings. Then he uprooted Daren Ganga’s off stump with a beautiful outswinging yorker (the best bit of the game for me) and then he dismissed danger-man Ramnaresh Sarwan. Sreesanth finished at 3 for 38. There is something unique about this guy, whenever he comes to ball….its like watching a bull fight. Sreesanth running with the ball flaring his nostrils just like a tough bull and the batsman looks like a helpless red cloth, waiting to be ripped apart.

Another thing I noticed last night was that Sreesanth follows a set of actions every time before his run-up. On his way back to his balling mark, he moves his around as if asking himself to clam down then he closes his fists and pushing them in the air….bucking himself up and then he turns around to start his run-up….he always takes his left hand and brushes his short-spiked her just above his left ear, with his fingers. Seriously, if you happen to watch the highlights of the game….just check this out. It’s kinda some superstitious ritual or something; not that I am complaining.

All in all, moi happy that the Indian team will not return empty-handed from their outing and hopefully they will only improve from here on.