The Match at Kochi and the road ahead

Consequent to my earlier post on the Indian cricket team's victory in the T20 semi finals against Australia and the team being crowned the World Champions in T20 cricket, it was with bated breath and a lot of expectations that I was looking forward to the Australian tour of India. This, in spite of the fact that I have never been a very big fan of cricket. The first ODI at Bangalore looked as if it was going to be a losing proposition for the Indian team but the rain God intervened at the right time and the team was saved from the disgrace of losing out on the first match of the series. But, lose out they did and how, in the next two matches- at Kochi and at Hyderabad. The Indian team's victory in the T20 series had sort of revived my interest in the game and thus I decided I would go and watch the match at Kochi in the stadium itself. The Australian team's performance in Bangalore was indication strong enough that they were leaving no stone unturned to take revenge on India. But, Kochi, being a ground that has almost always been favorable to the Indian cricket team and being the home ground of India's best bowler in the T20 series, Santhakumaran Sreeshanth aka Gopu Mon, I was quite optimistic that the team would definitely win the match. With so much of hope in my mind, I was at the stadium at 6.55 AM on the morning of Gandhi Jayanthi (Oct 2) for the match that was scheduled to start at 9 AM. Thanks to the incessant rains, the outfield was not looking very good till the previous day and speculations were rife that the match might be called off completely or that it might be limited to 35 overs instead of the usual 50. The sun was playing hide and seek early in the morning and there was no sign of it going to be a sunny day. Thankfully for the 80K crowd gathered in the stadium, the game was on by 9.30 AM. Having won the toss, India chose to bowl first. Zaheer and Gopu started with Hayden and Gilchrist facing the music. The first 2 overs saw Gilchirst and Clarke returning to the pavilion and it looked like all was going to be in India's favour till almost 23 overs were completed. The crowd was in fine form, hooting, howling, clapping, dancing, cheering and making Mexican waves. Even when Symmonds, Hobbs and Hadding were putting in their best efforts to take the Australian totals to admirable heights, the entire gallery was optimistic about India's chances at the game. To give fair share of credit where it is due, the Australian team did garner an enviable tally of 305 in 50 overs, clearly establishing their supremacy over the Indian spinners in the middle overs. The Australian innings ended and the whole stadium was busy preparing to cheer for the Indian batting order. And cheer they did! The Indian batsmen were trying their best to respond favorbaly to the encouragement of the crowd but they could not do much against the strong Australian bowlers. Gambhir, Sachin, Dravid, Yuvi, Pathan- all of them had to return to the pavilion without contributing much to the run tally. Dhoni and Uthappa did their best but India finally lost by more than 50 runs. 10 overs into the Indian innings and I was not really concenterating on what exactly was happening on the ground. There was pin drop silence in the gallery and half the crowd was on its way out of the stadium. In spite of offering the best of support and encouragement to the Indian cricket team, the team was hardly able to even put up a decent performance. As might have been known to all by now, the team lost miserably to Australia in Kochi. The third match in Hyderabad did not evoke much interest in anybody and predictably, the team lost it once again. In the 7 match series out of which 1 was cancelled, Australia is clearly leading by 2- 0. All eyes are now on Chandigarh, which also happens to be the Vice Captain's home ground. Will the 4th match see the Yuvraj becoming the Maharaj of the Indian cricket team and leading them to victory over the very strong Australian boys? Well, only time can tell...