Deep mid-wicket

It has been quite sometime since I sat down to pen something. Quite strange today that I ve managed to break out of from this inertia of laziness. or atleast I beleive so. Quite a refreshing moment today and a sigh of relief for all cricketing fanatics like me to see India pull it through at Perth. Though I was nt so optimistic about the chances last evening when the 400+ target was set, I just felt our young pace attack would nt give them an easy way. I was quite confident that these young lads were nt so much in the eye of international cricket and the oz may not have sufficiently prepared strategies against them. It worked exactly the same way. Zaheer khan's injury after the first test at melbourne was a blessing in disguise that we could chip in young Ishant against whom the oz had little prep. Though Ishant may not have done massive damage to the oz batsmen, he did more than enough by keeping the aussie fizz tight under pressure, especially troubling the oz skipper, creating doubt in the Punter's mind on more than half a dozen occasions. The determination and grit he showed without losing heart, over after over in that spell of nine, was a display of character that I wish last a long way. This kind of surprise package was what India brought in during the 2003 tour with rookie Irfan doing damages unforeseen by aussies. The memoirs of Irfan rattling the timber of Gilly with the reverse swinging yorker is still fresh in my memory. A similar trick, in form of a greenhorn, worked with Ishant. Following Irfan, the teen lad Ishant has made a mark early in his career. Let us hope he takes this experience forward to carve himself a special spot in Indian cricket.

Ha. I never thought, I would ever blog on cricket. Here, see what I ve done. Oh dear, enough of this. Not the best of the things to reveal how great a fanatic I am. Me, one among the maddening crowd of tens of million in thi nation. Oh dear! Must I not be standing apart, cheering for some sport like kabbadi that needs a campaigner like me. Good heavens! what is making me so passionate about the game that the whole nation is going ga-ga over.

Come on Jeeves, every Tom, Dick and Harry in this country thinks he knows cricket as much as Wisden. You too, one among them? Wake up man, wake up! You may have been playing the game at your backyard since 1991. You may have deceived batsmen with your left arm cutters and in-swingers, like Akram, for over a dozen years now. You may have mimicked bowling Jumbo leg breaks to fell every batsmen who faced. You may have drove, pulled, cut and smaked the best of the bowlers who threw at you. Still, you are among the millions out and not among the eleven within. You have nt chosen a path to reach the cricketing spotlight, my dear! You cant make it there. Then why passion on something that you are nt going to be part of? Dont tell me, you are passionate to watch and celebrate cricket. Come on dude, back to ground zero. Do you atleast play this weird game these days? How many times did you play this after your student life? Why no answer? Say something, dude. Say Something....... No answer?

I love the game and So, I put my heart into it. Thats all I say.

Come on, you got to reason Why!

... er... er.. forget it. It's time for Turning Point in NDTV. Go rock with Sherry dude! You dint choose to be born in this religious sect, did you? Just go follow the religion.