Why does cricket do this to us?
It is always hard to come to terms with an Indian loss. Be it a bilateral series versus New Zealand, a T20 final against Sri Lanka, yet another well fought Test Series in Australia, or in this case, the most important game in India’s seemingly never ending tour Down Under which lasted approximately forever. It felt that the entire tournament had been building up to this one game where the visitors would get one final chance to rid the ghosts of the past and for the first time defeat the extremely formidable yet not invincible hosts.
The pangs of defeat, no matter the margin, stay with you for what seems like an eternity. Now what? Arre India lost yaar!! Ab kya hoga. What do I do with my life?! A sea of unremitting what if questions plague your jaded mind and soul. Man had we won the toss…That Jadeja review was so close…If only Smith wasn’t Superman vs. India and scored a ton for the 50th time…If only Dhawan had been more prudent…If only the law of averages hadn’t caught up with run machine and master chaser Kohli…If only Smith wasn’t Superman vs India and incredibly reviewed against Rahane…If only Dhoni had launched the attack sooner…If only AB de Villiers was born in Patna instead of Pretoria… Then denial, then scoffing at the performance, then a few abuses here and there, and then acceptance. It still hurts, but you are proud of what has been achieved. Reaching the semifinal of a World Cup, regardless of the format or conditions, is still a monumental accomplishment, you try and tell yourself. But a loss is a loss. The degree of heartbreak was minuscule compared to what the South African fans must have felt less than two days ago. Dhoni did not shed any tears, but I’m sure that he was not crying a river in the inside either. Man that dude is tough. So calm. Too calm.
Australia won the toss. India won the mandatory powerplay. Australia won the middle overs. Australia won the second, preponed powerplay. India were winning the death overs. Then Mitchell Johnson entered. The heavily tattooed, distinctive mustachioed, destructor of English batsmen, ferocious bouncer spewing volcano of a fast bowler finished unbeaten on 27 from 9 deliveries with the willow in hand. His late overs onslaught gave the Aussies some bonus runs, was unexpected, and a momentum killer for India. But 328 was still gettable as Dhoni pointed out afterwards.
India began beautifully. Shikhar Dhawan won the mandatory powerplay. Shikhar Dhawan was toying with the Australian bowling and was on his way to a glorious fifty and perhaps a match winning innings. The flamboyant left hander was not to repeat his whirlwind Test debut innings, against the same opposition, picking out the ostensibly in-the-middle-of-no-where Glenn Maxwell with a lofted extra cover drive. Then wicket, wicket, and wicket. Rohit was bamboozled by a faster than a speeding bullet peach of a delivery from the aforementioned Mt. Mitchell Johnson volcano. Kohli undone with a well directed bouncer from the same unstoppable force. Raina playing a loose shot to an innocuous Faulkner short ball. When Kohli got out the camera immediately panned towards Anushka Sharma. Dumbstruck like the rest of us. How dare she come to Sydney to watch and support her significant other and her country when she should be keeping out of the public eye and practicing thank you speeches for awards for NH10. Then Dhoni and Rahane had one of the most bizarre partnerships in a mind boggling passage of play. It looked like the plan was to play safe till the powerplay overs and then go berserk with wickets in hand. The plan did not come off. Australia won the middle overs.
Rahane’s innings, a painful struggle, came to an abrupt halt when Steve Smith detected the faintest of edges after Rahane poked at a length delivery from Mitchell Starc. No one appealed. First slip put in a half-hearted shout and jumped in mild excitement. The bowler was going to back to his mark. The commentators ignored it. The wicketkeeper didn’t think much of it. But Smith at cover made yet another mark in this do or die match and continued to step all over the Indians when he convinced keeper Haddin and skipper Clarke that he had definitely heard something. So they referred it. Edge detected. Rahane ejected. India dejected.
The strategy did not change afterwards: Dhoni and new batsman Jadeja just continued to push through for singles, the odd double, and the even rarer boundary. I stopped looking at the required run rate after it crept past 10 and then stopped looking at the score at all. It was all too scary to accept. Too late in the game. Too many Starc overs left. Too many runs to get. But Dhoni was still out there, every eternally optimist Indian fan murmured. But Dhoni was looking tired, unsure of himself, running out of partners, and masterfully restrained by the kangaroos. He met his end as he made a tepid attempt at a quick single and Maxwell was unflinchingly accurate with his direct hit. He walked back a fallen hero, hopefully not for the last time. I mean the ‘walked back’ part, not ‘fallen hero’ part.
It came to a whimpering end as Faulkner and Starc cleaned up the tail with their ingenious pace variations and infallible yorkers.
Overpowered, overwhelmed, and outplayed.
Dhoni did not shed any tears and he need not have any regrets; he captained a wonderfully resurgent side with a remarkable knack for bouncebackability and had an almost perfect World Cup. The most inscrutable captain/player I have ever seen. Congratulations and thank you. Don’t even think about retiring.
Now we go back to our normal lives. Once in a while I’ll still look back and get inexplicably angry for a few minutes at how things went and then calm down. Yes it is a sport and yes there has to be a loser. Yes #wegaveitback, but it won’t stop us from #takeitback in the CWC 19 and so on. So on. So on we go to the All-Australian-Continental hosts showdown in the final. Fair to say the Kiwis will have a little more than the usually immense support they have enjoyed thus far. Only a billion more people will be on their side come Sunday.
This is what cricket does to us.