India failed to make it a triple win of world cups. ( Columbus!! It is almost 24 hrs since the disaster hit us!)
Extending one of the pre-game What’sApp messages to the post-match scenario… MSD can have his tea in a normal cup, or even a clay-pot! Else, in one of the two world ‘cups’!
Hopefully, they would not fill either of two earlier cups with alcohol and drown in the sorrow of a final loss to the new, ‘traditional’ rival, Sri Lankans!! (Thankfully we abstained from the recent voting at UN, strategically !!)
MSD is perhaps above all that… He even tried to cover up Yuvi, even though he blamed the last four overs for the loss! It might have dawned on him by now; it was not just the last four overs, but the entire 20 overs of their batting that to be blamed…!
Whole lot of Indian supporters would have gone to bed very upset. Many of them would have got up, on a Monday morning, feeling very low. Like our corporate evaluation/promotion lists, these matches should be held on a Friday/Saturday evening, so that we bounce back on Monday morning to make some valuable contributions to our economy!! (As some of my friends say, it makes huge economic sense if we focus less on cricket and more on work, responsibility!)
The problem with the average Indian supporter is he/she thinks he/she is an expert too. Very vocal about opinions, analysis and judgment. These are the same people who ridicule Ravi Sastri (for his ‘opinions’), Harsha Bogle (for dramatizing, though he may attribute it to his passion), Manjrekar (for his expertise) and foreigners (for their lack of understanding the average Indian fan)!!
I am reminded of Shahid Afridi’s young daughter complaining about Misbah’s inability to improve scoring rate and win the match against India… Now after few years, she would be repenting for making the comment, on TV, and exhibiting (childish) ignorance of the nuances of the game!!
We love villains in our movies, corporate, politics, government, society, et al. We love to find a bakra. Yesterday, Yuvi volunteered to be a convenient bakra. Monday morning, social media is over-flowing with Yuvi-bashing!! Many of them would not have played cricket even at school level, let a alone deeper understanding of the game. It is easy to comment from sidelines… it is different to get into the middle and experience…! (Even a non-expert will concur)
Our bowling is as good as Netherlands or Bangladesh. On his day, Amit Mishra or Ashwin, may be deadly. On his day, Yuvi is in a different league, they can not even dream to reach. Even Bhuvi was looked threatening. Second new ball bowler, is still a hunt!! They are just not consistent, which is the true yardstick of a great player.
Law of averages…. After the dream run in Bangladesh, the numbers had to catch up, even if it was in sub-continent. One of the experts was comparing this team with the Aussies, at their best, few years ago. (This expert surely needs to unlearn and re-learn or BCCI should investigate his motive!)
We may boast of the best in class batting line up. But against the best bowling, backed by some crisp fielding, our batsmen just succumbed to the pressure. Imagine, if the fielding was better, and stand-in captain Malinga took the catch of Kohli??!! (May be MSD or Raina, or even Yuvi, would have fired!!)
Opener went off early. Rohit’s batting strike-rate was like traffic lights, to borrow from ‘Samantha’ on FM Radio, this morning!
We lost momentum early on, not when Yuvi struggled to score.
Why did MSD not come in early, even before Yuvi?
Towards the end even Kohli was struggling. Don’t blame it on loss of momentum and Yuvi, if he is rated the best in the world by our expert commentators and columnists.
Kohli needs to look within about his attitude, which gets lot of ‘wah, wah’ in a winning cause. But, perhaps plenty of scope to improve there? If he wants to be an inspiring leader….(Raising the bar for Indian Cricketers ET )
May be Sammy was right ! God was smiling on them, Lankans?
Yet another perspective…. Perhaps, we die-hard Indian fans deserved this set back? Why? let us ask ourselves . . .