Drunken Mystic

World Cup 2011 Semi-Finals - Shook the Nerves - India Inches Closer to Trophy



Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2011

by Drunken Mystic
http://drunkenmystic.wordpress.com

For the one and a half billion Indians, cricket is bigger than God and in fact, cricket is God. Never dare to say anything negative, about the Indian Cricket Team especially when, they are playing against Pakistan. That is how the passion runs high when the two teams face each other be it in cricket or hockey or any other game. Shahid Afridi, the captain of Pakistan proved himself as a good leader, who could lead his boys by example and kept his army way under control and, after a long time we got to see a very light attitude of sport on the field.  

Usually, the scenario is very different as many people would have noticed the heated exchange of words, insults and abuses on Facebook and various internet forums. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greeted the Pakistani and Indian players before the start of the game and India won the toss and chose to bat first. 

Even I couldn’t keep my emotions under control until this semi-final game as I had been indifferent to India’s results so far in the previous games of the world cup. I had lost interest ever since speculation broke out about spot-fixing during the India v/s England game which ended in a tie and doubts increased when everybody got to know Shane Warne had tweeted eight hours before the commencement of the game that it would be a tie. 

I was so nervous about the game the previous night – I started depending on my Tarots. As I use the Rider-Waite deck which is the standard one, they are my best friends in the worst of situations and this was one situation which was taking over my emotions. 

So I shuffled the cards and asked the question, “What are India’s chances of winning tomorrow?" The first card was Four of Pentacles, and the second card was five of Pentacles and the third card was The High Priestess. From the first card, I thought the Pakistani batsman would play first and will be cornered to a low total. While the five of Pentacles did show me that they will come hard at the Indian batsman, I couldn't make out if it would be in the first innings or the second. But finally, I saw India sail through to the finals.

Very excited, I posted the update on Facebook in high spirit – Tarot predictions for tomorrow’s game. Pakistan bat first and don’t put up a total enough to defend and India will sail through to the finals. - It was turning to be the other way round and India batted first and put up comparativel a low score and it was gettable by all means, but the Indian bowlers for the first time in the tournament played at their very potential best and saw us through.  

When my first part of prediction proved to be wrong, I started biting my nails and even worrying if my accuracy was at stake, but somehow an inner voice spoke to me, “Be patient, Shyam. The game isn’t over yet." I quickly removed the prediction from my Facebook wall as I was totally low to see the way Indians batted, even though some corner of my heart said, “Pakistan will not be able to chase the total."  

Virender Sehwag, the flamboyant player who hasn’t been rated among the best batsmen of the world gave his usual flamboyant start by pushing the run rate to almost 9.25 runs per over. His score of 38 of 25 balls was enough to push the Pakistan bowling attack on the back foot and allow India to breathe for the next 25 overs. It was he who set the platform and must be lauded for that. While Sachin Tendulkar didn’t seem to play his best game when he was dropped four times and got a life from a wrong LBW decision which was turned down after the Indian Bradman chose to refer it to the TV umpire.  He managed to score 85 of 115 balls after the “cat had nine lives".   

The rest of the batsmen failed to put up a good show except Raina, who showed some promise but unfortunately was left with nobody to support him on the other end. Pakistani bowler Umar Gul didn’t look very promising this time and their new bowler Wahab swung the ball very nicely and trapped Virender Sehwag for an LBW and bowled Yuvraj Singh for a duck with a low full toss. This left Indians stranded for a while but the horrible fielding cost Pakistan the game. Their concentration was not the very best and even the cricketing experts had signed off India as the favourites to win this epic semi-final.  

Pakistan could have easily won the game and it wasn’t a difficult total to chase, but somehow they seemed to play in a very subdued manner right from the start and lost wickets at regular intervals. The pitch also didn’t look very promising as the bounce was not very consistent in the night. The dew factor played very much on softening the ball as it didn’t come on to the bat. India finally won with a very convincing display of sportsmanship.  

There is only one more hurdle left for India to clinch the trophy as they face Sri Lanka in the Finals on Saturday.  

The most heartening sight was to see the two flags of India and Pakistan held together by respective fans with the banner – “India and Pakistan – Friends Forever". There were sights of Indians and Pakistanis greeting each other at the stadium regardless of the numerous abuses exchanged on the internet.  

Finally, both teams played the best of cricket in the spirit of the game and remained “Friends Forever".

 

 

 
Drunken Mystic is specialising in Yoga and meditation. He is also pretty well-versed with spiritual philosophy. He completed the Primary Series of Ashtanga yoga under his Guru the Late Shri A.K.Pattabhi Joise.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)
» left by Teresa Ortiz
 1 year 39 days ago.
187 fans.
WOW DM, Tarot cards for a game? This definitely shows the intensity :-) Nice job and I love the conclusion "friends forever!"
» left by Drunken Mystic 1 year 39 days ago.
33 fans. Follow Drunken Mystic on twitter!
Thanks, Teresa. I just couldn't hold it and being Pakistan, it is always like two brothers fighting.
» left by Hillary Glaser
 1 year 39 days ago.
2 fans.
I wish I knew more about Cricket before reading this article. Sounds like a fascinating sport!
» left by Drunken Mystic 1 year 38 days ago.
33 fans. Follow Drunken Mystic on twitter!
It definitely is if you understand it well. There is an American team which plays cricket but they haven't made it to the international level yet.
» left by Jennifer Stewart
 1 year 37 days ago.
152 fans.
I'm reading this way too late, Shyam! I've got a bit cynical about big international cricket matches, because there's been so much fixing. Do you think Pakistan deliberately lost? I hope not.
» left by Drunken Mystic 1 year 36 days ago.
33 fans. Follow Drunken Mystic on twitter!
I don't know. I found it very strange that their best batsman, Misbah, who can bail the team out from any pressure situation started firing too late when the game was totally out of their hands. I was wondering why was he doing this when they had only wicket left. You seem to be hitting the nail on the head. Daksh didn't agree when I said it was a politically motivated game. The other question was "Why did the the Prime Ministers from two countries choose diplomacy on this day, on this ground?" Too many eyebrows can be raised.
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