BLEED BLUE - BHARAT ARMY V/s BARMY ARMY !

There are certain special days in cricket where one would have wished to have witnessed the game live, I am proud to say that i was part of the only and ever second tied World cup ODI. The hype had already been created with the ticket madness. The only issue that could have played a spoilt sport were the grey clouds lingering dangerously close. The atmosphere was already frantic outside the stadium. Two hours before the game , people scrambling all over to find their respective stands, some trying to get a last minute tickets and a few others making their bit of money. Having an extra ticket, i encountered this person who was ready to give me his mobile phone for the ticket, such was the anxiety and passion and soon the team buses passed us while we stood in our long lines. Among all this confusion i had got my cordless residence phone along too (haha).

 Barely half hour from start of play, i was inside along with 4 other friends. Each of us trying to identify the players during their warm ups.Toss time and a mighty roar for captain cool. As the national anthems were played, each of us sang our hearts out. The ingredients for a firework was all set. Clear sky, sun out, Indian Batting and a stadium literally bleeding blue. All guns blazing, the indians amassed a mighty total of 340 which i thought was 20 runs short . The fans at half time were pleased as the hero of many had scored another century but i am sure no one dreamt of anything close to what they were going to witness.

Out came the english openers with a positive intent that india certainly lacked. They smashed the ordinary bowling attack and made sure the crowd could never get into the act. Back in my stand a few of the barmy army clan were instigating the crowd and it was a sight to watch. Something was to surely give in. A few people from the crowd left fancing that it would be an english victory. I was never going to leave the stadium, the previous time i did that Yousuf pathan tormented the kiwis with a destructive century a couple of months ago. 8 overs remaining and  58 odd runs required with 8 wickets left . Strauss and bell took the batting powerplay, a couple of dot balls, the crowd chanted " INDIA INDIA" . In recent times, the indians have created a belief among the crowd that they could crawl in from any situation. 

A slower ball from Zak and bell was into it  early and spooned a sitter to kohli. The noise that erupted is just unimaginable. The next ball strauss out, the alarm "Bell" had been rung. The crowd went bizzerk, i finally felt what it was to be in an atmosphere that was elecrtic. I cannot explain the feeling, middle aged people jumping in their seats, high fives all around, 45000 people screaming their intestines out. India were favourites with 2 overs to go, but there was a devil who took a pounding earlier, waiting to return the favour - Mr. Swannie. The final over, a person who is fit to graze a herd of cows was called in to bowl. Running up at his own pace and bowling at a much slower speed, Ladies and Gentleman lets give it to MUNAF PATEL for bowling a juicy length delivery to a batsmen who is playing his first ICC WC  smashed him straight for a six and finally the game ended in a tie. India should be lucky to salvage a point from that situation. There are many If's and But's that could have scripted a totally different ball game. What if england would have delayed the batting powerplay to the 45th over, what if chawla bowled a better penultimate over.

Lets face it, India are a poor fielding unit, horrible runners between the wickets except a couple. They surely need to deliver a better performance in the coming up games.

Nevertheless the result of the game, many would have loved an Indian victory but a tied game is something that can never be predicted and i certainly enjoyed it. The fans deserve credit. Whether the Indian players bleeded their hearts out towards winning the game, I don't think so. But certainly the fans did their best to see them through.