One one things

As I write this Vaas and Malinga are roughing up an inexperienced Bermudan side in Sri Lanka’s opening game in the 2007 edition of the cricket world cup. This is my 4th world cup as a cricket watcher, and while it’s started off a bit slow, I expect this one to be yet another great cricket watching experience. The first time I was introduced to the game was when my grandfather rudely interrupted a pillow fight between my brother and I to announce that there was cricket being shown on the tele. This was in August 1992, a test match between SL and Australia. I remember little of it except flashes of kaluwitharana (132n.o. on debut), Mahanama and Gurusinghe. And of course the 4th innings capitulation to Greg Matthews and one S.K. Warne. Luckily I wasn’t too put off by the terrible loss and continued to watch the game. Unfortunately by this time the 1992 World cup was over so I had to wait 3 and a half years for my first world cup.

The first game that I remember was the one we played against Zimbabwe. I was in school at the time and the only way to follow the first session was by the cheers that could be heard from the SSC. Soon afterwards however a bunch of us stole off to the ground to watch the second innings. We had cleaned up the Zims for a smallish score, 220 odd, but Sanath and Kalu were both out really early. Again my memory is sketchy but I remember Gurusinghe smacking some big big sixers and Aravinda playing beautifully for 90 odd. It was a great atmosphere at the SSC, there were naturally no seats but we were standing on the grass beyond long on so the view was great. I don’t think any of us realised what was to come over the 4 weeks. The first big game we played in ‘96 was against the Indians in Delhi I think. This was a weekend game so I watched the whole thing from home with the family. The first innings was terrible, Tendulkar smacked a hundred and we were looking down the barrel. But Sanath and Kalu had other ideas, Prabhakar was hit out of cricket, Srinath was smacked around and we danced in the living room in surprise and delight more than expectation, there didn’t seem any way that assault was sustainable. Sanath carried on for 70 something but even though Aravinda went cheap to Kumble, Hashan and the skip carried us home. I couldn’t even watch the Kenya game bc of school, I watched a bit of the Kenyan batting and only remember a guy called Onayango batting against Vaasy without any headgear and Vaas promptly bounced him and whacked him on the head. The mad bugger didn’t even flinch, and actually ran a leg bye off that.

The first quarter final was also a weekend game and there was just one highlight in that game, Sanath Jayasuriya. His assault was so devastating that Atherton called for a withdrawal of the 15 over restrictions. By this time most people had real expectations that Sri Lanka had a chance to go all the way, and I’m surprised that I actually went to school on the day of the semi-final, the day nighter in Bengal. At around 2 O clock everyone congregated around the Junior Science lab, around the single TV, to watch the opening exchanges. The first thing that struck me was the crowd. It was massive. I had never seen 100,000 ppl gathered at one venue, and I could not even imagine playing cricket in front of a crowd like that. I think everyone in the room was expecting the now fabled opening pair to fire. And fable is the appropriate word. It’s one of the great myths in world cricket that Sanath and Kalu set the world cup alight. In actual fact Kalu only managed about 70 runs in the whole world cup, most of which came in the Kenya game. Nonetheless, it was completely heartbreaking to see both of them being dismissed in the very first over. The science lab, packed to capacity with students, teachers, lab staff, pretty much everyone bar the principal, was in shocked silence, in complete contrast to Eden Gardens which erupted twice in 5 minutes. The lab emptied in no time, without Sanath I guess ppl thought our game plan was in tatters. A few of us stayed on in the lab and were treated to what remains one of the finest ODI innings of all time. Aravinda caressed, glided and stroked his way to a quite wonderful 66 off 40 something balls. Every shot was perfect, silky cover drives, smooth flicks and a couple of swivelled pulls and the momentum had shifted. When Guru played a silly shot and got out for 1 I don’t think any of us even noticed. When Kumble finally flattened Aravinda’s middle stump we were right back in the game. I rushed back home in time to watch Mahanama, Hashan and skipper nudge and nurdle us to a decent score.

There really is nothing quite like watching a day night game, test cricket is the sport in its purest and best form, but a quality day nighter can be almost as good entertainment wise. 250 odd was challenging, but the Indian batting was mighty and we needed to get early wickets. The family congregated around the living room tv and everyone was on their feet cheering when Sidhu fell early to Vaas. But Tendulkar and Manjrekar began to take the game away from us. They got close to a hundred for one when Tendulkar tried to paddle Sanath down to fine leg and took off for a single without realising Kalu had the ball in his gloves, the bails were whipped off and we were up, sarongs hiked up, fists in the air and yelling approval at the tv. And then the procession began. Azhar chipped one straight back at Dharmasena, Manjrekar was bowled around his legs and Jadeja was bowled by another Sanath ripper. Nobody could believe what was going on, the wicket had become demonic and even Dharmasena was turning it square. The living room was abuzz with appeals, screamed advice and raucous encouragement. The game finished on a sad note as the Calcutta crowd couldn’t accept defeat and disrupted the entire game. It didn’t make much difference, we were clearly the superior team and deserved every bit to go to Lahore.

The TV was on for several hours before the scheduled start of play in 1996 final, I wore my lucky shirt and as usual the whole extended family gathered in our living room, special floor cushions were brought from downstairs to accomodate the extras and nervous excitement filled the room. I still remember getting goosebumps as the team stood to attention for the national anthem, everyone at home stood up as well. Arjuna won the toss and for the nth time Vaas struck relatively early, Mark Waugh clipped him to square leg where Sanath held on to the biggest fish in the Aussie pond. Taylor and Ponting batted superbly, particularly tubby Taylor who was really aggressive and gave Pramodya Wickremasinghe a tough time. Just when they threatened to take the game away, Aravinda was brought into the attack and Taylor top edged a sweep and Sanath held a pressure catch at deep square and the room erupted in cheers and screams as aiya and I ran around punching the air. Ponting was cleaned up by Aravinda as he tried to late cut one that was too full and spun a fair bit. Warne was sent in as a pinch hitter and everyone was thrilled when the cocky bugger clumsily fell over a Murali off break as Kalu smartly whipped off the bails. When Steve Waugh got a leading edge off Dharmasena, we were very much in control. Stuart Law and Healy batted superbly to bring the Aussies back into the game, but 243 was a very chasable target.

The next 45 minutes was probably the slowest 45mins in my life. I was just so nervous, I desparately wanted the boys to win, but I was so proud that they had come so far I don’t think I would have cared if we lost at this stage. I remember Sanath’s eyes when he came out to bat. They were wide open and white as a sheet. That made me even more nervous. Sanath got an early boundary as he chipped McGrath over mid-wicket and his eyes widened even more. But something wasn’t right, he just seemed so edgy, my palms were sweaty and nobody spoke much in the first few overs. With Sanath on 8 he cut a Fleming ball hard into the ground and took off as the ball raced to McGrath at third man. To my horror Sanath turned blind and took off for a second. McGrath fired in a return, flat and perfect, Healy whipped off the bails and it looked tight as hell. Sanath’s bat looked marginally on the line, but the replay didn’t show clearly when the bails came off and the benefit of the doubt should have gone to Sanath, but the red light flashed and we were shattered. I was angry that the decision went against us and when Kalu tried to pull a Fleming skidder but only reached Bevan at square leg, things looked really bad. I guess deep down we expected a repeat of the semi-final, and by now we knew that the openers go for it and even if they do get out we bat really deep. But this was Australia, they had hammered us in the recent test series and though we matched them blow for blow in the B&H series in December/January, they won convincingly. We needed to beat them to give a little bit back for the treatment the team received in Australia earlier in the year. The Murali throwing incident, the ball tampering, the terrible terrible umpiring and finally the insult of Australia not playing in Colombo due to security fears.

Aravinda started superbly, driving dead straight followed by a pull high over mid-wicket and though it wasn’t quite as authoritative as the semi-final, he and the Guru helped us claw back into the game. We were cruising after a good century stand between the two vetarans. Warne didn’t look threatening, guru pulled him over long off for a huge six and things looked very good. Even the Aussie fielding was slack, Stuart Law dropped an absolute sitter off Gurusinghe at deep square, it really seemed to be our day. But it was Australia, they don’t give up. And sure enough Reiffel bowled a tight spell and forced Guru to play an ungainly swipe only to see off stump pegged back. Enter skipper, and the aussies were pumped. I don’t think we could have asked for a better pair to take us home. Arjuna, cool as ice, nudged Warne and Mark Waugh around for ones and twos while Aravinda did the same, punctuated with the odd boundary. When the required target was down to about 40 it slowly became clear that we’re actually going to win this. Warne drew Arjuna forward and he smashed one back at catchable height but Warne let it slip through; much to our delight. Arjuna then pulled a Warne full toss way over fine leg for six as the target fell exponentially. Everyone was on their feet by now, cheering, nervous, adrenaline racing. Aravinda caressed a couple of boundaries off McGrath and got to his 100 with a glorious flick to fine leg for 4. Aravinda, after all the years of wanton hooking and hoicking, had matured into one of the finest batsman of his generation, and this was his culmination. Australian shoulders finally dropped, and when Arjuna nudged McGrath down to third man for 4, the firecrackers split open the night. There were tears, embraces and the most naked joy and pride i have ever felt. A youthful Murali ran onto the field with Gurusinghe, Mahanama and the entire crew. Percy went crazy with his flag, and Benazhir Bhutto whispered something to Arjuna before giving him the trophy, Arjuna grinned, dimples and all, finally it was ours, we did it. And then they played that world cup song in urdu with clips from our campaign, and I remember watching it, head cocked to a side, silly smile on the face, letting it all sink in for the first time.