5th Day , 5th test , Tendulkar- Anderson trophy , The Oval
=======================================
Lucky are those who are at the stands ,lucky are those who are Infront of their TV sets ,lucky are those who are gasping , lucky are those who are in a perennial “gawk” mode – I am surely one of these today – not sure which one of these though !
82.6 :: Prasidh, barges in , crowd goes berserk , and its OUT, finger goes up ! This is illusory , is this a make-believe story ? Hold on – we are there , we will be , we ought to be ! Today is not just another day , today , “the” 4th August will go down the history , as an advert, testament , and more importantly the beauty of a game called “test cricket” ! Spare me other forms pls – for today at least !!
Eng :357/9 – Ind needs 1 wicket and Eng needs 17 on the board!
Okay – drama , and more of it , protagonist , who ? oh Gill ? , Stokes ? or the hustler Siraj ? No , its sling-on-the-arm Chris Woakes – with absolute courage , determination , and with never-give-up demeanor climbs down the stairs at Oval – to have his part imprinted ever in golden letters of spirit , and tenacity in this riveting tale which cricket wrote itself on a rain-soaked morning ! The audacity of this one-hand man was a lightening on the dark clouds of uncertainty ! This cant be real ! Even the rain gods were coerced to stop by the happenings , the giganticness of it !
I am down , I am down for a toast , a toast to the “test” of a cricket match ! I don’t care of the result , I don’t care who wins this battle , battle of survival , battle of showing up , and battle of not handing over the baton , the baton of history being written , baton of hope , you kidding me , wait , what did you say – perish ? – this word doesn’t exist in the dictionary !
I just see the mirage , this test has drawn , a delusionary picture on the horizon , to test you , your garb , reality of it , a test of “who & what you are” .
83.2 : Siraj barges in , with all what he can think , he can spend , he can spare , in his head “its his childhood , his father in that grind in an dilapidated auto-rickshaw in bustling streets of Hyderabad to make ends meet – the struggle , the despair , the disdain all soaks in” , a battered dukes leather ball is all he has now , at this moment , its his moment , its his destiny to show to the world that he is made of steel , alas , Atkinson is having other thoughts – he swirls , swings , and sways with all his might – the ball is hovering around the sky and disappears – its a SIX , and yes this is the SIX he gonna remember his life , ever , and cherished !
11 needed to win for ENG , 1 wicket for IND ! we are down to this mayhem , a prefect tailor-made situation to have a heart attack ! The series hangs in uncertainty , the pendulum freezes , so as the time ! Heart pounds , the sound is defeaning ,decibels are high , rushing is the adrenaline , my head trembles , oh don’t worry of goosebumps !!
I can’t stop my pen to pen down a tale on a blue Monday that thousands gonna witness on the green , billions gonna glue their eyes on TV – To the wire , to the last blood , to the last drop of sweat this match will produce !
83.6 : the last ball of the over ,they are running a bye , sling-crowned-Woakes gonna run , run of his life , like an emperor runs on the battlefield to slay his adversaries , Did I hear you correctly – Grimace? – did you say that – Woakes even wont know what does that mean and how relevant is that ! Veritable is worth , veritable is resolute , nothing short of those adjectives will be accepted ! Siraj is bemused , so is Gill , and why didn’t Jurel take out his gloves ? Jurel must answer this sometime later , but for sure !!
Hold your breath , its down to 8 ! Can you fathom ? Is this something straight out a sold-out bestseller fiction?
Gill on the slips , Jaiswal on the third-man !
Ladies & Gentlemen , hold on , stay wherever you are , don’t move , not an inch , this is absolute , this is a story written by the universe itself , remember Universe does not hold to anyone’s debt , it pays and you , you have to pay your dues – take no exception ! And here in Oval – everyone gonna pay their dues , this time to cricket !
Heart races , the beats rhythm to those studded boots on the green , crescendo gets deeper , the music is euphoric , rapturous , the moment is defining !
84.6 : Atkinson runs one ,like it will never be again , this is outrageous , this is spectacular , and this is serene at the same time ! heads drop all over – who gonna give in first ? IND or ENG ?
We are on this exhilarating journey , a joyous to some , and heart breaking to others ! Lets enjoy the process – we are not there yet !
85.1 : Siraj , battered not bruised , scampers in with a cricket ball , that he has done all his life , through the journey “from Hyderabad to Oval , struggles to stardom” , clattered are the stumps , uprooted is the uncertainty – things are certain now , things are clearer now , nah !, eloquent is the word !
Gus Atkinson b Mohammed Siraj 17
Cricket is victorious !! 11 blues have trudged through what looked like a despair a night ago !! Cricket had its say – 22 white clads oblige !
This ‘ebbs-flows’ went to the wire , no stones were left unturned on this stock-still day of “the” August the “4th” !!
Siraj says on winning that he had googled and downloaded a picture stating “BELIEVE” ::: nothing , absolute nothing signifies better than this , of the day than this statement –
and LIFE is all about BELIEVE – isn’t it ?
#cricket#IndiavsEng#TestMatchCricket#sidmonga#ESPNcricinfo#cricinfo#cricbuzz#oval#SkySports#hotstar