Reader's contribution (on world cup)

Got this piece in today's mail from a friend of mine. Posting it on the blog. She added random Musings in front of it, so I am assuming she wanted me to post it on my blog ;-)
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The World Cup & I

For some reason, my love for cricket emerges only at the time of the World Cup.

Been really busy with work since January but every time I saw a Sony Max hoarding reminding me that World Cup was gonna begin in mid-March, my spirits would soar. Besides, my client Pidilite was planning a huge spurt of advertising during India's matches, so I had to keep up anyway.

A couple of weeks or so before the World Cup started, Anil and I were lazing around at my-in-laws place one Sunday afternoon (that's what Sunday afternoons are for, isn't it?). Anil's brother and he were having some conversation about cricket, and Bhaiya asked, "When's India's first match?" Without looking up from the book I was reading, I offered, "17th march, against Bangladesh."

The room went silent suddenly. I looked up to find Anil, his mom and his brother all looking at me, jaws dropped. "How do YOU know a thing like that???" Anil asked when he found his voice at last.

"Well I'm looking forward to it. I like World Cup Cricket." I said quite matter of factly, wondering if my family was going nuts.

"You DOOOO?" asked Bhaiya. "Holy shit. Even I didn't know that."

"Well my first Fevicol ad is also going to play during the first match, so I have to know, cos I gotta deliver the tapes to the channel by the 10th."

"Ohhhhhhhhh okay. No wonder you know then." said Bhaiya, almost with a sigh of relief. Anil and his mom also smiled and gave me a look like 'Ah! That explains it' and went back to doing what they were doing. I was puzzled. C'mon! It can't be that hard to believe I like cricket.

So anyway, on the evening of 17th March, a bunch of us friends got together at one friend's place to watch the match. India lost that one finally, as you know. I joked that on the following Monday, the Bermuda eleven would be standing against the boys in blue 'seena taan ke' a la Bhuvan and his team from Lagaan, after India's miserable innings today.

Monday evening, India won against Bermuda by a margin of over 200 runs. Not surprisingly of course! You don't deserve to be playing World Cup cricket if you can beat a bunch of kacha nimboos, do you!

The big match was gonna be at the end of the week. India vs. Sri Lanka. Big not only cos it was two well-matched teams (or so we thought), but cos it was going to be the decider match for India. Win or go back home. As simple as that.

On Friday, there was a buzz in the office. No one wanted to work! And everyone was scheming as to how to go home early today. For the poor guys who had to work, the company actually hooked up the 2 televisions that had been promised to us this year. I was outta the office by 6pm, and home by the time India had won the toss and chosen to chase Sri Lanka's score.

Anil and I were watching this by ourselves at home, albeit with all the equipment one needs to watch a cricket match in style. Beer, popcorn and some awesome tandoori food from Kareem's down the road. Sri Lanka's innings was an entertaining one, ending at 254 runs. And India's innings promised to be an interesting and nail biting one.

The excitement was building in my head cos I was 100% SURE India was gonna win this one. Not cos we have a team that showed promise. Not cos of some mindless intuition. But simply cos of the mindnumbing numbers involved. 150 crores of advertising revenue hinged on India's ability to win today's match, and therefore remain in the World Cup. I dunno if anyone noticed, but Pepsi released a new ad with SRK and the blue wristband that day, which urged people to 'wear the band and show your support to India.' Knowing Pepsi's distribution network, they'd probably spent millions on just making sure the damn wristbands reached every kirana shop that sold Pepsi.

There was no way India could lose. And there was no way today's match wasn't rigged in India's favour.

Like someone who agreed with me said earlier that evening, 'Cricket these days is better scripted that blockbuster Hindi films. All you gotta learn is how to read the script.'

My interest was not in the end result, but in the way it would be executed.

But by the time India lost Sachin at 0, I was getting drowsy. Don't know when my eyes shut and when I woke up, India was already 7 wickets down, with Dhoni out for a duck too, and the score at just about 150 I think. I think I was too sleepy. I drifted off again, and found myself being woken up by Anil a little later. I got up with a start, "Shit the match...whats happening? How long have I been asleep?"

"They butchered us. We lost." Anil said sleepily.

LOST. India lost. We're out of the World Cup. WHAT?????

I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. All logic (and economics!) goes against it. All that advertiser revenue, all that hope, all that electric excitement in this mad cricket crazy nation. All gone.

But as another friend remarked, "Atleast now the Indian cricket team has gone back to its old ways. Oh well..."

Oh well....*sigh* another 4 years. My interest in cricket awakens only during the World Cup you know.
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Contributor: Sheetal Goel