IPL
Frenzy in its full flow at the Business end of the season and the team I have
supported and always will has indeed ended up giving its best to may be sneak
into the playoffs. Yes MUMBAI INDIANS it is...A pretty late charge towards the
top 4, but the effort is well worth...Something that will be remembered for
time immemorial and will go down into the cricket folklore as one of the
greatest chases ever made... It did come a bit too late for my liking but the
brilliant masterclass at the end of it all does make up for all that...Desperation
does things that people could not have done otherwise, same is the case here...
The team so desperate for glory can only do wonders as what Mumbai did
tonight...
Faced
with an adversity to chase down whatever target they get in 14.3overs, may be
many would not have given them even a remote chance of victory...Chasing 190 in
14.3 overs and all hopes of a victory and eventual qualification had all but
subsided and may be, just may be a miracle could take them through...In stepped
Corey Anderson and truly showcased his mettle, the talent that made him one of
the more sought after players this season... At each point it was getting down
to the wire and it would have been a big heartbreak if it was so close and yet
so far...
With 9
to get of 3balls, it was still an open game. However with 2 to get off 1 ball,
the Rayudu run out happened...A heartbreak in its true sense, Mumbai had choked
it up after all the hard work...As Rayudu sank to his knees after the
dismissal, gutted because of the thoughts that Mumbai had fallen were so close
yet so far, chaos broke out all around. Calculators went to work off the field,
the batsmen and fielders crowded the umpires for clarification, and play halted
for several minutes. Some Royals players had begun to celebrate - 14.3 overs
had been bowled and the scores were only tied, Mumbai had not won...But, there
was a twist in the tale still...A six or a four off the next ball and they
could still go through and in stepped Aditya Tare with the hopes of the entire
team on his shoulders...This reminded me of the epic scene from the Lagaan
movie... Could Tare do a Bhuvan ??? And he actually did...What a blow!!! What a
HIT!!! Mumbai Indians through to the qualifiers and 3 wins away from a probable
IPL Victory...Can the defending champions defend their crown only time will
tell...
The
match was played in full energy and there was not a dull moment in the game...
Pollard
and Shane Watson have previously had some real moments against one another right
from the 2013 season and Pollard was one up for the day as he took an outstanding
catch to dismiss Watson…What followed immediately after that was an amazing
guitar celebration, just as a rockstar would... Indeed Pollard is a rockstar in
the true sense…
On the
flip side, the ICC and BCCI may still want to have a look at some random claims
of "Match Fixing"running around in the media due to some strange
happenings during the course of the game but I just hope it is not so and match
fixing does not raise its evil head again... This was destined to be Mumbai's
night and my entire faith in the game will be shattered if proved otherwise...
The
qualifiers are here finally and am so glad that Mumbai will be there and
rubbing horns with Csk, the team I have hated forever… With plenty of old
scores to be settled, I expect this game to be an absolute cracker, a game well
worthy of being an IPL Finale...All said and done, May the best team win...
Kudos to IPL for such fantastic entertainment...
Quote Unquote:
Far better is it to
dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by
failure... than to rankle with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer
much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat...
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