India Vs South Africa : (Un) fateful match

Yesterday it felt like the whole of Nagpur was at the stadium watching the India v/s South Africa match!

The cherry on the cake in first innings was the Century which our beloved Master Blaster scored! The expectations from the Indian team rose when Sachin scored 111 runs, followed by Sehwag at 73 and Gambhir at 69!

However, blame it on our boys or applause the opposite team, India’s other batsmen couldn’t make a partnership and our wickets kept falling for cheap!

India bounced back in the second innings. They gave a tough fight to the SA boys. The game was turning to be in our favour! The stadium was echoing with cheers and laurels for India’s performance on the field!

The match sailed smoothly until the last over of the game. Till this moment, hopes were still alive that India would win the match! The second last over was intense and there was a dramatic pause after every delivery!

The camera focused on the tensed crowd, the anxious skipper, the player’s deciding the strategy and the dressing room of the South African team. The climax was coming up! And oh how tensed we all were!

I was watching this match at a restaurant and what wonderful experience that was! Everyone had dropped their spoons, pushed their plates aside and were affixed to the television set high above our heads, shouting out loud after every successful delivery!

And then came the surprise element! Captain Dhoni gave Ashish Nehra to bowl the last over! I’m not accusing him of making our team lose, but his bowling was not as good as we’d expect in the last over of a match!

India lost the match and the crowd (both in Nagpur and in the restaurant) practically went mum! No cheering at the presentation ceremony and no enthusiasm to watch any further!

Though we’re happy India still qualifies for the quarter finals, we wish we’d won this match! It would have been nothing less than an epic win!

Nevertheless, we continue supporting India and we have faith that they’ll give a splendid performance in the games to come!