So here I was, a day night game on Saturday night. Following cricket from USA is a challenge with time difference making sure that games are on in odd hours. A Sunday afternoon start in Adelaide means a 10:30 PM Saturday night start for those of us on the EST timezone. India's series down under has been one heck of a series so far for all sorts of reasons. Enough has been said and written about the test series so I won't get into it here again.
The win at the MCG last Sunday meant sky rocketing expectations for us Indian fans. However, having followed the trials and tribulations of the Indian Cricket team since early eighties I well know how misplaced those expectations are. India dealt the first blows in this game reducing the Aussies to 73 for five. Hayden,Ponting,Gilly,Symonds- all the big guns gone without hundred on the board. The young Indian pace attack led by the gangly Ishant seemed unstoppable. Would we do the impossible- beat the Aussies in back to back games in their own den? The plot seemed too good to be true. Sure enough, just when it looked like we would do the Aussies some real embarrassment, we took off the foot from the pedal. Clark led the fightback with the lower order and Aussies ended up with 203 on the board.
By this time it was already 2AM and I decided not to be drawn into the heart stopping Indian batting. I guessed the ball was gonna swing and 204 wasnt that easy. It would be a tragedy to follow the game into the wee hours of the morning and end up on the loosing side. Decided to catch some sleep and when I checked back in the morning, sure enough there it was- 50 runs thrashing as Aussies even won a bonus point. I should have known, maybe I did. I am glad I chose to see the best part of the match and slept through the disaster. Oh well...on to the next match. Win or loss, I remain a cricket addict.
The win at the MCG last Sunday meant sky rocketing expectations for us Indian fans. However, having followed the trials and tribulations of the Indian Cricket team since early eighties I well know how misplaced those expectations are. India dealt the first blows in this game reducing the Aussies to 73 for five. Hayden,Ponting,Gilly,Symonds- all the big guns gone without hundred on the board. The young Indian pace attack led by the gangly Ishant seemed unstoppable. Would we do the impossible- beat the Aussies in back to back games in their own den? The plot seemed too good to be true. Sure enough, just when it looked like we would do the Aussies some real embarrassment, we took off the foot from the pedal. Clark led the fightback with the lower order and Aussies ended up with 203 on the board.
By this time it was already 2AM and I decided not to be drawn into the heart stopping Indian batting. I guessed the ball was gonna swing and 204 wasnt that easy. It would be a tragedy to follow the game into the wee hours of the morning and end up on the loosing side. Decided to catch some sleep and when I checked back in the morning, sure enough there it was- 50 runs thrashing as Aussies even won a bonus point. I should have known, maybe I did. I am glad I chose to see the best part of the match and slept through the disaster. Oh well...on to the next match. Win or loss, I remain a cricket addict.
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