The dream's still alive.

25th June 1983 , On the hallowed turf , inspired by their captain , the bunch of no-reckoners did the seemingly impossible task of dethroning the cool and mean Caribbeans.The images relayed across continents and radio waves sent thousands of Indian into a thrill , an ecstasy.There were many 10 yr olds in Mumbai , who conjured about dreams about repeating this feat and amongst them there was this one 10 yr old from Bandra . As I said , many dreamt but few worked towards making this come true.And today at one moment , I was afraid that this dream would remain unfulfilled.

Yes, India trounced over Pakistan , again :) ! albeit unconvincingly. As usual our innings opens with pyromania , Uncle Fester dismantled the gangly Gul.The usually accurate Gul was KOed, but the opening scene was brought to a close by hitherto unknown Wahab Riaz, who nailed Sehwag in front of the stumps.Then the proceedings went on at a sane pace until Gambhir , who has been one of our most consistent batsman, along with the little master ,over two years , was stumped.The 11 crore tag seems to be weighing on him.116-2 in 19 , I would take it.Woah , all of a sudden 141-4 in 25 ! n Who is the bowler - Wahab Riaz,isnt there a sauce named after him?? - oh thats wasabi but definitely as effective.Whilst all this , something didnt seem right about the master.Mistimed shots , a half a dozen reprieves - the scripts seem to have gotten exchanged ,Sachin departs for 86. Living the dream vicariously as I was , the dream froze into black and white.My throat went dry for a moment.I offered a silent prayer to the cricketing gods.

All said our middle order aint too convincing mainly due to Captain America . Our Samson has lost his power - the helicopter shot, I think its time he grows his locks back(remember the 143 against the same opponent- wow).Thanks to a sensible innings from Umar Gul oops Suresh Raina we stuttered to 261.Definitely Raina's knock turned out to be the difference at the end.

Well , about the Pakistan batting I felt they never played for a win.Not taking anything away from the splendid , collaborated effort from our team.I felt there was no real fight from the other side. It didnt feel like Bangalore 1996, or Centurion 2003.It somehow felt as if the opponents were under playing (It brought back those words of Veena Malik that Pakistan will never win any tournament).I do not want to raise any conspiracy here but just an opinion.Apart ,I think we had a first instance of using just 5 bowlers and all of them coming good.Credit has to be given to our Captain , who has mastered this skill of marshaling his limited resources.Respect Mr. Dhoni.

So the dream still lives.The script is the right one -Wankhede ,his home .Oh Cricketing Gods , please keep your hands over him for another day.And Yuvi wants to do this for someone Special.
Alls well, I hope it ends well.