Silence. Awful and numbing. That hollow and empty feeling emanating from the pit of your stomach. Visions of cheering your Team India wearing a Blue T-shirt at a pub on Sunday with friends and family vanish. The whooshing sound of a billion aghast sighs can be heard clearly outside – roaring like a tropical cyclone. The TV is no longer worth watching.
Like when a public figure passes away and DD shows bhajans and light classical music during the state period of mourning and you keep staring endlessly at it. The half empty crate of beverage which stares at you helplessly as all your friends just shuffle out of the house mumbling various excuses. Does that seem familiar?
Don’t worry. This is not the end. So drag yourself up from the couch, splash a bit of water on your face, wipe off that hang dog expression and perk up. Here’s why.
The IPL looms
In a couple of weeks, all will be forgotten and forgiven as the annual T20 jamboree, the Indian Premier League kicks off in right earnest at a stadium near you. Irrespective of who wins the World Cup, many of the Aussies and some of the Kiwis will be playing in the IPL and all of them will lose one game or the other.
Bollywood filmstars and celebrities will hang from the rafters and pretty faced cheerleaders will sway to the latest Yo Yo Honey Singh numbers and all will be well. There will be no tense matches as all the teams are equally supported by one and all (you have to as there is true democracy in the way players are distributed across teams) – each match will have its slam bang quota of batting entertainment which will entertain you during dinner time every day for two months.
If you go to the stadium, you will enjoy a tension free ride through batting heaven and watch with glee as bowlers get slaughtered haplessly day in day out. At home, you will watch slack jawed as wild men in colored clothing will make you drool with their expansive fours and sixes. You need to roll your expensive TV room carpet away as the drool could damage it significantly.
The bookies never gave India a chance anyway
Spare a thought for Team India. For the past four months they have been plying their trade away from home – in the first two and a half of those they got dragged through a threshing machine with eyes blindfolded in every match. So much so that before the Cup started, no one gave them a chance!
And in spite of that, India played brilliantly to win all seven out of seven matches till they came up against the almighty Aussies today. The Aussies beat us in every ODI before this in 2015 including warm-up games, two rounds of book cricket and one tempestuous evening of one hand cricket in a hotel corridor allegedly. And they beat us quite handsomely again on Thursday.
The bookies were smart – they did not get swayed by Shami and Shikhar and Rohit and Mohit and Bangladesh. Instead, they huddled together and watched Australia and New Zealand carefully and decided correctly that it would be futile betting on Team India. Cameroon did not break down as a country after they lost to Brazil in the FIFA World Cup – so learn a lesson from that.
'I will be back'
Like McArthur, Dhoni did not exactly say that – but he scoffed at retirement talk by extolling his fitness and good health. Michael Clarke, who rightfully should now worry about how to make any of his teammates agree to bowl first up at Brendan McCullum on Sunday, agreed during the post-match chat that Dhoni could be back four years later.
And Captain Cool makes the future look really bright anytime anywhere. You can already see visions of an older and wiser Shami and Mohit and Umesh and a chafing Ishant (who must be chuckling quietly somewhere today) in cold English conditions swinging the white ball violently. So enough good signs for the future – Team India now have 48 months to iron out all the deficiencies in bowling and batting and turn their fielding prowess into such a fearsome weapon that the only way to score in 2019 against India will be through fours or sixes alone.
More mauka
I love Salman Khan. He alone understood which way the semifinal was going. And here everyone thought he only did action movies and Big Boss. Halfway through the match, he forced everyone’s attention onto another opportunity which beckons in a month or so – kabaddi.
Thigh slapping, spot jumping, reverse scorpion flicking Kabaddi. With Big B and Shatru and Abhi and Ash. OK forget Abhi. Got a bit carried away there! And The Indian Open badminton is also ongoing – if Saina Nehwal wins, she can be World No. 1!!
There are many more things to look forward to – Anirban Lahiri’s Augusta Masters golf debut in April, Sania Mirza’s successful winning combination with Martina Hingis as they start their quest to conquer Miami and many more. Just keep your eyes and ears open. Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika are also doing well in chess – maybe they will shake the room next!!
Weddings and babies
Team India players are also humans. MSD is now a father and has barely seen his newborn daughter outside of Skype and Facetime. From managing Jadeja and Mohit, he will move onto sterner stuff like diapers and nappies. Suresh Raina, who has the quiet hamlet of Bagpat (his sasural, guys!!) going crazy for the last few days, is getting married on April 3.
Virat and Anushka want some time off to discuss the impact of NH10 on Haryana’s khaap psyche. Jadeja will go home and practice DRS calling on his Playstation. So wipe away the tears and go follow some non-sport action for a change. In today’s age of social media, I am sure you know how to stay in touch with this side of reality.
And finally, I promise that Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner will get spanked for runs within the first fortnight of IPL. Josh Hazlewood, who will turn out for Mumbai Indians this year, will appear on News Hour and publicly apologise for today. Virat and Ajinkya will score runs. MSD will look cool in yellow and so will Raina and Jadeja. So cheer up.
But someone needs to talk to Jadeja about his hair style. That is seriously depressing stuff.
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves.
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Like when a public figure passes away and DD shows bhajans and light classical music during the state period of mourning and you keep staring endlessly at it. The half empty crate of beverage which stares at you helplessly as all your friends just shuffle out of the house mumbling various excuses. Does that seem familiar?
Don’t worry. This is not the end. So drag yourself up from the couch, splash a bit of water on your face, wipe off that hang dog expression and perk up. Here’s why.
The IPL looms
In a couple of weeks, all will be forgotten and forgiven as the annual T20 jamboree, the Indian Premier League kicks off in right earnest at a stadium near you. Irrespective of who wins the World Cup, many of the Aussies and some of the Kiwis will be playing in the IPL and all of them will lose one game or the other.
Bollywood filmstars and celebrities will hang from the rafters and pretty faced cheerleaders will sway to the latest Yo Yo Honey Singh numbers and all will be well. There will be no tense matches as all the teams are equally supported by one and all (you have to as there is true democracy in the way players are distributed across teams) – each match will have its slam bang quota of batting entertainment which will entertain you during dinner time every day for two months.
If you go to the stadium, you will enjoy a tension free ride through batting heaven and watch with glee as bowlers get slaughtered haplessly day in day out. At home, you will watch slack jawed as wild men in colored clothing will make you drool with their expansive fours and sixes. You need to roll your expensive TV room carpet away as the drool could damage it significantly.
The bookies never gave India a chance anyway
Spare a thought for Team India. For the past four months they have been plying their trade away from home – in the first two and a half of those they got dragged through a threshing machine with eyes blindfolded in every match. So much so that before the Cup started, no one gave them a chance!
And in spite of that, India played brilliantly to win all seven out of seven matches till they came up against the almighty Aussies today. The Aussies beat us in every ODI before this in 2015 including warm-up games, two rounds of book cricket and one tempestuous evening of one hand cricket in a hotel corridor allegedly. And they beat us quite handsomely again on Thursday.
The bookies were smart – they did not get swayed by Shami and Shikhar and Rohit and Mohit and Bangladesh. Instead, they huddled together and watched Australia and New Zealand carefully and decided correctly that it would be futile betting on Team India. Cameroon did not break down as a country after they lost to Brazil in the FIFA World Cup – so learn a lesson from that.
'I will be back'
Like McArthur, Dhoni did not exactly say that – but he scoffed at retirement talk by extolling his fitness and good health. Michael Clarke, who rightfully should now worry about how to make any of his teammates agree to bowl first up at Brendan McCullum on Sunday, agreed during the post-match chat that Dhoni could be back four years later.
And Captain Cool makes the future look really bright anytime anywhere. You can already see visions of an older and wiser Shami and Mohit and Umesh and a chafing Ishant (who must be chuckling quietly somewhere today) in cold English conditions swinging the white ball violently. So enough good signs for the future – Team India now have 48 months to iron out all the deficiencies in bowling and batting and turn their fielding prowess into such a fearsome weapon that the only way to score in 2019 against India will be through fours or sixes alone.
More mauka
I love Salman Khan. He alone understood which way the semifinal was going. And here everyone thought he only did action movies and Big Boss. Halfway through the match, he forced everyone’s attention onto another opportunity which beckons in a month or so – kabaddi.
Thigh slapping, spot jumping, reverse scorpion flicking Kabaddi. With Big B and Shatru and Abhi and Ash. OK forget Abhi. Got a bit carried away there! And The Indian Open badminton is also ongoing – if Saina Nehwal wins, she can be World No. 1!!
There are many more things to look forward to – Anirban Lahiri’s Augusta Masters golf debut in April, Sania Mirza’s successful winning combination with Martina Hingis as they start their quest to conquer Miami and many more. Just keep your eyes and ears open. Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika are also doing well in chess – maybe they will shake the room next!!
Weddings and babies
Team India players are also humans. MSD is now a father and has barely seen his newborn daughter outside of Skype and Facetime. From managing Jadeja and Mohit, he will move onto sterner stuff like diapers and nappies. Suresh Raina, who has the quiet hamlet of Bagpat (his sasural, guys!!) going crazy for the last few days, is getting married on April 3.
Virat and Anushka want some time off to discuss the impact of NH10 on Haryana’s khaap psyche. Jadeja will go home and practice DRS calling on his Playstation. So wipe away the tears and go follow some non-sport action for a change. In today’s age of social media, I am sure you know how to stay in touch with this side of reality.
And finally, I promise that Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner will get spanked for runs within the first fortnight of IPL. Josh Hazlewood, who will turn out for Mumbai Indians this year, will appear on News Hour and publicly apologise for today. Virat and Ajinkya will score runs. MSD will look cool in yellow and so will Raina and Jadeja. So cheer up.
But someone needs to talk to Jadeja about his hair style. That is seriously depressing stuff.
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves.