World Cup 2011 - Our World Cup! :)

Yes Cricket is a religion in India, and every citizen is a devout follower. Somehow you just can't get away from it. There's no place to run to. Yes maybe you can follow other sports too, but you can't get the cricket out of an Indian. Me included. I wasn't following cricket for the past some years, except some IPL matches here and there. This world cup thanks to our office I managed to follow some matches because the enthusiasm of a hundred odd colleagues is just hard to ignore! :)

I came to Hong Kong the day we played against Pakistan and I had to leave I think when half the innings was over. I came to the airport and was having my dinner while I could hear people shouting in bits and bursts! I kept asking the waiter the score, and since the airport was practically empty, after serving the few people in the restaurant, he'd run to the screen and then come back to tell us the score. And then suddenly there was this huge cheer, and I knew we'd won the semis.

Then I reached HK and last night was the final. We have a lot of friends here and 12-15 of us had booked a place to see the match. One of the regular restaurants we go to had booked another place and they were going to stream the match on the screens in the new place. Though, the streaming wasn't too smooth and it kept breaking. So eventually we left that place and came to another of our regular places, Devils Advocate to sit for the evening. We reached there around 5 and were there staying put till the end of the epic match!

It was an amazing ambience. The entire place was almost filled with Indians and a few people from other nationalities. They seemed to be amused with our cheering and screaming even though at some point I'm sure they were thinking of leaving the place because of our cacophony! :) But man what a game. The tight fielding and the great bowling in the beginning, keeping their run rate restricted to below 5. It was a hell of a lot of pressure there for our men in blue. We were cheering for every ball saved from a boundary, and even cheered for this one time when Gambhir dived to save a boundary but it bounced off his left hand or something... that was just bad luck!

While watching the match, there was a steady flow of drinks and food and what great food. Uhmm... The nachos were to die for!!

But the real game was when the second innings began. In my head I was thinking I hope we don't lose a wicket before we begin to score, I hope we're not 0-1 and then in the second ball there went Sehwag! And I was in my head cursing myself for thinking that thought. At that point I was remembering Rhonda Byrne and thinking to myself think happy thoughts, think winning thoughts. And I was literally forcing myself to think that we'll be 275-5 at the end of 50 overs and we'll create history! And thankfully we got over but with only a loss of 4 wickets!

Our friends were charged up and in the second half, instead of just clapping there was chanting, the kinds we've only heard in India before... Yes, we chanted, "Jeetega Bhai, Jeetega, India Jeetega", we chanted for "Sachin, Sachin, (clap, clap, clap)", and so much more that I can't begin to mention it, but then you get the idea! The thing about these chants is, everyone knows it, everyone is always in sync, so irrespective of which group of people began the chant, everyone joined in! (Although our group was by far the loudest and the best) Eventually there were a few people from other nationalities who also began to chant with us and clapped and cheered as we achieved milestones!

The final 17 runs were too beautiful. Some fours, and then that final six that led us to victory! Ahh... I can almost hear the cheering in my mind right now! What a match and what a team! MS Dhoni led us and did what only one other captain has ever done for India before. And this is amidst the immense pressure that our cricketers have to face in today's day, playing matches after matches, not just for the country, but for IPL, and then the test matches and what not. But well done! Great victory for Tendulkar, a mark of respect for the amazing contribution he's done for our country and our cricket for all these past years. Really like a friend of mine quoted, "He's carried the burden of our nation for 21 years," said the youngster Kohli. "It was time to carry him on our shoulders today." We all know who he's talking about. What a homage to our favorite hero. A 22 year old captures the feelings of a billion Indians!"

Proud to have witnessed this event! Woo Hoo! :D