I return to this blog after almost five weeks....well,college can do that to you.Although I have written a few thingshere and there(including a play),I couldn't drag myself in front of the laptop to actually type out a blog entry.It took the sublime intervention of an undisputed genius to overcome the hitherto undefeated gates of my lethargy.Yesterday,I saw India notch up an all-too rare one-day win against Australia,but perhaps more importantly,a single stroke that shook the world......by the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar.
Australia had their backs against the wall.Shot out for a paltry 159,they were keen to return the favour.Sehwag was dismissed early,and Brett Lee(the best fast bowler in the world by a mile),was steaming in like a raging bull......like a force of nature,a thing of terrible beauty.Little did he know that he was up against an equal and unstoppable adversary.The prelude was a fiercely carved out cover-drive which trickled rather than sped over the ropes for four.
What followed next was something which I shall remember as long as I am alive(that's something I have in common with Harsha Bhogle).It was a 150 kmph fizzer from Lee,just short of a full length,and Tendulkar was on to it in a flash,smashing it right past the shell-shocked bowler,for a straight-driven four that resonated with the ring of steel.Not a man moved an inch as the ball took on a life of its own,absolutely screaming along the turf.Sachin did not so much as see whether someone had gone to retrieve the ball,performing a supremely nonchalant and minimal follow-through of his bat.
It was a moment of sporting perfection,a moment of rare purity, from a man who has delighted pundits and public alike for nearly two decades now.The effects were palpable.Lee visibly lost his nerve,and with it dropped the shoulders of the Aussies.Fielding teams seldom like their strike bowler to be thrashed about with such disdain.The last nail in the coffin was punched when a couple of deliveries later,Sachin uncorked another champagne straight-drive,this time with minimum effort,and a ballerina-like grace,the result being a foregone conclusion.
The record books will show that Sachin scored only 44 runs yesterday,but the impact of that thunderous shot was felt by everyone who had the privilege of seeing it in real time.(including the poor Aussies!)Like Pavarotti hitting that elusive oh-mi-gosh-it's-that-high note,like Brando making us an offer we just couldn't refuse,it was pure magic.....reminding us ,that perhaps life itself is all about,well,moments.
Australia had their backs against the wall.Shot out for a paltry 159,they were keen to return the favour.Sehwag was dismissed early,and Brett Lee(the best fast bowler in the world by a mile),was steaming in like a raging bull......like a force of nature,a thing of terrible beauty.Little did he know that he was up against an equal and unstoppable adversary.The prelude was a fiercely carved out cover-drive which trickled rather than sped over the ropes for four.
What followed next was something which I shall remember as long as I am alive(that's something I have in common with Harsha Bhogle).It was a 150 kmph fizzer from Lee,just short of a full length,and Tendulkar was on to it in a flash,smashing it right past the shell-shocked bowler,for a straight-driven four that resonated with the ring of steel.Not a man moved an inch as the ball took on a life of its own,absolutely screaming along the turf.Sachin did not so much as see whether someone had gone to retrieve the ball,performing a supremely nonchalant and minimal follow-through of his bat.
It was a moment of sporting perfection,a moment of rare purity, from a man who has delighted pundits and public alike for nearly two decades now.The effects were palpable.Lee visibly lost his nerve,and with it dropped the shoulders of the Aussies.Fielding teams seldom like their strike bowler to be thrashed about with such disdain.The last nail in the coffin was punched when a couple of deliveries later,Sachin uncorked another champagne straight-drive,this time with minimum effort,and a ballerina-like grace,the result being a foregone conclusion.
The record books will show that Sachin scored only 44 runs yesterday,but the impact of that thunderous shot was felt by everyone who had the privilege of seeing it in real time.(including the poor Aussies!)Like Pavarotti hitting that elusive oh-mi-gosh-it's-that-high note,like Brando making us an offer we just couldn't refuse,it was pure magic.....reminding us ,that perhaps life itself is all about,well,moments.
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