4 balls remaining, one six required

The sound in the background is the very loud cheering, cacophonous car and motorbike horns blaring, the cheers of "India Zindabad" and "Chak De India", interspersed with bursting fireworks. There is one HUGE block party going on right now on Ferguson College Road and the reason is India's win over Pakistan in the inaugral Twenty20 World Cup. The screaming, the yelling, the flag waving, is probably going on all over the country today even at this late hour.


What a final it has been. At the end of over 16, Pakistan were 104 for 7 wickets and India pretty had the game sewn up or so it seemed. 54 runs required in 24 deliveries.. not impossible, but difficult. Then Misbah ul-Haq hammered three sixes off Harbhajan Singh in a single over, the score jumping to 123. The very next over Sohail Tanvir hit Sreesanth for 2 sixes before being bowled by a lovely yorker length delivery. With 20 needed off the penultimate over, it looked mathematically possible - 3 sixes?... RP Singh got Umar Gul out on the 5th ball of his over... 17 required off 7 deliveries with the last man in. Mohammed Asif got a four off the last delivery and there was groan... 13 runs required off 6 deliveries as Joginder Sharma bowled a big big wide. Dhoni hurried over to talk to him. Misbah hit Joginder Sharma for a six and it looked like India had lost for sure.

4 balls remaining, six runs required and Lady Luck smiled on India. Much will be written about Misbah ul-Haq's choice of shot (a scoop over fine leg), much about Sreesanth's cool, calm catch, much more about the eruption that followed and how the young Indian cricket team wrote its name in the history books.

What it comes down to is this: A great game of cricket, with all the right elements of drama and tension between two extremely passionate rival teams ended up coming down to the wire and the team that won held its nerve best.


And my favourite photo tonight. This is a signboard outside a coconut/flower vendor's stand near Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai Ganapati. Translated it reads " 10 rupees discount - a fifty rupee toran (chain of coconuts) for forty rupees only because India won the match (today)"

Chak de India... India chucks Australia out

This is a post delayed by a couple of days on account of some inadvertant personal emergencies. In fact, I have not run in the last three days - had to cancel my long run yesterday and getting out of bed this morning was a non-starter. Well, there's always tomorrow :o)

(Photo credits AFP, cricinfo.com)
Much has already been written about the Indian resurgence in the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup and its match against Australia on Saturday. Check this post: Historical Won for Team India. In a nutshell, the Indian team posted a total of 188 for Australia to chase. Australia with its great reputation of winning all the major cricketing tournaments in the last few years failed to make anything of this match, losing only their second match.

India was all swagger and attitude - Sreesanth's glares at the end of each delivery; his shies at the stumps for no apparent reason at all; Harbhajan's ebulient fists pumping in the air; Sreesanth's drumming the ground when he bowled Hayden out and finally Yuvraj's yell/scream and body language after he took a catch...even Joginder Sharma jumped for joy after bowling Brett Lee... All these scenes are a candid reminder that the Indian cricket team is full of piss and vinegar.

India play Pakistan tonight for the inaugral Twenty20 World Cup. In the cricketing world, there is no greater rivalry, no more emotional game than this. Today, fans on both sides will bite their nails down to the cuticles..including this one. Fingers crossed again.

Shabbas India

Today, I ended up at Chittaranjan Vatika again. Warmed up with my usual one lap walking, stretches, squats, etc. Ran the first lap in 4:06 which is better than the last time (4:30), stayed on pace for the second lap as well to complete it in 8:09, slowed down in the 3rd lap marginally to complete in 12:21, going on to finish five laps in 21:11 mins. I ran at slightly faster than my usual pace so I was huffing and puffing by the end. Stretched a little at the end, caught my breath and ran half a lap just for kicks :o). Tomorrow is most likely a rest day and Long Run on Sunday.

"Inspired India evict South Africa" is cricinfo's headline this morning. The Times of India had this: "India help Kiwis fly" In South Africa, The Daily News in Durban carried this headline:"Gloomy Smith heaps praise on Indian players" and finally Mail and Guardian Online (Johannesburg) said "India send SA packing". India's Twenty20 game last night against the favourites- South Africa was extremely entertaining and a great sporting event to watch. At one point, India had lost 3 wickets at 33 and I (and I am sure a lot of Indian fans) groaned. Karthik was out first ball and I truly wondered why the hell the Indian cricket still continued to have this guy in the team, Yuvraj or no Yuvraj. After struggling, India managed to get the counter ticking over and Rohit Sharma in his first match played a chipper knock, unbeaten at 50.

(Picture Copyright Rajesh Jantilal, AFP)
Even with a 153 on the board, I wasn't so sure - there was more hope than certainty about India being able to do anything with it. Sreesanth firing off five wides in the first over did not help quiet the butterflies in my stomach. At the end of the first over, South Africa 11 for no loss looked to be set to cruise and then....RP Singh bowled a lovely delivery to send Herschelle Gibbs back. Jubiliations and joy. Karthik then took a brilliant impossible catch in the slips to send Graeme Smith to the dugout and I found myself willing to forgive Karthik's duck. Next over, de Villiers was trapped in front of the wicket by Sreesanth. 12 runs for 3 wickets and there definitely was a game ON. More jubiliations and joy. Two dismissals later, South Africa with 31 runs on the board were in BIG trouble. Morkel and Boucher stabilized the innings, adding 65 runs to get South Africa to 100 in 16 overs. After being wicketless for 10 odd overs, India finally got Boucher out, him dragging a Sreesanth delivery back to the stumps and then at regular intervals South Africa lost wickets. In the end, India won by 33 runs.

From tracking the run rate required to win the game, the commentators started tracking the number of runs required to qualify for the semi-finals, which demonstrated how effectively India had strangled South Africa.

Another "paisa vasool" experience. India play the Aussies on Saturday for a berth in the finals. Fingers crossed again....

"If you have just joined us, where have you been?"

First the runs. Skipped running yesterday on account of a sore calf. Today I was feeling a bit lazy, but decided run anyways. After my usual warmup, I ran a well paced first lap at 3:16. During the second lap, I noticed a PYT who had started running too and decided to pace up ... did n't want to be overtaken by her (the games we play when we run...a topic for a post some time). Anyway, ran 5 laps in 16:13 mins which averages to about 3:15 per lap and then stopped. Walked for one lap to catch my breath and then ran the remaining 2 laps in about 7 mins with another PYT. Total 7 laps (4.48K) in 23+ minutes. The good part about today's run was the pace and... the pace makers :o).

Last night's India-England Twenty20 match was a corker. Tremendous entertainment, definitely "paisa vasool". At the beginning of England's innings, the TV commentator on ESPN retorted "If you have just joined us, where have you been" ... he was so right.
In the penultimate over of the Indian innings, Yuvraj Singh conducted a clinical demonstration of cricketing DEMOLITION. Six times, Stuart Broad bowled, and six times, Yuvi sent the ball out of the field. The first "six sixes in an over" in International Twenty20 for sure, Yuvi joins the greats - Gary Sobers and Ravi Shastri (6 sixes an over in first class cricket), Herschelle Gibbs (6 sixes an over in ODI)and also gets the record for the fastest fifty in T20 - off 12 deliveries.

England came back, tame in the beginning, but making steady progress, helped by dropped catches (Joginder Sharma was singularly unlucky with two catches being dropped on his bowling, robbing him of what would have been his first T20 wickets), but in the end, that one over made all the difference. India meet South Africa tonight.... a win and a ticket to the semi-finals, a loss and they are out of the competition. Fingers crossed.

Ganapati Bappa Morya

First the runs.
Today, September 18th 2007 , I ran 7 laps (4.48K) in 25:46 mins. After my usual stretch, my first lap was an easy 3:36; managed to stay on pace and not compete with a couple of PYTs running laps at twice my speed. Feeling some strain in my left calf. This is sounding like a nag now.

Monday September 17th 2007 , I ran an easy 6 laps (3.84K) in KNP. Started out smoothly after warm-up, clocking 3:36 for the first lap and stayed on pace to complete 6 laps in 21:27.

Sunday September 16th 2007
I ran 7.05K, starting out at 7:00 AM. This was a lovely run. The route was exactly the same as the last road run I went on: "The run is a loop from Roopali hotel on FC Road, up BMCC Road, up Senapati Bapat Road, turn at the University signal, past ESquare, down Ganeshkhind Road, turn into Ferguson College Road, and all the way to Good Luck Chowk, up Bhandarkar Road and stop at IIPM". Reached all my milestones earlier than the last run which was gratifying:
Pyramid Store on Senapati Bapat Road: 18:30 mins (19 mins last run)
Far End of Senapati Bapat Road: 27:30 mins (27 mins last run)
ESquare: 30:30 mins (31:30 mins last run)
Far end of FC Road: 39:30 mins (40:30 mins last run)
Roopali Hotel on FC Road: 49:36 mins (52:19 mins last run)
End: 52:31:84 mins (54:19:46 mins last run)

The only difference was I avoided the bridge opposite ESquare this time. Very satisfied. 10K next weekend.

On Saturday, my favourite diety, Ganapati Bappa came visiting. We got the idol on Friday evening. I did the prana pratishta puja on Saturday amid the sonorous rendition of सुखःकर्ता दुखःहर्ता. सकाळ संध्याकाळची पूजा, विसर्लेल्या आर्तिंचे पुन्हा आठ्वने , नैवेद्य प्रसाद, घर भर्लेले -- मन प्रसन्न झाले.

The नैवेद्य was twenty-one उक्ड़िचे मोदक which is Ganapati's favourite food (and mine). Oh, to bite into a steaming morsel of rice flour covered coconut and jaggery filling, to slurp surreptitously the juices as you drool a little, the lovely balace of the sweet (filling) and bland (cover) and finally the explosion of sweet as it tingles your palate...mmmm..
Sunday late afternoon was the goodbye - the ceremonial विसर्जन, amid the cries of "गणपति बाप्पा मोरया ... पुड्च्या वर्षी लवकर या "

Runner's Log

Back to KNP today. Completed 3.84K (6 laps) in 21:40. Had a good run today. My calf did not hurt, I was able to keep to my pace (most of the time). After my usual warmup, I ran a 3:36 first lap, 3:30 second and third lap, then slowed down to 4:00 minutes for the next and then back again to 3:30 for the last two laps.

Did not start out with this in mind, but it sounds like a good way to run laps (3 fast, 1 slow, 2 fast).

Runner's Log

For a while now, I have been wanting to run in Chittaranjan Vatika. This is a beautiful park with lots of trees and a mud/earth running track which seems much larger than my usual Kamala Nehru Park track.

Today I had to drop off my kid to her school which is right across. Ran 5 laps in 23:40. Haven't been able to compute the actual distance. My first lap was 4:33 and I slowed down on each following lap. I have not run on a mud/earth track in years and it had rained heavily yesterday leaving a lot of wet spots. This was also an exploratory run - to find out more about the place and was not pushing myself. Interestingly, there appear to be quite a few other folks running around as well.

Looks like I have found a new place to run.