The Unforunate One

Yes, I confess. I didn't watch him play yesterday. Rather, I couldn't watch him. And I can't believe that. The first double hundred in an ODI and I couldn't watch it. But in my defence, I was travelling yesterday. I was sitting on the Delhi Airport when I heard the sounds of cheering and clapping. At first I thought a group is celebrating some occasion on the airport. But I could hear same sounds from other parts as well. After a while, people again clapped and cheered. And this time it was louder.

I didn't realize what was happeing. Because of all the exhaustion of travelling, it didn't register my mind that it could be something related to the match. But then I got a call from a friend and it was then that I got to know the reason. I first got surprised, sat in unbelief, and when I let the news sink in, I cursed. How could I miss the occason ?

I found out later that first round of clappings were for Amla who stopped a boundary and let Tendulkar take the strike. By the way, Dhoni should go and thank him personally sometime. God knows what would have happened to him if Tendulkar was not able to score that ever elusive double century in an ODI. I do remeber how people were criticizing Dinesh Kartik for not letting Tendulkar complete his century few weeks ago and this was even a bigger occasion. No prize for guessing that second round of applause were for the master himself. Though I am not the greatest of Tendulkar fans, I still feel that he deserved it.

I redeemed my sin as soon as I came back by watching the highlights. It was indeed a flawless innings with no lucky escapes. It was all brilliant timing and placement, a flat and faithful pitch and some loose bowling. And though I liked the match, I think that the pitches should be made more bowler friendly. At least give them something to work on. But neverthless, it was a nice match and I would always regret not watching it.