India Shining!

Ok, for all those who gave the title a second glance, at the very outset, neither is this one of those feeble attempts to glorify India nor is it an act of childish tomfoolery where they replace shining by whining and think it's funny. I am referring to India's golden day in sports on Tuesday, October 5th. It was one of those rare days where cricket did not hog all the limelight on the news channels inspite of the day being a very historic one for Indian cricket. Apart from the Mohali test, it was a fantastic day for India at the Commonwealth Games with 5 gold medals. It was indeed as one of the channels put it quite fittingly, a Terrific Tuesday!

My friends and family often label me as someone who only gives a damn about cricket and no other sport in India. Let me take this opportunity to make them eat their words as I intend to start out by talking about the CWG. I reached home at around half-past six in the evening and did my customary switching-on-the-television routine expecting to watch the winning scenes at Mohali that I had otherwise missed. Instead, I saw Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang, standing on the podium with the gold medals, looking at the tricolor unfurl with the national anthem playing in the background. In my view, there is no greater feeling, this being the epitome of brilliance and pride. Both of them were mouthing the anthem, well aware of the fact that they were going to compete against each other the very next day as opposed to the team event they had just won. It was magnificent to see Bindra congratulate his lesser known partner and acknowledge the fact that Narang was the better shooter that day. Our boxers did us proud too by grabbing a few medals. After months of negativity and the classic Indian blame game at its very best, it was quite heartening to see the games begin in style and with India at the 2nd spot in the medals tally, couldn't have asked for a better start!

Now, moving onto cricket, the miracle at Mohali. Firstly, let me ask all those T20 and ODI obsessed if they can name one game in the recent past that can match the final day intensity of the Mohali test. I know the answer is no, so you would do well to keep your trap shut the next time this topic to scrap test matches arises. I slept on Monday night with a sole thought in my head that only god could save us on Tuesday (I'm sure you know whom I am referring to) so when Tendulkar showed that he's mortal when he arched back and went for the upper cut straight into Hussey's hands, an Indian victory seemed highly unlikely. To make matters worse, Dhoni committed hara-kiri by running himself out, utterly confused by the presence of Raina as a runner for Laxman. In came Ishant at 126/8 and little did he know that he was about to play one of the most important knocks of his life. His 92-ball 31 exhibited sheer grit and determination. The man who made the difference however, was at the other end. Battling a bad back, VVS Laxman once again decided to torment the Aussies, a task he relishes to the fullest. Move over Batman and Superman, our very own Laxman, Australia's old nemesis showed why the Aussies fear him more than Tendulkar, Dravid or Sehwag for that matter. I remember this particular bit quite vividly; we needed 6 runs to win and Laxman wanted to take a single off the second last ball of the over so that he could take strike but Ojha, a little confused and unsure decided to stay put and what transpired was seen to be believed. Laxman was literally shouting at Ojha and pointed his bat at him furiously. I have never ever seen Laxman so emotional and vocal on the field, such was the intensity of the game. As the deficit reduced, horrific memories of Chennai '99 and Hyderabad '09 came to haunt my mind, surely this couldn't go down that road again. Deja vu striked, Tendulkar, with a bad back had defied all odds and done the unthinkable in Chennai 11 years back but had fallen so painfully short. However, a couple of balls and a few byes later, India had pulled off one of the finest victories ever. Bhajji went crazy, Laxman looked up at the sky and smiled - his back pain had transformed into our backbone, Tendulkar jumped like a 5-year old, the Mohali crowd was lucky to see it all. A glorious test match had just concluded and India had stamped their No. 1 test team authority yet again. Mr. Ponting blamed Bollinger's unavailability and mentioned that Ojha was wrongly given not-out in the last over but nobody cared. In the flamboyant words of the legendary Linkin Park, In the end, it doesn't even matter.