Saturday, December 05, 2009

Running diary - Day 5: Zaheer's pfeiffer takes India to #1

This is a running diary that I will keep updating periodically with random thoughts as and when they occur during the day's play of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka being played at Mumbai (December 2-6, 2009). I shall keep it in chronological order so the latest additions will be at the tail end of the diary. Also, since this is being done on the fly, excuse the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Running diary - Day 1: Dilshan and Mathews keep India at bay

Running diary - Day 2: One word - Sehwag

Running diary - Day 3: Attritional ascendency by India

Running diary - Day 4: Chip, chip, chip

It is 9:30pm CDT and with 30 minutes to go for the start of the fifth day's play, I am making the following predictions. If you read this before the match, could you acknowledge it so I cannot be accused of making them up after the fact? Here are my predictions:

a) Kumar Sangakkara will be out quite soon on Day 5.
b) The Sri Lankan tail will wag, particularly Muttaiah Muralitharan.
c) Sri Lanka will avoid the follow-on.
d) India will require a small amount (let's say around 20) to win.
e) They will do so for the loss of one wicket (maybe a final wicket for Murali).

Okay, let's see how it pans out.

10:03pm: Kumar Sangakkara gets a thick outside edge to the (vacant) third man fence past gully off Zaheer Khan. And off the third ball, prediction #1 comes true for me!! Sangakkara hangs his bat out to a ball that moves off the seam and a routine edge to MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Another chip. Three chips to go. ZAK's three wickets in the innings are Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, and Kumar Sangakkara - three of the top 4 run-getters in Test cricket in 2009. (The fourth is Tillakaratne Dilshan).

55 runs behind, 3 wickets in hand. Rangana Herath replaces the departing Sangakkara.

10:08pm: Harbhajan Singh comes on at the other end. Around the wicket to the left-handed Herath with two slips and a forward short-leg. Harbhajan hits his straps right away, ball after ball lands just outside the off-stump and beats the batsman 3 out of the first 4 balls. The fifth is chipped in the air to midwicket for a single. The last ball is edged to square-leg by the right-handed Nuwan Kulasekara for another run.

10:19pm: Herath tries to pull ZAK and the ball hits the bat-maker's sticker and pops up towards midwicket where Pragran Ojha comes racing in and takes a sharp catch diving forward. Another chip. ZAK gets a good chance to pick up a Michelle Pfeiffer. (51 runs needed, 2 wickets remaining). Murali comes in and slogs the very first one for four through midwicket. Will ZAK bowl a bouncer to Murali? No, he doesn't and Murali swings over midwicket, one bounce to the fence. ZAK comes around the wicket and bowls a bouncer that Murali twists out of the way of and top edges to the fine leg fence!

Over in college football, Nebraska takes a 12-10 lead over #3 ranked Texas. The BCS is about to implode!

10:31pm: ZAK gets his Pfeiffer. Kulasekara jumps onto his backfoot to defend a short-pitched ball and edges it towards VVS Laxman who takes a very comfortable catch. Another chip.

A few runs to get, one wicket left.

Texas manages to get two big penalties courtesy Nebraska and with a second to go, attempts a game-winning field goal.....and makes it! Okay, BCS folks heave a sigh of relief. Alabama-Texas for the national championship. Certainly not a pairing I expected or hoped for.

10:36pm: Murali nearly hits a six, Sehwag nearly takes a catch, in the end it is two runs to the batsman. Two balls later, Murali swipes in his own style and he edges it behind the stumps for Dhoni to fittingly take the catch to win the Test. India reaches #1. At least in the ICC rankings table. Dhoni leads India to another Test win, rapidly climbing up the charts of India's successful Test captains.

Of the five predictions I made only the first two came true. 40 percent success rate. I'll take it in return for the Test win.

Life resumes for me. It has been an enjoyable 3 weeks for me. I hope you had fun reading these diaries, too.

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