Finally, WI have made a point.
Tonight, they proved they can help themselves. They can keep busy. And they can win it even if they don’t like to.
They showed they can be themselves under anyone. Even Brathwaite.
***********
When Chadwick Walton collected the ball and hit the stumps, Imad’s foot was just about to touch the line. Walton was watching nothing but the daylight between the boot and the line. It had to be an ugly stumping case.
But with Walton it was so soothing, so charming.
He didn’t fall. He didn’t fumble. And he didn’t doubt himself. It looked as if he had been yearning for it.
It was pure zen.
Imad’s attempt was confusing, but only for himself. So late that by the time he could gather himself, Walton had finished him.
WI look busy today.
On a pitch where Sarfraz opted to bat first, they were 4-2 halfway through the very first over of the innings.
*******
Carlos Brathwaite’s men are smiling. Their smiles say they’ve waited for it. But more than anyone, Brathwaite has dreamt of it.
Those four sixes. In the last over of a World Cup final, facing a bowler as witty as Stokes, needing three sixes on six balls, wasn’t that a supernatural feat? We thought it was the rise of another WIndie great. But maybe.
But maybe WI should’ve dealt with Sammy reasonably. Maybe they should’ve let the team grow with Simmons. Maybe Brathwaite could’ve enjoyed himself before being assigned the job.
Couldn’t he be another Pollard or Watson or maybe even Sammy?
***********
The ball is nearing the square boundary. Evin Lewis is running. Holder is running. They come close. So close that Lewis thinks Holder would like it. So thinks Holder.
The ball sneaks between.
Everyone is surprised.
Any other day, Brathwaite would’ve reacted to that. He is a captain. He has the right to do it.
But he doesn’t even stare at Lewis. He keeps his head down, just like Lewis. Had he reacted like before, it could’ve hurt his team.
He pushed none else but himself. He threw himself at every ball that came his way. He took a marvellous catch. He created a humanly impossible run out. He took wickets when they needed.
Eventually, he found himself being led by his team.
********
The delivery that got Kamran Akmal at his best, was simply a low-key stupidity by Samuels.
Any other batsman would’ve played it on the back foot. It was a length that could easily be negotiated back for at least a single. Nonetheless it was awkward but more than it was Kamran Akmal when he got back to reality.
Samuels coming into bowl at that moment was no coincidence. There was a hell lot of reason behind it. When both Badree and Narine failed to get Akmal, WI needed a distraction.
It is just that element of wonder which can pull off the unthinkable.
Akmal didn’t expect this. He was hitting it all across. He could’ve easily got a hundred here. Nothing could defy him today.
At times, you don’t need a good ball to beat a set batsman.
You actually need a bad ball.
With Samuels, it wasn’t just bad. It was worse.
Kamran Akmal, on any other occasion would’ve got behind it safely. But it was that urge to hit Samuels, for he was the one who despised them the most. He knew he was in no position to play it. But he tricked himself into it.
Simmons takes the catch.
Akmal never wanted to walk off the field.
WI were playing something other than Cricket. They were being WI.
*******
When Lewis hit Shadab Khan for two consecutive sixes, it wasn’t for the match itself. They barely needed run a ball. But they needed a message to be sent.
Not to Shadab, Lewis sent it to the dressing room.
He exchanged no verbal blows. Unlike Samuels, he didn’t even look Shadab in the eye. He kept his head down. He kept himself busy.
There is Carlos Brathwaite sitting in the dressing room. He isn’t swinging the bat in his hands. Unusual for him that he is not looking anxiously at the scoreboard.
He is just enjoying himself.
He isn’t even watching the match.
It looks he had won it long ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment