When reality bent

It was just another day of average ODI Cricket. All so usual. Pakistan were leading. WI were lagging. It looked nothing more than another ODI game being played for no apparent reasons.

But then shadows lengthened in Guyana.
A Trinidadian stood up.
And the game started breathing.

Sarfraz suddenly lost his nerves. His fields went wrong. His bowlers bowled nonsense. Ball started flying all across. A simple cricket game turned into an opera. Melancholy echoed for Pakistan.
And WIndies started dreaming.

Jason Mohammed turns out to be the man.

                      *********

Why they sent Hafeez ahead of Babar? None on the planet had the answer. He struggled a lot. With him, Babar struggled. And Pakistan clearly lost the sight of a hefty total.

But in the end, that 308 didn’t look bad at all. It could be defended easily with Shadab, Hassan and Amir. The weaker links in Imad and Wahab could be covered by Malik and Hafeez.

So they did.

And this, too, stands for a fact that WI have never chased even a penny above 300. And this is a batting line not just battling for World Cup qualification while all their stars sit in India for money.

Nothing goes their way.

They can’t win.

Nothinh more, nothing less. It is a simple reality.

                   ********

But they thought otherwise.

Ewin Lewis was the first one. He behaved. Asking rate kept climbing but him and Powell held on. They showed intent. Sarfraz had to try a lot. Even when Lewis threw his head away, Powell took charge.

For all that steadiness, when Jason Mohammed came to the crease, WI needed 153 off 107 balls.
Even if you wished, you won’t like to think it could be possible.

That it could be real.

                ********

In Cricket, there is a certain sense of occasion. Few have that. Good knocks from average batsmen come here and there. But there would be nothing particularly memorable in them.
Hafeez could be the best example here. He has 11 ODI hundreds to his name, but honestly I remember none of them. Razzaq has only three. I can recall all of them. And I can never forget one of them.

It might smell like bias but it actually isn’t.
Hafeez would score big when he needed.
Razzaq would score big when we all needed.
He would rise up to the occasion.

It's just that sense of occasion that separates big ones from fine ones.

I would often wonder at the modern culture of WI batting. Though it has won them two T20 World cups but it needs a lot of interpretation. In ODIs, you'd always find them lagging behind time. They'd like to lose ten wickets for 250 in 25 overs rather to bat on for 50 overs and chase a 300. They are just like that, always trying to get ahead of the game but falling to the occasion.

Last evening, they undid themselves. They came from behind and won the game in no time.

                     ********

Captains are tested when reality starts withering away. When a nobody comes out of a nowhere and mocks at 11 men in the field, it all goes fuzzy. Bowlers try to hide. Captains start shouting. Fielders look tired.

And the game slips away.

Sarfraz never saw it coming. He had no answers to it.

When Jason Mohammed started lofting the ball, Pakistan didn't even look like a team. None wanted to look at the ball. None liked to run after it. None wanted to believe in the real measures of time and space.

When he hit it over Hassan's head, he held the pose for a moment. It was picture perfect. At that moment, he looked fluent. But he was far from home. What he did different was that he believed in game piety. He put himself behind it.
As a result, he could flirt with Wahab. He could smash fuller lengths off Amir into the stands. He could move his feet and toy with Imad Wasim.

Every shot off his bat looked sexier than the earlier. The ball flew all across. He bisected fields like a mathematician. He put himself behind the game. The game embraced him.


                            ******

Besides the pitch, there are three Pakistan captains standing. Sarfraz looks lost. Malik appears confused. Hafeez suggests something. Sarfraz looks at Malik. Malik stares into the stands.

They all want to get back to reality as soon as possible.

                         *********

In the end, it's not Jason who scores the winning runs. Nurse hits it. He runs for two. Entire WI seems flooding out of the dressing room.
They all run towards Jason.
They have made history.
But the looks on those faces say even they'd take time to believe that it all was real.