The tale of a last ball sixer

( THE photo is from a different match .We had no cameras then.. )


About this piece: UlTrA boring, if the reader is a former B-bottom inmate.

Warning 1: It still thrills me, but you may not be thrilled ,especially if not read till the end (read! read! read! plz )...


The venue : Medical college ground
Time: afternoon , when S1S2 Tele lost 2 wickets cheaply against S8 applied.


The greatest innings i have ever seen, read about, or heard of - This is for you if you believe in 'big match temperament' and

'team work' etc... and it is better if you were not my roommates through first year- Amar and Prem would search for something

to throw me with whenever i mentioned about this story; i know (!) ,not because it was boring ,infact it is a thrill-but i used to

refer this whenever i could ! ANYWAY, You MUST read this if your name is any of these- Joys ( I learned the game with him),

Ayyan ( Just to see for himself what the game is- he asked "which is that game" when MH Cup was going on), Maakkan( I

failed to impress this great friend of mine even after so much hard work- refer my blog maakkaaans tales),Adheesh 'l.p'( he

has a resonating frequency with me.)Dilip ( I read each of your blogs , so you must read this too!)

Warning 2: (1) I dont believe self glorification is sin.
(2) 'I have never played to my potential ever in my life' - You will have to go through sentences like this.
(3) Only highlights included. ( oh unlucky!?)
(4) This is the only occasion i can use hard cricketing jargon. I wont miss it too...
(5) I have treated the match like an international match for this article.(anyway the facts are correct to the best

of my knowledge ,and as i have scribbled it in my personal diary)
Read on............................

Every year the electronics department in CET conducts a cricket tournament called EA cup. This was when we were

surprised seeing the geeks of S8 pasting a caricature of a batsman in the department notice board .The registration fee was

110/-. Our day came. It was an afternoon. About 15 of us cut classes. The team as i remember it:

AP,
Me,
Jake,
Aswin,
Rishal,
Prem,
Rakesh prasannan,
Somaly,(Deepak)
Kili( Praveen),
Ajay( not the geek)
Clinton Gomez.


We thought it would be a leather ball and that was why some of us were scared from the morning ( mm.. not me). But in the

end, when we were sent in to bowl, what we got was a light tennis ball. Good for nothng. Refined cricketers like me will never

like it- It wont move fast ,so you hate bowling....And it wont carry to the bat -ballooning up more probably than rocketing away

through the ground.Stroke players will find life difficult.


AC was our captain, but pulled out last minute for Dhwani duty. So who would be the captain but me?...... Toss lost.

Bowled. My boys worked hard -but they made 92 runs off 15 overs. I myself got a couple of wickets too. Nobody hit a six,

expectedly so because of the wide boundaries and the girlish ball. The dust bowl missed a quality spinner.


In reply, We lost the openers in quick succession.I knew runs wont come easily.We will have to work hard to gather runs.

The moment I got in at two-down, I felt there were more than 11 against me -the illusion a good team always create.I was

surprised that there wasnt a sign of sledging- given that we were freshers and they were the super mega seniors ,and

offcourse the experiences I had during the THRILLING welcome match in MH -When we were time and again reminded about

our forefathers and worse ,'foremothers' if there is something like this..


The fielder at gully was a tease ,because of pure cricketing merit.He took a diving catch early and I itched to hit the ball

through between his legs- but a captain should put the interest of the team prior to anything else. I avoided the balls in the

uncertain corridor. No cuts. Soft hands was the only option against anything which pitched shorter than good length. They

were choking us.

When I came in we had only a single digit score for 2 wickets.( I dont remember the exact score). I left some ,pushed some

,made my ones and twos. After 5 overs we had a suffocating score of 16/2.

tHE SIXTH OVER:

SKV (Sujith KV) , their captain was at deep mid wicket. There were only 3 fielders in the leg side - one to bloke the singles

and one at square leg. In an unexpected outburst,I hit three fours over short leg, one after one, in the sixth over , turning the

tables (by a small angle!).(The bowler was not good,a plain fact SKV would know, but only after the over!) The captain quipped

back. He himself moved to deep square leg. The bowler was dumb enough( sorry senior!) to pitch it short the next ball ,I pulled

it to deep mid wicket. Four. SKV was fooled. Quality stroke play for sure ,to ignite a comeback. I sensed some form.33/2.

tHE SEVENTH OVER:

9 Runs from the over .We lost Jake.He was giving good support.41/3.

tHE EIGHTth OVER:

11 Runs.The beautiful leaning square cut got me big applause from the crowd of about 30,000 divided by thousand.52/3.

Then we lost Aswin and Prasannan quickly. Runs kept coming in ones and twos and an occasional four. Scoreboard ticked. I

was in the sheet anchor.I could read the ball well and kept scoring at a brisk pace ,guarding my wicket when guys kept on

playing wrong shots at the other end.


With 3 overs to go, we required 24 runs, with some 5 wickets in hand. Prem was my partner now. He played an absolute

fuck of an innings initially- swaying ,rowing , hopeless cutting. I kept cool. The Don.

We got 6 from the over.

We need now 18 from 2 overs.The opening bowlers were called back by SKV.I thougt: I'll play in the same way ( I was

obsessed with my minus point - the 'slowness to switch gears'- fact to be hidden , still ).Prem will be out sooner than later.

Then Rishal will come and swing the bat ,hopefully getting atleast one big shot.

14TH OVER:

PRESSURE.
No hope for sixers.Fielders were fired up. Some occasional verbals here and there. No backing from the 'dressing room'. The

next bus was in their mind. 7 runs from the over. Now we need 11 runs. Prem at the strikers end. The bowler with a line and a

length was to bowl the last one. "The writing was on the wall". The fielders were ready to celebrate. Can the Juniors deny

them ?


The Last Over: 11 REQUIRED.

ball 1: Miss. You can do nothing much on a ball outside off stump with a packed offside field.I forgive you , Prem.

ball 2: Repeat. I can say nothing to prem.

ball 3: Somehow a single. The ball was in my court. It was now we felt that there is something like an S1S2 dressing

room.Everyone wanted sixer. One of it will alter the equations. I knew, I wont.

ball 4: Absolutely frustrating. Full pitch ,very much outside off stump. I didnt dare even to stare at the umpire , i was nearly

manhandled sometime before ,when i shouted at the umpire ( his nick name was 'karate' a KSU guy in college. I remember ,

he was also the first one to rag me in this college too , before i came to MH and went on to taste more of it by ragging a

senior 'by a technical mistake'- Refer my blog 'college pranks')

ball 5: We needed two sixers. No one was going to put a rupee on us. The ball was a repeat act. I realise that i respect the

bowler. Now i could anticipate the last ball- the same full pitch outside off , or a bit shorter one by the maximum permissible

error by strict engineering standards. In any case the ball will be on or outside off- the only hope of a big shot was the cut. I

needed the high backlift. I took guard afresh even as i was aware of my limitations. The bat was on a high back lift preset....

THe FiNal BaLL!...........

eXpEctAtioNS weNt wRonG.The rare beamer- I failed to connect the ball it went past the keepers hands. As we had planned

, we ran as soon as i missed it. And, i returned for the second run , without a proper call. We were at the same end for a

second. The throw came from the third man, but thank holy cow, the bowler stepped on the stumps before collecting it. Prem

completed the run. Anyway I could not be accused of unfaithfulness - I had to run , AS WE REQUIRED 10 RUNS FROM THIS

BALL...!


The final ball to be rebowled: From the best bowler to the captain..ehh..me. Now we need 7 runs from this ball. A Six will

make a tie. But hitting a sixer had the statistical probability of ZERO , as none were hit so far.

I recalculated everything. There is a mathematical theory- Regression to the mean- a low probability event will be followed by

another one near to the mean , ie the expected thing. So this ball will be outside off for sure, and probably a full pitch.
I dreamed of connecting it like heaven and the cut reaching the boundary at square off....... The bowler was running up, with

the fielders withdrawn to the deep....

Again I guessed it wrong, this time, making the theory of crickets glorious uncertainty a beautiful blessing ,a working

thing.......!

It worked like a charm...

It was short. Staight towards me. 'GROWING ON YOU' as great commentator would say.... And I had all the back lift stored

for that imaginary cut to the offside wilds...! A NEAT HOOK, I wonder if i had played a neater one- The ball essayed an

unbelievable parabola.... IT SAILED... over the top of that defensive deep square leg fielder. I'm through. MISSION

ACCOMPLISHED.................SIXXXXX!

THE MATCH IS TIED! And suddenly someone shouted ,Doni 52..! Oh the lone six saved the game and brought me the half

century..! Tooo sweet to digest.....

eACH oNe oF theM shOOk hAnds with Me. Next monday i heard someone say 'this is the guy' when i walked past a group of

S8 seniors near our electronics department. 2 or 3 of them would give me a smile in later life till they passed out. Mandan

jithin told me that he heard it was between me and S8 Applied.. err.. too flattering? .. well , i like a bit of flattering

lately.....(hihihi)...

We were the happiest team on that evening. I felt like drunk. To my horror SRK the stingy bought me watermelon juice on the

way back for 21 rupees and also the kadi's accompanied...!




I would love to share this story more with my friends , on a drink or plain ,if only we had AP with us. May his soul rest in

peace.