"itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai
ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai....
kehte hai agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho toh poori kaynaat tumhein usse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai...aap sabne mujhe meri chahat se mila diya...thanks, thanks very much, kehte hai ki filmon ki tarah hamari zindagi mein bhi end tak sab theek hee ho jaata hai..happys endings...aur agar theek naa ho toh woh the end nahi, picture abhi baaki hai mere dost"
- quote from Hindi film Om Shanti Om, based on Paolo Coelho's similar thought in his novel 'The Alchemist'
-----------
In a 1999 WC Super six match which could have eliminated the Australians, Steve Waugh scored only the 2nd international hundred of his career when he came in at fifty something for three chasing 250+ against a formadable South African attack. Gibbs, the 2nd best fielder in the world after Rhodes at the time and certainly the world's joint best catcher with Rhodes and Mark Waugh, famously 'dropped' him by throwing the ball in celebration too soon after catching..that Steve Waugh ton allowed Australia to win 3 world cups and start a phenomenal winning streak of unbeaten matches that took 12 years to stop.
Anybody with only 2 hundreds in ODI's who did better, and at a more opportune time? Destiny intervened that day, perhaps.
Probably because Steven Rodger Waugh wanted that Cup badly enough.
Cut to 2011. Another Cricket world cup.
Sachin Tendulkar. He generally gets bad calls from umpires, some of them especially in crucial moments in Test matches. But extension of Test innings is the last thing on his mind today.
The only thing he wants badly today is an ODI World Cup win. He went the whole distance to a final once 8 years back but returned empty handed from the last step.
How badly does he want to win the 2011 World Cup?
So badly that Destiny is forced to comply and contrive to make it happen, as that saying goes. It certainly did so today, by returning back ALL (and I mean all - six to be precise) of Sachin's career earnings of 'bad dismissals' with interest in ONE SINGLE innings, the one innings that needed him to succeed for his team to take him where he wanted to - playing a 2nd WC final. And play that game at home, the city where he grew up in and learnt his cricket, the city where his elder brother & other family members made sacrifices to let him become what he is today. And possibly win the game, to attain his one remaining unfulfilled dream. The one he wants badly, very badly, so badly that destiny is beginning to comply. "Itni shiddat se" and all that.
Quite un-dramatic, isn't it?
Almost as un-dramatic as that win coming through Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar scoring his 100th international hundred in the final. For destiny also took care, probably with an understanding half-smile on her face, that Sachin did not end up getting his 100th ton in a semi final which will be remembered as much for him getting 6 lives as for India playing Pakistan in a semi final match for the 1st time in a WC to come up tops.
[shared as a note on my Facebook page]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This post has been insipred by a comment of Rajdeep Saedesai to the tune of 'Things getting set up for a Sachin dominated finale in Mumbai' on CNN IBN today after India won the semi final against Pakistan
No comments:
Post a Comment