Twists and turns of winning, losing and IPL Mania....

Twists and turns of winning, losing and IPL Mania....

Mumbaiiiii....."are you ready for the magic?" screams the anchor....the crowd joins cheering loudly and says...."Yessss...." and the countdown begins....10, 9, 8, 7,6,5,4,3,2,1....the 11th IPL began on the 7th April revealing once again that Cricket is the biggest entertainer and show stealer. The Combination of the game with the glamorous world of films and film stars makes it magnetic. The craze for this version of the game hasn't waned but only seems to have doubled.
The inaugural ceremony began with performances by actors Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fermadez, Mika and Superstar Hrithik Roshan. The crowds cheering,singing, dancing and clapping made it the greatest live show.
The quick turnaround of the ground from.a stage to the cricket pitch was fascinating. It matched the nimbleness and quickfootedness of the dancers. Within minutes the ground was ready after the performances and the teams started practicing as we waited with baited breath in a jam-packed stadium for the first match of Chennai Super Kings- CSK against Mumbai Indians- MI to start.
The toss was won by CSK who decided to field. For someone like me who hardly understands cricket it didn't matter. My son, Vishnu who is an ardent follower of the game said that Dhoni is a strategist and having played at the Wankhede Stadium many times before knows that the pitch is hard. There are no uneven bounces even in the second innings. It would therefore be easier to chase the runs.
As the game progressed, I discovered that batting proved to be a challenge. Wickets fell quickly and Vishnu was forlorn that his team MI was not faring well. My task as ever was to pacify him and ask him to keep his sunny side up. What I dread most about live matches is the fear of his favourite team losing and his subsequent dejection. I have seen not only him but many others get extremely involved and upset over their favourite team losing. It does not remain a game where we win some and lose some. And so even i ended up keeping my fingers crossed for MI. They could manage to make a decent score of about 165.
Knowing CSK and Dhoni a target of 166 wasn't difficult. Nevertheless I kept pepping up Vishnu. Surprisngly CSK wickets fell quicker than MIs. Soon it was Dhoni's turn to bat at four down. The crowd was in a frenzy as he came on the pitch" Thalaivaa is back". But it wasn't his day too since his wicket was taken soon. It appeared that MI would be winning after all. However Bravo was the saviour and braveheart and kept the CSK flag high. It was his sustained batting which gave an edge to their team and ultimately led them to victory. The tables were suddenly turned against the MI team and they lost. I was pacifying Vishnu and myself too. After all, like any true Mumbaiite I love MI yet I couldn't help thinking about the ups and downs of the match.
So many times during the match MI appeared to be winning but ultimately lost and in contrast so many times CSK appeared to be losing but finally won. It may have been a miracle but the effort of a dream team with a cool captain who stood steadfastly led them to victory.
The match had all the twists and turns of a bollywood potboiler. Some people who had left the stadium at some point presuming MIs victory would have been shocked on hearing the final outcome.
Life is so much like a match full of ups and downs, thrills and debacles. The best of the players can end up losing a match due to wrong strategy and a losing team can win by just keeping it's cool. The inaugural match proved to be one such lesson. The pain of losing when one could have almost won and the joy of winning a match which was almost lost were pertinent. Some fans of MI didn't spare criticising the players when they started losing. The challenge of playing under such stressful conditions, their state of mind didn't matter to them. Some were sarcastic with their jibes. A few like Vishnu were totally upset.
For once I felt that George Bernard Shaw's famous quote of Cricket being a game played by 11 fools and watched by 1000s of fools acquired different connotations. It must have given so many lessons of wisdom not only to the team but also to those who watched whether in the stadium or in their homes. Playing and winning were an art and losing a part of life. Thinking positively under the worst circumstances is a must, cause after every storm there comes a calm morning.