Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Matches are made, in Poker Heaven
I realized it the minute I left the cafeteria with the Lankans needing 40 from 36 with 5 wickets in hand. And I was wrong by all of one run !
The rest of my tea-sipping fans wanted to know how exactly I did it—predicted the victor and the margin, when SL had the match in the bag.
For that, one has to go back almost a decade when I saw the last two hours of an India-S Africa match, long after which I came to the sad but inescapable conclusion that that was perhaps the first match that was fixed. The scene was eerily similar—India versus a strong ODI outfit in Kochi, full house, India plays well but is still outplayed only to win it in a close but not that-close finish. A day where over 300 was made by the Proteas for the loss of only three wickets ( two of them in an unexpected Dravid over) and India chase it down without ever appearing to try hard enough ( This must not be confused with the third ODI of the inaugural India-SA series where 287 was chased down without a whimper –that may have been the first match which was thrown )
So for all some zany batting orders, the very entertaining Angus McAllister impersonations of Sehwag & Dilshan and some candid remarks on the quality of cricket on Dhoni’s indeeveejwals , like the wise old Poirot said, I know and that is enough. Time will bear me out.
The rest of my tea-sipping fans wanted to know how exactly I did it—predicted the victor and the margin, when SL had the match in the bag.
For that, one has to go back almost a decade when I saw the last two hours of an India-S Africa match, long after which I came to the sad but inescapable conclusion that that was perhaps the first match that was fixed. The scene was eerily similar—India versus a strong ODI outfit in Kochi, full house, India plays well but is still outplayed only to win it in a close but not that-close finish. A day where over 300 was made by the Proteas for the loss of only three wickets ( two of them in an unexpected Dravid over) and India chase it down without ever appearing to try hard enough ( This must not be confused with the third ODI of the inaugural India-SA series where 287 was chased down without a whimper –that may have been the first match which was thrown )
So for all some zany batting orders, the very entertaining Angus McAllister impersonations of Sehwag & Dilshan and some candid remarks on the quality of cricket on Dhoni’s indeeveejwals , like the wise old Poirot said, I know and that is enough. Time will bear me out.
