Nerve Endings Firing Away

Admittedly, we won a victory against a weak team like Bermuda which is smaller than any small-sized Indian town/village. All of 27.7 sq.miles packed with 65 thousand-odd people (that’s less than College Station, TX!), Bermuda still managed to find eleven people (plus subs) who could play with the world’s greatest cricketers (DL Hemp deserves a mention for standing tall against the Indians.) The usual association of Indians with Bermuda is its dreaded triangle which reportedly has claimed many ships and planes. Bermuda has a healthy GDP ($4.8 bn) for its size through its primary occupations of tourism and banking. Some of those infamous offshore bank accounts are located in Bermuda. However, the island is far from your average banana republic and the average home price of $976,000 makes Bermuda one of the most expensive places to live in. The cricketing association of course was due to British colonialism although I wonder why they don’t associate themselves with the West Indies.

Anyway back to cricket, I guess by now getting a jolt at the beginning of every World Cup campaign is mandatory for India. Team India almost seems to thrive in the face of such reverses. Unfortunately, they will not have Pakistan at later stages (if they make it) to recharge their batteries. Probably getting beat by an resurgent Bangladesh team was just the thing the complacent team needed and as Confused says, unless Bangladesh manages to maintain its momentum and shows more abilities than a flash-in-the-pan upset victory, they will still keep people skeptical. Sri Lanka shed the minnows tag quite quickly after their amazing World Cup win in 1996.

India finished the job with Bermuda by beating them by the highest ever margin (257 runs) in the history of one day internationals. Frankly after the Indian innings, the result was a given and the only thing mattered was the margin of victory. India had to best Sri Lanka’s 243 victory margin also achieved against Bermuda in case of a Sri Lanka win against Bangladesh which brings out the net run rate calculators. For India to breathe a sigh of relief, we hope that Bangladesh manages to repeat their accomplishment against Sri Lanka. But regardless of the result between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, if we lose to Sri Lanka, we go home. Period. Sadly, it seems like Bermuda is every team’s favorite whipping boy and now it remains to be seen if Bangladesh can manage something like that.

Sehwag’s blazing knock followed by equally breathtaking knocks by Yuvraj Singh and Tendulkar resulted in a run fest also aided by 18 sixes equalling SA’s record for most sixes in an innings. Also, four batsmen – Sehwag, Ganguly, Yuvraj, and Tendulkar managed to score fifties. Dhoni looked good until he got out. Only Robin Uthappa missed his chance to partake in the gluttony of runs. He is most likely to be dropped against the all-important game against Sri Lanka.

Also, in the bowling department, it looks like Kumble is back with a haul of three wickets. The poor guy still cannot turn the ball but he is lucky with wickets that he picks up at regular and crucial intervals. He is just a lucky charm for the Indian team. Overall good job, India although it was just against a country smaller than one of your mofussil towns. The real test is on March 23rd against Sri Lanka. You still go home if you lose that match. And yup, fans will be baying for your blood and would have forgotten this match.

PS. Apologies for the TOI-like headline on this post; changed it a few dozen times but couldn’t come up with anything interesting. Feel free to suggest your innovative ones in the comments.

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