Bleed them blue, they did.
I did not want to bombard you with anything. The mood was to enjoy and savour the most important victory that India has scored in many many years across many many areas, rather than pressing my thoughts on you!
Indeed 1983 was great - but that was providential (aka fluke - blasphemy!).
But this victory will be the new bench-mark for a victory in any global sporting event - winning at home is extremely difficult, especially if you have even an iota of a chance! Even Bangladesh dreamt of getting through to quarter-finals :=)
I think that only the Chinese know how to handle the nerves (do they have any?) in front of their home crowd - even there that 110m hurdler blew it by competing with an injury.
Which brings us to a few questions that Sanga is trying to answer...
I could understand Perera for Angelo; Kula for Herath. The other replacements were a waste. Even though the Indians know Ajantha like the back of their hands, a final is a final and that guy has been doing better than other bowlers - definitely better than Ranadiv who probably choked on his kiribath when the call for the finals came!
As far the Indians...it was not the...
... three consecutive maidens by Zaheer
... timely breaks by Yuvraj
... the inverted C dive by Gambhir
... Dhoni's incessant pounding of the extra-cover boundary with those off-side helicopters
no, not even the 'i-have-hit-the-winning-six-and-i-don't-know-how-to-react' MSD moment!
It was the fantastic fielding that the guys put up on the field that stole the show. Yuvraj was impregnable at point; Kohli and Raina were omni-present; even Zaheer and Sachin - the Mumbai veterans, were diving and saving certain boundaries. Guys! I could not believe any of my faculties!!!
Sidelights:
- The toss was a goof-up par-excellence. Jeff Crowe did it again.
- Aleem Dar had a fantastic tournament - and I can tell you that one single appeal can make the bowler see red (Just yesterday, I was asked, "Are you able to see the ball or not!!"). Imagine Simon and Dar, doing it in front of those braying public and coming out unscathed! Incredible. Kudos, fellers.
- And the most important reason for India winning the world cup is, of course, Rajinikanth was there!!! Add a new Rajini-ism to the lore: "On Saturday, Rajini was watching the finals - second time!"
- And Murthy from Dubai says that there are at least two/three sweet boxes delivered to his home by complete strangers celebrating India's victory!
Q Part:
Nobody got the complete correct answer.
Basanti from Khuddar, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Pursuit Special from Mad Max, Herbie from Love Bug, Homer from Simpsons are the correct answers.
Raghav (3.5), Guru (3) and AdarshB (4) are the ones who had a good crack at the questions.
So, that brings us to the end of the more-enjoyable portion of BQ from my perspective...
Here is the final status of the quiz from BQ-CWC 11.
CONGRATULATIONS to
RAGHAV
ADARSH &
GURU
Thanks for all who took part in keeping the Quiz flying!!
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B Part:
Final Status: Maddy was cribbing a few days back that he is missing out narrowly. And I advocated patience to him and he did reap a handsome reward for that!
Look out for my emails on settlements and such.
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