He left a lot to be desired...

सो क्लोस येत सो फार....this one sentence tells the whole story for India in the recently played Hyderabad One-day International between India and Australia.Though i being kind of a  person who can even watch Zimbabwe vs Kenya match live,i missed out on Australia's runfest (or shall i say India's traumatic bowling display :)) as i was busy attending one seminar on MBA.

I somehow got to know the generosity of Indian Men from my friend sitting next to me in seminar as he blurted india let damn aussie score 350/4...i thought at that point we were down n out from the game...i became a little pessimist and unreasonalbe as well  as i  thought everybody in indian team specially bowlers shuld not be allowed to have their dinner today for their lackluster performance on the field ( Food for the thought).

Finally when i reached home...India was staring at  mammoth defeat with 40% of the team back in the pavillion even before reaching 150...n Sachin in 80's and nascent Raina on the crease., match was all but lost.

But Sachin and Raina had something else on their mind...Duo kept rotating strikes, hit odd boundaries to keep  India in check with runrate required....Sachin came to the party (after dull start to the series)just at the right time n hit Adam Vogues for magnificant six over bowler's head...Raina kaha peeche rahene wala tha...he too blasted a huge six over mid wicket...aachanak se Match interesting ban gaya tha yaaro..dil main umeed ki ek kiran dikhaiye de rahi thi...ki shayad unhoni ho jaye..shayad Cricketing God hum par meharbaan ho jaye..shayad..:)

As the match reached its climax and Sachin completed his 150...roar of the people on the ground was deafening and it could have easily been compared to the explosion that nuclear bomb created on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945...people went absolutely crazy as India was on the doorstep of improbable win...a fairy tale win was on the card(as not everyday u get so close to chasing down totals of 350+)...with only 53 runs required from 42 balls with 6 wickets in hand, India was about to create history.....but ryte at this tyme only CG(cricketing god) stopped smiling at the Indians and turned his back at us.

Raina played overambitious pull shot and started India's debacle and rite at this instance my roomie Arif joined me to watch this engrossing match...moment he enters India was 5 down, n when he settled down India was 6 down(Harbhajan came and left without troubling scoreboard).Sachin was clueless as to what was happeing at the other end. Arif made the difference with his presence in the matter of 5 mins.

Sachin and Ravindra Jadeja, a class XII student ,were left to take India home...certain chemical locha and i was reminded of exactly the same situation India was in yr 1997 against Wasim Akram's Pakistan in Chennai...thr too India were struggling initially and Sachin Mongia partnership studied the boat and threatened to take game away from Pakis..but thr too foolish shot by Mongia(here Raina) made the difference and India lost the match by 12 runs.

I looked at Arif and he started sayin :"Meri kya galti hai be"...I said if we the lose the match from here...i will not watch cricket ever in my life (later i added for that day atleast :))...I prayed to almighty and mubbled please dont break billion hearts today bu almighty rejected my prayers all hands down.

Sachin who was playing so beautifully till then, succembed to the pressure yet again and ballooned simple catch to short fine leg and once again he could not finish the job at hands and started walking towards pavillion in total despair. I furiously looked at Arif but dint say a word...Arif and Sachin combo together broke a billion hearts on that fateful night as the rest batsmen could not do any heroics. I thanked Arif and Sachin for the defeat that night.Aussies again showed relentless fighting spirit to win the match from the jaws of defeat.

India always known for its generosity has once again gifted a match to the opposing team. I rate team India as the biggest chokers after South Africa.

On that night a thought crossed my mind....Sachin is the best batsman cricketing world has ever seen but is he the best when it comes winning matches under pressure cooker situations. I had to think hard as i could hardly recall 1 or 2 exceptional inings he played out of  his 1000 matches long career....this question is up for debate....at the end i would have to say he left a lot to be desired.