Saturday, March 17, 2007

Red and green

[Picture from Times of India]

I'm seeing red: India put on a pathetic performance against Bangladesh in our first match of the World Cup today. All out at 191! Izzat ka falooda as we say in Bombay. Oh those terrible 10 minutes, when the score went from 151 for 4 to 159 for 9! And what a bizarre innings -- the second best partnership was between the two tail end batsmen, Munaf Patel (apro. He's from the neighboring Bharuch district) and Zahir Khan? Sachin scored 7, and Dhoni went out on a duck?

Against Bangladesh!

Besharam salay! I'm not going to stay up to see if we can keep them from catching up in their innings. I wouldn't hold my breath. (They've already made 50 runs off 10 overs. That's a run rate of 5. We never even made 4.)

Forget actually winning the World Cup, can we even get to a darn semifinal?

I'm seeing green: well the deep green of Bangladesh's uniforms and flag. But also the emerald green of Eire. The consolation has been that Pakistan (even more green there!) put on an even more pathetic performance against Ireland! All out for only 132! Ha! Lots of shamrocks were in evidence in the stands. Éirinn go Brách! On St. Paddy's day too! :-)

:: Update :: -- Didn't realize that being defeated by the Irish meant that Pakistan is now out of the world cup! I should curb the schadenfreude ... our situation is not much better.

Oh and here's Uber Desi on the St. Patrick's day massacres.

6 comments:

St. Elizabeth of Cayce said...

Reading about Cricket is, for me, very much like reading the bridge column in the paper.

There are English words, arranged in sentences with subjects, verbs, even prepositional phrases. But zero meaning.

In this case, I still have little comprehension of the technical aspects of the games about which you write, but after this past week of basketball, I DO understand the sentiments. Sorry your team is performing so poorly.

Someday I'll have to better accquaint myself with Cricket, such an important part of my paternal side British Isles heritage. But for today (3/17 as I type this), Erin Go Bragh indeed!

Lizzie,
also significantly Irish (maternal side)

St. Izzy said...

I'm so glad that it's not just I who fail to comprehend those sentences, despite being able to diagram them. I was afraid that the Guinness was already starting to catch up with me.

Izzy
finishing off some corned beef & cabbage

Priya Ramachandran said...

Light lo. I gave up on cricket - at least the Indian team - in '96 after Pakistan thrashed us one too many times. All the adulation we shower on them, treat them like gods on earth, and they let us down time and again.

On the other hand, Pakis are in as bad a situation. So yay!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Fr. Gaurav Shroff said...

St. Liz: yeah, I read about that Duke -VA Tech game. A mutual friend couldn't stop gloating about it on his blog :)

St. Izzy: you diagrammed them? I want to see this! :)

Pixelchick: yeah, Indians are forever hopeful (maybe that's why I'm such a diehard Gamecock fan too! :)). And the Indian team is the highest paid in the world too -- the BCCI is both a big industry and a political hangama as well.

I gave up on Indian cricket a while back too ... though, of course, everyone remembers that hot summer night of 1983! During the last World Cup I was in Columbus OH watching in horror as CNN brought "shock and awe" exploding over Baghdad right into the US heartland.

I think this current phase of interest is partly because I'm in India and it's in the air (and on TV all the darn time!), and also because my father was a huge fan, so, I guess, in a sense I'm following this for him. :)

Priya Ramachandran said...

I guess, in a sense I'm following this for him

You are such a sweet guy, Gash.

Actually in 1983, Jamshedpur still didn't have a TV station. (We got it in '84 when Mrs. Gandhi inaugurated it in June or so). So any 'memories' of that heady win is only through replays of Kapil and his Devils, not the direct experience of it.

Breathe the cricket. I'm not a big sports fan per se, but World Cup football, Olympic and Asiad hockey, tennis Grand Slams - somehow these form a great deal of my TV memories, maybe because DD was the only thing to be watched, and when they started some kind of blanket coverage, that was ALL you could watch anyway.

Here's a little linky gift for you: Enjoy :)

Fr. Gaurav Shroff said...

Oh wow ... did that bring back memories or what! Thanks! I hadn't even thought about "Films division" in ages! Now I'll be humming that silly melody, "Suraj ek chanda ek" all day :)

We were in Ahmedabad in 1983 and I do remember seeing this unfold ... whether it was live or not I don't remember. I think it was.