A morning with Cricket...surprisingly entertaining!!!

Well I am back, pretty soon this time. Sometimes incredible things happen in stuff that you absolutely deteste...well this would be too strong a statement to what I mean to refer to, however let me say what I am talking about...it's the game of Cricket.
As all of IISc was sleeping, a group of math students awoke to life and freedom, A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a Department, long suppressed, finds utterance...well this is what Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru would have said, had he seen our team play, today.
This posts will involve a lot of names, if you do not know them, don't  worry, just build an analogy to your favorite team. To say the least, I reached the venue late, as usual. I had a valid reason this time. Yesterday, I fell off my bicycle under mysterious circumstances...if I try to recall properly I think I was day- dreaming whilst riding. In the course of the accident, I hit my head hard onto the road. Ever since I am trying to recall what I could have forgotten!!! Regarding the same, I had an appointment with the doctor today morning, and hence the delay justified!!!.

I reached exactly half way into the match. That's when we started batting. The opposite team had put up a monstrous score of 110 in 15 overs, so the "Math Geeks( or rather Gundas) " had to get to work as soon as possible. Our first wicket was the pair, Dheeraj and Ramiz, two very adept batsmen. They held fort for almost nine over, scoring 66 runs in partnership, Dheeraj seemed to have the extra lucky spark today, because, he had two consecutive drop catches, with the same guy...this fellow had a very big hand in our victory.
After Dheeraj was out(was caught right on the boundary), the game still seemed close at hand, in fact people in the audience had now developed this easy feeling 'we are winning'...especially when Tapan hit a six for the first ball he faced. It did not remain rosy for long, as in the same over Tapan was bowled out, then Sachin made his entry . Now things started getting a little messy, Ramiz was soon out and with him, all the experienced batsmen were on the bench. Now was the moment of truth, the onus was on the middle order, and this is why Sachin exists...not Tendulkar, but Sharma.
The scenario is as follows, we need 36 runs from 24 balls, we have about four wickets left...but not many balls. At this stage we should make mention of one of the stars in the team- Ravi Prakash, unfortunately he had a bad day. Due to some miscommunication between Sachin and him, he got himself run out. He left the field crying tantrums at Sachin. Now Sachin had a two fold responsibility in winning the  game for us. One that he could then stay clear of Ravi's wrath, and secondly he was the last batsman known for batting!!!.

He did live up to the expectations. After Ravi, we had Prahllad on the field, but not for long. And then Arpan, who is primarily known for his deadly bowling. 

One of Sachin's shot was stopped right at the boundary, there was some dispute with the decision...Well our very own self appointed 'Fourth umpire' i.e Avijit ran straight to the field and started clarifying to the fielder on how he was wrong and that we deserved a boundary, another instance of craziness!!!
 
Then it was Kaka's(lovingly called Santanu sometimes!!!) time to enter the bout. The game now was at 12 runs from 8 balls. And lo Sachin hits a six and a four out of the last two deliveries of the second last over. So we are down to 2 runs from 6 balls., and now Santanu(with love) is on strike. Well, this  is one instance when things can get really crazy in cricket...you could either expect a six out of the last ball...or no runs of the entire last over!!!

The bowler bowls the first ball of the last over, and Santanu makes an attempt to hit a big one...no luck. Then the second ball, this time he tries to place the ball, but again in vain... the the third ball...and still the man can't make contact with the ball. Now the audience is getting jittery and superstitious, Samya gets a cigarette, and claims that this is the good luck charm...the women are busy praying...Rahul is thinking of a mathematical proof as to how we can not lose, Shubhamay was counting how much he would have to spend on the 'Juice treat' if we win, Suparna was busy in getting the audience in order, Shibu was busy in adjusting Diganto's balding, so that it could reflect light onto the bowler,and hence blind him, Ravi went off for a leak, ...and all hell broke loose. Everybody had Santanu's name on their lips (and I swear this name would have been a curse, if not for the positive outcome of the match), and then the fourth ball,and yo he manages to make contact with the ball, Sachin runs from the other end, Santanu runs, the fielder misses the wicket and they run for the winning run...and the crowd runs to them...Truly was a moment of ecstasy.
We won...we defeated a tough opponent...We are champions in our group!!!

We are just two games away from being champions...I have my fingers crossed...But deep within I know these guys have what it takes to attain the title...
Cheers to the Math Cricket Team!!!!
P.S- Thanks to the cheer-leading squad under the leadership of the Cheerful Suparna. In fact as the players were running between the wicket, Suparna was running between the score keeper and the audience..and hence was the score updating link!!!