When we brought the house down!

By abhishek at 26 September, 2007, 12:23 pm

What happens when an advertising guy, an ivy league graduate, a spiritualist, a chef, an aspiring film maker, a business analyst and a world class gully cricketer lock themselves up in an apartment to watch the World Cup finals between India and Pakistan? They go bollocks! They lose their mind. They are kids one moment and rowdies the next. They go crazy with every single stolen by Gautam Gambhir or simply stare at the TV screen in astonishment when Robin Utappha gets a run out with a direct hit from 30 feet away. They scream their throats off when Dhoni clears the ropes and applaud with grace when Rohit Sharma holds his nerves to yet another unbeaten knock. They swear when Joginder Singh is hit for a six off his last over and then they pray amidst their abuses that Misbah Ul Haq for once loses his sanity.

There was a lot of chaos, a lot of noise while we were covering the match ball by ball and I am sure you guys enjoyed the perfect natural cacophonous background score! �

Everyone in that room had their own style and in their excitement they had their idiosyncrasies too. Here are the typical reactions of all of us when Joginder was bowling one of his expensive overs and was already hit for 10 runs in two balls and then it was time for another six…

Aditya, the ivy league guy: ‘Aailaaa. Maaro usko!’
Kartick, the aspiring film maker: ‘!@#$ him man!’
Hersh, the business analyst: ‘Oh oooooooooo! That doesn’t look good!’ (And he was back reading his Economic Times! Cool customer this chap!)�lt;br /> Rakesh, the ad guy: (doesn’t speak much… he simply helped himself to another drink!)
Raama, the chef: ‘Aaaaaaahhhh! Saaaaalaa!’
In “the commentary box…”
Akhilesh, the spiritualist: ‘Brilliant shot! Coming right from the middle of the bat’
Yours truly, the gully cricketer: ‘Yes, that is one of the biggest sixes in the tournament. He got stuck into that one!’

Trust me, it was hard to contain our emotions while Akhi and I said that, but, we tried to bring you a cricket match first and an India match next. We reversed roles at will and Akhi and I were back to being ourselves while Aditya and Kartick took the mic and were at their coherent best when an Indian wicket fell or a Pakistani batsman hit us all over the park. In fact, during one moment when Shahid Afridi scooped the ball in the air which remained there for eternity, the whole room went berserk while Aditya and Kartick were trying to get every nanosecond of that shot to you guys that would help you visualise every moment so that you too would join us in the celebration as Sreesanth’s safe hands got India closer to the cup.

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This commentary is dedicated to each one of you who woke up at 5 in the morning from the US! This one goes out to everyone from the UK who for once believed that their office was their home away from India. Office broadband zindabaad! This one is for the father of a 12th grader who had the heart to get his cable connection off on such a big day so that his kid gets a couple of more marks in his exams.� A big shout out to all Pakistani supporters who stayed with us right till the end.

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We were 740 plus cricket crazy fans rooting for India. So, this one goes out to every grimace that you must have shown everytime Joginder Sharma came out to bowl… every jig that you must have done sitting on your office desks after a Pakistani wicket fell… that war cry that you must have roared when India won to become World Champions! Pleasant memories…

It was great knowing all of you… We had a gala dinner after the� match and we’ll upload a few pictures soon.

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