Wish I was there
I was holed up in an airport, having to board a flight to Sri Lanka, when the final of the Women's World Cup was happening. India had already gotten everybody's attention, a win over England in the group stages, then over Australia in the semi's. Now the finals!
But the true sense of what the Mithali Raj's team had achieved hit me then. All television sets at the Bengaluru international airport had the game on, and nearly everyone there - barring the uber-busy executive, the deep-in-love couple, the airport staff who had their jobs to do and the sound asleep geriatric - had their eyes glued on to the TV.
India had sent almost everything to a standstill inside a bustling airport. This was round about the time when Jhulan Goswami ran riot with the ball.
My first stop en route Colombo was Chennai. And the scenario was more or less similar, expect now, the tension was palpable. India were within touching distance. There was anguish, joy, relief or cheers as each ball passed. Eventually, India fell short, by just nine runs. But it left me wondering, if the atmosphere at two airports thousands of miles away was such, imagine how abuzz Lord's would've been.
This was a historic moment in cricket; Bangladesh - still often derided as a cricket 'minnow' - defeated perennial powerhouse Australia in a Test match. An emerging Bangladesh had notched several impressive victories in recent times and built a formidable home record but beating mighty Australia for the first time in the long form was a significant feat for the Tigers.
Granted, an under-prepared Australian team had just come off the mentally taxing and bitter pay dispute but, still, nothing could take away the sheen for Bangladesh, who momentously claimed the first Test in Dhaka by 20 runs.
Needing 265 runs for victory, Australia was seemingly cruising at 158-2 with superstars David Warner and Steve Smith leading the charge before crumbling under an inspired Bangladesh attack led by Shakib Al Hasan.
It was a thrilling finish as Australia's dogged tail inched closer to the target but Bangladesh prevailed setting off celebrations nationwide in a genuine feel good moment for cricket.
Pakistan hadn't ever been as poor as they were on the day when two of their modern greats - Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, bowed out of the sport together. One had been Pakistan's most trusted leader and the only constant amid their sea full of changes, the other was this ever-smiling butcher, who flaunted arguably the best on-drive in the business and the most nonchalant heaves. Both more similar than different, how? Both had to put up with the fickleness of their fans, administrators, and everyone in the country and yet hold the torch aloft for the sport.
Younis had only in the previous Test become the first Pakistani to register 10,000 Test runs. Misbah and he had already put together the most number of runs by any pair from their nation. The three-Test series against the Windies was in a 1-1 deadlock. The stage was set for a fitting farewell - Windies were one down already at the end of the fourth day and chasing down the target was never the agenda. About 40 overs were left and the hosts had by then been reduced to six down. And then Roston Chase decided to score a defiant ton and with a little support from here, a little from there, he took the game into the last two overs of play. It was only with an over left that Pakistan found the final wicket and a deserving send-off for two of its most well-serving sons.
The Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica saw an outburst of emotions that day. That win perfectly reflected their careers - fairytale but not one without struggles. Not often does one get to witness stories as human as theirs - filled with a heady concoction of struggle and triumph. And if I were to choose a story to tell from 2017, it would be this.
Ranji Trophy is one tournament, more than any, that I wait for, season after season. And it's for the matches like the semifinal clash between Vidarbha and Karntaka; where a new hero emerges, where the Davids triumph over the Goliaths. Nah! Just kidding.
For Ranji, I'm content with the age-old tale. I'm used to Mumbai's domination and relish it to the core. It's their ability to win matches from hopeless situations that I wait for every Ranji season. This year, however, there was none of it from them. There was one from Railways though, when they beat Uttar Pradesh in the first round. Having conceded a 68-run first innings lead, they were bowled out for 161 in the second. 94 runs should have been an easy chase. But not to be. Uttar Pradesh folded up for 72.
However, what Vidarbha did was against a much stronger opposition with a lot more in a knockout clash. Karnataka boasted the best all-round unit in the tournament. They had a stronger bowling attack and a stronger batting line up. They were unbeaten in the tournament and had come into the match after defeating Mumbai by an innings. Nine of their 11 players were in supreme form. And not surprisingly, they took a 116-run lead in a rather low-scoring first innings.
But then rose a veteran - Ganesh Satish - against his former side to stroke a fine 81 and along with handy contributions with other lower order batsmen, took the team to 313.
198 wasn't a big target, definitely not for a team that had their No 9 batsman averaging over 70 in the season with the bat. But it was enough a score for Vidarbha bowlers to fight with. And that's just what happened. After Umesh Yadav and Siddesh Neral dismissed the top three, 24-year old Rajneesh Gurbani caused havoc. The pacer ran through the middle order and reduced them to 104 for 7.
But Karnataka's lower-order fought back. Vinay Kumar showed his class with the bat, Abhimanyu Mithun displayed his big-hitting prowess, Shreyas Gopal remained steady. But in the end, Vidarbha held their nerves better and probably Karnataka didn't play the smartest of cricket in the dying moments of the game.
With seven runs to win, No. 11 Sreenath Arvind took a single of the last ball of the over and exposed himself against Gurbani, who had taken six wickets in the innings till then. The pacer induced an edge of the left-hander's bat and the ball went straight to Apoorv Wakhade at gully.
Vidarbha players and support staff ran all across the ground, with the instinctive celebrations being wilder than it was after the final win. It was a match for the ages.
Watching Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni dominate even the best of the bowling attacks in mid and late 2000s gave me chills as a teenager. But as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever. While Yuvraj gradually lost his place in the squad, Dhoni was not his usual self anymore despite being effective. Even though Yuvraj's resoluteness was rewarded with a comeback at the age of 36, not even the staunchest fans of the dynamic duo would have expected them to rewind the clock almost a decade later. But that's exactly what unfolded in Cuttack against England in January.
Following Chris Woakes' triple strike, Dhoni and Yuvraj came together with plenty of responsibility on their shoulders and they ended up putting on a show during their 256-run association.
In total, the capacity crowd at Cuttack witnessed nine sixes from the bat of these two veterans as they both registered massive hundreds. It took me a while to realise that it was 2017 and not 2007 and I immediately rued not being present at Cuttack's press box, watching two masters displaying their craft. Had I been there at the venue on that eventful day covering the game, it would have been my first taste of international cricket as a journalist. Couldn't have asked for a better start!
While the Indian and the Australian cricket teams patiently waited for the heavy downpour to abate - on the day of the second semifinal of Women's World Cup 2017 - a bigger storm was brewing elsewhere. One that would blow away Australia, and their final hopes, in a jiffy.
When the game did start - a curtailed 42-overs-a-side affair - the Indian batting graph had seen familiar ups and downs. Two early wickets and their captain - Mithali Raj - battling to make ends meet. In walks Harmanpreet Kaur, with her side reeling at 35 for 2 in the 10th over and struggling to not repeat the same mistake of consuming majority of their innings in dots from the earlier league encounter. What happened next would go down as one of the most brutal assaults in the history of the sport.
The fifty took 64 balls in the making, coming off a six off the free-hit from Kristen Beams, but ominously spelled the start of the madcap hitting that followed. The rest of her 171 not out took only 51 more balls! The lunatic acceleration saw India add 139 runs in the final 11 overs of their innings - 108 of which were hit by their vice-captain, batting with a heavily-strapped half-injured shoulder. Harmanpreet vaulted her way into the history books, and India into the World Cup final after a gap of 12 long years.
What made the knock even more special was that it put an end to a prolonged rough patch Haramnapreet had experienced in the ODIs since her previous hundred - in 2013. She'd earned the reputation of a T20 globetrotter since, but made an ODI half-century only on two occasions thereafter. Of course there was her Dhoniesque last-over rescue in the World Cup Qualifier final in Sri Lanka in February, but no joy could match the sense of outplaying a force as dominant as Australia and leading the underdogs to a thumping win single-handedly.
As much as I was thankful for getting to savour each one of those boundaries and sixes from the comforts of my home - luckily having an off day from work - a part of me wanted to be in Derby, watching the carnage unfold from a few meters.
On July 18, 2017, a group of South African Women cricketers flirted with fame at Bristol only to fall at the last hurdle as the hosts, England, scripted a memorable two-wicket win with two balls to spare. In the topsy-turvy last over, Shabnim Ismail dropped a catch off her own bowling to reprieve Jenny Gunn, but she was poised and ready for her moment of glory as the pacer soon castled Laura Marsh.
South Africa and Shabnim now believed that they could usurp the fancied England side and reach the summit clash of the World Cup. But there is something called unseen Karma that denies your destiny. Unfortunately, for South Africa, Anya Shrubsole punched the next delivery from Shabnim to the cover boundary to end the opposition's dreams. All the training, hard work and sweat to grab that one opportunity on a great day ended in a space of one delivery. Four years of toil, ends in 5 seconds That is the cruelty of sport. Athletes are akin to travellers on a long odyssey throughout the year, aiming to fulfil their dreams. Some will attain the podium and a few others return to their home shattered. The part and parcel of sport.
The match wasn't just about that one stroke played by Shurbsole, as the England pacer and her teammates celebrated with unfettered joy. If we turn the pages and look back at the game, Laura Wolvaardt, the promising opener, crafted a well-paced 66. Mignon du Preez, South Africa's highest run-getter in ODIs, tailored the gap with precision to compose an impressive 76. Sarah Taylor played with finesse and touch for 54, while Ayabonga Khaka's 2 for 28 helped South Africa fight back and give them a chance to enter their maiden final. Alas! it wasn't to be.
The match would be reverberated for the teary-eyed South Africa captain, Dane van Niekerk, leaving the field. The heartbroken Shabnim, too, was down in tears. Marizanne Kapp hid her face while returning to the pavilion. Khaka and Daniels cried. Tears rolled down the eyes of Chloe Tryon and Lizelle Lee too. When you have given your everything, there is no shame in crying, as emotions take over. But, somewhere deep down the line you wonder whether a tear-jerking loss is more poignant than the thrilling win.
It is the kind of see-saw match match that one would cherish to cover.
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