Okay, first off, unlike my other posts, this one isn't a result of endless joblessness. No room for that once you step out of the bubble of college life. This isn't also because I've been out of touch of my creative side (Well if I don't laud myself, who will?). No, this is after a heartbreaking season of IPL, atleast for CSK. I know, I am another CSK fan, throw your stones, rotten tomatoes and age old biriyanis. But when you witness such a blinding innings and lose it all, its heart-wrenching, and you just cant check your emotions. As someone I vageuly remember saying "Dude, shagging isnt the greatest pain reliever. Write, and let your hormones do the work". So here I am.
It has been just another season for namma Chennai. By that I mean reaching the playoffs (yawn). But the means were unlike yester seasons'. Gone were the days of slow start, build up in the mid, and go kamikaze at the end. This year, CSK have been more dynamic. Explosive starts thanks to Smith thala and McCullum thala, decent middle overs and chak de patte in the end by Dhoni. But irresepctive of ways and means, one person who has never changed his batting order nor his cheeky yet determined attitude is Suresh Raina. He is someone who comes in quietly, gets quick fifties and by the end of the playoffs he is in the top 5 run getters! Over 400 runs in every season of the IPL so far, that is 7 times on the trot. Need I say more?
But today was different. After getting a lucky day off at work to watch the most consequential of playoffs and then being witness to multiple homicide by Sehwag, the feeling of bliss and joy watching Raina play like he did, and the faces of Punjab during the onslaught, brought tears to my eyes. Never have I seen such a belligerent yet composed innings. People thought he was smashed with heroin, meth, whatnot. Because those are the bizarre theories that come to mind when you witness the purity and class with which he played.
The goosebumps it gave me when I watched the ease with each he clobbered the target. In a blink of an eye, there he is, 87 off 25 deliveries! You read that right. You get that sense of pride when he carts everyone, whether it was Sandeep, Awana yevana, and even Mitch Johnson, the guy who put fear of god into England's test squad (Not that they needed one). And that taste of sweet revenge when the scorecard read 100 in 6 overs with Sehwag in the foreground, Oh! so Sweet! With only 126 more from the next 14 overs with Raina batting like Neo in Matrix, you would have thought of an embarrassing send off for Punjab. Right? Right? Join the club.
If ever, there was a turning point so monumental in a match, it was this. McCullum, with the faintest of brain-freeze, calls in and down charges Raina, putting all that fitness into work. The shock that followed wasn't as big as the Red Wedding. But it was right up there. The spell was broken. Raina dived and stayed down a moment, trying to digest the disappointment. McCullum must have hated himself as he was wildly brandishing his club trying to vent out. The stadium knew he was gone. Raina began the long walk, no emotions, no raise of the bat, no acknowledgment from the crowd. The camera followed him all the way to the dressing room. It would seem everyone was trying to reel back from the dream that Raina was batting in. And then the rest came and went with no dent on the target. The big names. Jadeja, McCullum, Hussey, etc. And then came Dhoni, the mighty ice cool finisher that you might imagine someone to be a Greek God holding a war hammer, but not tonight. Tonight, he was human.
The game was lost, ironically with the traditional last ball boundary off Dhoni's willow. But the 25 deliveries of sheer ecstasy, the joy watching Raina decimate the opposition so nonchalantly, reading posts claiming they just witnessed the innings of IPL and beyond, and then the helpless expression after the game, it's going to take a long time to write that off. Just like Virat's innings a couple of months ago, when the whole nation mourned.
And just like Virat's dominance in the ODIs. We have Raina, the face of IPL.
It has been just another season for namma Chennai. By that I mean reaching the playoffs (yawn). But the means were unlike yester seasons'. Gone were the days of slow start, build up in the mid, and go kamikaze at the end. This year, CSK have been more dynamic. Explosive starts thanks to Smith thala and McCullum thala, decent middle overs and chak de patte in the end by Dhoni. But irresepctive of ways and means, one person who has never changed his batting order nor his cheeky yet determined attitude is Suresh Raina. He is someone who comes in quietly, gets quick fifties and by the end of the playoffs he is in the top 5 run getters! Over 400 runs in every season of the IPL so far, that is 7 times on the trot. Need I say more?
But today was different. After getting a lucky day off at work to watch the most consequential of playoffs and then being witness to multiple homicide by Sehwag, the feeling of bliss and joy watching Raina play like he did, and the faces of Punjab during the onslaught, brought tears to my eyes. Never have I seen such a belligerent yet composed innings. People thought he was smashed with heroin, meth, whatnot. Because those are the bizarre theories that come to mind when you witness the purity and class with which he played.
The goosebumps it gave me when I watched the ease with each he clobbered the target. In a blink of an eye, there he is, 87 off 25 deliveries! You read that right. You get that sense of pride when he carts everyone, whether it was Sandeep, Awana yevana, and even Mitch Johnson, the guy who put fear of god into England's test squad (Not that they needed one). And that taste of sweet revenge when the scorecard read 100 in 6 overs with Sehwag in the foreground, Oh! so Sweet! With only 126 more from the next 14 overs with Raina batting like Neo in Matrix, you would have thought of an embarrassing send off for Punjab. Right? Right? Join the club.
If ever, there was a turning point so monumental in a match, it was this. McCullum, with the faintest of brain-freeze, calls in and down charges Raina, putting all that fitness into work. The shock that followed wasn't as big as the Red Wedding. But it was right up there. The spell was broken. Raina dived and stayed down a moment, trying to digest the disappointment. McCullum must have hated himself as he was wildly brandishing his club trying to vent out. The stadium knew he was gone. Raina began the long walk, no emotions, no raise of the bat, no acknowledgment from the crowd. The camera followed him all the way to the dressing room. It would seem everyone was trying to reel back from the dream that Raina was batting in. And then the rest came and went with no dent on the target. The big names. Jadeja, McCullum, Hussey, etc. And then came Dhoni, the mighty ice cool finisher that you might imagine someone to be a Greek God holding a war hammer, but not tonight. Tonight, he was human.
The game was lost, ironically with the traditional last ball boundary off Dhoni's willow. But the 25 deliveries of sheer ecstasy, the joy watching Raina decimate the opposition so nonchalantly, reading posts claiming they just witnessed the innings of IPL and beyond, and then the helpless expression after the game, it's going to take a long time to write that off. Just like Virat's innings a couple of months ago, when the whole nation mourned.
And just like Virat's dominance in the ODIs. We have Raina, the face of IPL.
