The road to the finals!!

Getting the tickets..

In US (on my 1 year so called training :P ), me and my friends had watched WWE, Baseball, Basketball live! We had also enjoyed American football outside the stadium in US. Then back in Swadesh, I was a spectator in Athletics at the Jawahar Lal stadium in Delhi, and an India-Pakistan clash in Hockey at Major Dhyanchand stadium during the CWG games held here in New Delhi. Had exposure to watching almost(?) all the games. Or did I?

No wait! There was something missing. Something big! Yeah,me and some of my college friends had decided that we will try hard for the tickets to watch the finals of ICC Cricket world cup 2011 held in the sub-continent and also FIFA world cup 2014 finals in Brazil. Yes! that was our crazy plan to travel all around the places just to watch the two sports which we love. The best thing of being bachelors is that you can think crazy, ain't it? :)

The ICC world cup had started February 19th 2011 and we had our eyes on the finals tickets.Meanwhile, we watched WI vs Nedherlands at Feroz shah Kotla in Delhi just to gain an experience of the ODI format of my favourite sport. Also, the day when the finals tickets were to be sold on the official website, the website crashed, a heart-break :(

Then the news came that there will be an online ballot system where computer will pick some lucky ones across the globe who will be able to see the finals and semi-finals live at the stadium. So we applied at the website and the wait begins! Let the luck play it's dice.

It is rightly said "Jahan chah wahan raah" i.e. if you dream anything from the deepest of your hearts, the whole universe conspires to help you acheive that! One night, my friend called me at around 10:45 in the night, screaming "Abe final k ticket lag gayi, kara loon?" I had slept early that night due to neck pain when I picked up the phone and thought " Hope I am not dreaming ". I replied back "Kara le, bindaas". Yes, one of my luckiest friends (for sure) had received the confirmation email from the website, for 2 tickets that too in spam! dude, are you kidding me? Why gmail had to filter only that mail from all the bullshit mails that we receive, I thought! He just checked the spam folder, and

bingo! Our luck smiled on us. So here were two guys, who had booked finals tickets for 5k each, booked flight tickets for 8k each, a day before India played the quarters against Australia with only 1 belief, India will win the world cup.

We didn't knew History would be beckoning us on Saturday, 2nd April 2011.

Reaching Mumbai..

We reached Mumbai on Friday to collect the tickets at the venue just in front of the Wankhede Stadium, the place where one of the teams would go down in history in golden letters. The match was India vs Sri Lanka. Yes, India had reached the finals by defeating Australia and arch-rivals Pakistan in the quarters and semis respectively. Whoa! what a feeling to land in Mumbai with India just one step away from lifting the whole nation into a heaven where there will be no differences of caste, creed or color.

We had to stand in the long queue for 4 hrs in front of Wankhede to collect the tickets. Ah! What a feeling to stand in front of the ground (even in hot sun and sweat) where the "GOD" of cricket (read Sachin Tendulkar) practiced right from the child-hood. We finally got the tickets and headed to one of my friend's place.

Best day in my life!!

From the last 2 nights, I had slept only for 6 hrs total and the day had arrived. This could be and will be one of the best days in my life, I thought and comforted myself. I freshned up and wore Indian team T-shirt, back of which screamed "Tendulkar (10)". We left for the stadium at 9:30 in the morning. Madly wondered in front of the stadium to get our Tri-color flag, Indian team cap, tr-color cricket bands. Finally we entered the stadium at 12:15 after going through 6 levels of security check and collecting all the material needed for a well-spent finals match. The seat numbers were fixed and we had got North-Stand at the long off area. We were so happy and could not resist taking pics with Tiranga painted on our cheeks and holding in our hands much before the match started.

It was 2:00 PM and India had lost the toss, a bad-luck to the start of the game that could have let the hopes of a billion people in vain. But, having said that it had to be in the favour of the Indian team because a billion prayers just don't go unheard. Then it was time for the national anthems of both the teams. I am still having goose-bumps when I start to type that moment. Singing the national anthem with almost 33000 people singing with you is a precious moment and once in a lifetime opportunity.

It was 2:30, the match had started and so did the prayers of everybody around the world who had India in their hearts.

The Sri-Lankan innings was all about booing their batsman, cheering for the indian team who fielded outstandingly(kudos to Yuvraj, Raina and Kohli). We were also saving energy for the Indian innings.At the end of 1st innings, respect for Jawawardena for an awesome century and belief for the Indian team that they can chase this target.

Indian innings:

We were busy eating snacks in the basement of stadium when we heard buzz from inside the stadium which indicated Indian Innings had started. We rushed inside the stadium only to see the score-board saying 4-1. What the hell!! :( Found out from the people inside stadium that Sehwag went out plumb to Malinga on the 2nd ball of the innings. Felt bad that could not see Sehwag even on the pitch batting. Still, was happy as Sachin and Gambhir were on crease and both of them looked in tremendous touch.

Suddenly, that happened which broke a billion hearts at once. Sachin was cought behind. The stadium went dead silent and so did our nation. The master-blaster looking in ultimate touch was caught behind by Sangakara at his home ground, venue being the World cup finals with more than a billion hearts at stake. My friend who was sitting besides me lost hope at that very moment and had his heart in his mouth. But somehow I had a belief that India cannot loose tonight as even GOD's (read Sachin's) inspiration was with us.

Gambhir and Kohli started their fight with a big-heart. Me along with 3-4 people sitting besides me started to cheer every run scored by the duo from our stand. Gradually, blue-coloured people started to come to life and we were moving ahead slowly and steadily.

The final moment:

The final six hit by Dhoni, was a shot that went down in history making the 28 years wait of a nation that has one religion above all (Cricket) end. India had won the World cup and we had become the part of Indian Cricket history. Strangers hugging each other, foreigners shaking hands with the Indian people, and us dancing and singing on the tunes of "Maa tujhe Salaam" and "Rang de Basanti" and "Chak de India". Ah! a billion dollar view!!

That victory lap where Indian team carried Sachin on their shoulders, and Virat saying "Sachin has carried the burden of Indian cricket on his shoulders for the last 21 years, it was time we carried him on ours" Oh god! That "GOD" has so much respect around the world! The moment was priceless. Felt really proud waving the Indian flag and watching history in the making.

Chants of "We are the world champions, are you watching Pakistan" and "Pehle haraya goron ko, phir haramkhoron ko, phir Sita k choron ko" were heard on the way out of stadium. We went to Marine drive where people had gone mad celebrating the victory on roads, dancing to the drums and screaming "Indiaaaaa, Indiaaaaaaaa" :) Another well-spent sleepless night where I became a lucky person to witness history India winning the world cup. We took a taxi for back to my friend's place, with me waving the Indian Flag outside the window of taxi for 30 kms. Ah! Proud to be an Indian.

Back to Delhi..

We reached Mumbai airport at 4:30 in the morning. The airlines receptionist asked" How was the match sir?". I just said" It was amazing" and quickly ran out of words to describe my emotions. We sat in our flight with sore throat, aching body and foodless stomach, but with our heads held high in glory and pride. My second Mumbai trip finally ended, with memories of it being embedded in my head forever.

Jai Hind!!

Cheers to Team India....