The 1990’s were quite a time to grow up as a cricket mad boy in Chennai. Just as India were regularly thrashed by Pakistan (Wasim….Anwar….. Sharjah) so too Karnataka regularly thrashed Tamil Nadu. Particularly embedded into the consciousness / psyche are two heavy defeats separated by nearly 20 years: the Ranji Trophy finals of 1996 and 2015. To see a young Tamil Nadu team sans India test players Ashwin and Vijay defeat Karnataka in 2 days at Vishakapatnam in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal is something to be cherished for a long time. Particularly heartwarming are the performances of people like Aswin Crist, Thangarasu Natarajan from deep in the Thamizh hinterland. This adds to the pleasure of India finally defeating England 4-0 in the recently concluded test series. After winning in England in 2007, I watched, dismay turning into cynicism turning into numbness, India lose 4-0 in England in 2011, 2-1 in India in 2012 and 3-1 in England in 2014. In the heydays of English triumphs in 2011-12, it seemed like India would never defeat England in the foreseeable future. To see this victory now is particularly sweet. Ah, the sweet taste of victory, particularly when (as in Tamil Nadu’s case) it is few and far between.
How the tides turn……
24 Saturday Dec 2016
Posted cricket musings, life
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