Friday, February 18, 2011

World Cup 2011: One day to Go

Feeling very exited about the return of world cup to sub continent after 15 years. 1996 world cup was the semi new phase of my cricket watching as a thirteen years old.

I remember that brutal innings of Jadeja in Bangalore, I remember Brian Lara's beautiful 100 against the South Africans. The upset by Kenya on the lip year day against the Windies are still fresh in mind so as the 100 by Arabinda De Silva while chasing in a world cup final. And then I remember how that little dark, bold guy from Sri Lanka announced himself in the world stage and remained the 'Matara Dasher' for next dozen of years!

But if you ask me to mention two stand out moments of that world cup, here goes my picks:

The happiest or the proudest moment I remember was that awesome comeback by Venkatesh Prasad after that moment of madness by Aamir Sohail.

And the saddest moment came in the very next match! The disaster in Eden Gardens where Indian team crumbled while chasing on an under-prepared pitch, effected by the inauguration ceremony which was a debacle in itself with the flop Laser show. And I want to delete this from my memory for a very long time.

Another world cup comes with lots of hope, expectation and passionate fan fare!!! I just hope the quality of cricket remains good and some new stars take birth during the cup. I also pray that my team make us proud, they don't need to win the world cup but should dominate significant part of it!!

All the best boys!! Go and have a blast!!

"It’s always very easy to give up. All you have to say is ‘I quit’ and that’s all there is to it. The hard part is to carry on”