19-01-2021: The Finest Hour

19-01-2021, 12:08 PM. 

It was time to gather some breath.

I had barely been able to do that since 5 am. We had barely been able to do that since 5 am. And when I write ‘we’, I take the risk of counting in millions of Indians from all around the world.

“The players need drinks. So do we. Summer heat everywhere”, I tweeted and made sure I had a full Lassi glass of water.

The basic necessities of living beings such as breathing and drinking water were no more basic necessities for us. A Test match being played at Gabba, Brisbane in Australia meant so much more.

69 runs, 6 wickets, and 90 balls.

The meal had been prepared, it was now time to garnish and serve it to 11 men who had misjudged the spirit of 11 others.

And so it began, the final walk to capture the fortress. The walk to end the Gabbatoir.

The first of the last 15 overs left was to be bowled by Nathan Lyon, a man who I had been particularly scared of, since the beginning of the series. An off-spinner who had the most wickets in Test cricket since he made his debut, which was about a decade ago. A player who could single-handedly turn games around on the final day of a Test match. And he was playing his 100th game. Facing him was Rishabh Pant, who was only into his 16th Test match.

The disparity in experience here may have mattered to a billion people, but it didn’t to one, Pant himself. He punched the first ball to the offside for no-run, whipped the second to mid-wicket for two, and swept the third for a four. Out of the six balls of that over, Rishabh Pant attacked five. For anyone who hadn’t followed his career so far, the Roorkee born wicketkeeper-batsman may have looked careless. He was rather carefree. So was the rest of this team.

63 runs, 6 wickets, and 84 balls

If Nathan Lyon had been a fear going into the series, Pat Cummins had been the bowler to be scared of throughout. A 27-year old and the world’s number one Test bowler. And he gave us another reason to be scared of in his first over after drinks. Having been unable to score off his first two, Mayank Agarwal gave his catch straight to Matthew Wade on the third ball of the over.

“Why would you do that, Mayank? Why would you do that, Matthew?”, I murmured. The time for speaking within was gone now. The time to shout was still a little away, just like our win.

I saw the 29-year old walk back to the pavilion and a 21-year old come in to join a 23-year old. Where was India going with this!

63 runs, 5 wickets, 78 balls

Nathan Lyon again. Rishabh Pant on strike. The attacking ratio from him in this over was 2:3. One would think it was the same as the previous over, but no. When you have just lost a wicket and watch Rishabh Pant bat in the next over, it is never easy. The heart had left its place and started to move towards the mouth. But we had to watch.

Off the last ball, he tried to reverse sweep and missed it outside off. Which meant only one thing!

61 runs, 5 wickets, 72 balls

Another Cummins over, dear lord! And Washington Sundar on strike.

It is pertinent to understand that Washington Sundar had hit a half-century in his first innings in Test cricket i.e. during India’s first innings of this Test match. He had also hit a four off Cummins in the process. But this was Test Cricket. Why would that happen again in the same match? It did. He did it

The fifth ball of the over was a fullish delivery and that was all the invitation that the 21-year required to play an off-drive as good as we had seen in this Test series. One that went for a four through the left of mid-off. As soon as the ball touched the fence, my comfort level to watch Washington Sundar bat went from 5 to 10 on a scale of 0-9.

55 runs, 5 wickets, 66 balls 

Guess who? G.O.A.T again. That’s what they call Nathan Lyon Down Under.

This series had been something else though. Australia’s frontline spinner had conceded 471 runs so far and only taken 8 wickets off his 184 overs. Pretty low by his standards. He did however keep the game tight for one more over as he gave just two runs and made Rishabh Pant take the aerial route with the ball traveling only high and not far, yet landing safely. Almost like every rocket (cracker) I had fired during Diwali, which seemed like it would cause chaos, but would never land in anyone’s house.

And here I was, sitting in my house, waiting for another reason to celebrate like Diwali. Waiting.

53 runs, 5 wickets, 60 balls

I looked at the math. The number of balls were getting near the number of runs mark. If this was another maiden by Cummins then it would almost come to a run a ball. No matter how good these two had shown they were, you wouldn’t want that kind of a situation in a match like this. In a series like this.

It happened. A maiden over by Pat Cummins. His 10th in this innings. The most conservative bowler in the Australian team. But he didn’t think twice before spending his words.

“Only nine overs left mate!”, said Cummins to Pant while walking back to bowl the final delivery of his over. Now, I have been watching the games mostly on my laptop. The advantage here is of the headphones. Even though I get paid to watch live sport, I didn’t have the license to turn up the TV volume to listen to the stump mic clearly in the morning. Not at least like this Indian team, who had the audacity to give it back to their counterparts. And they did that, in their own way.

“Stop crying man!”, replied Rishabh Pant. I thought it was meant for me. Because I was about to.

53 runs, 5 wickets, 54 balls

Before Nathan Lyon began his run-up, my phone rang. I picked it up to see who was calling. I saw the name ‘Jiaji’ flash on the screen. He was possibly the only person whose call I would’ve picked up at this hour.

“Kya lagta hai bhai? (What do you think brother)”, he said. To which I replied, “Oximeter use kr rha hu sir! (I am using an Oximeter)”.

“Agar Pant pagal ho gya, toh jeet jaenge! (If Pant goes mad, we’ll win)” he said. I replied in the affirmative.

That’s that. That was our entire conversation. One of the shortest, yet most meaningful conversations I have had in my life. Being two cricket buffs, being two Indian cricket fans, and being brothers, we could understand each other at that time. Much like the two boys at Gabba did. The equation had turned the other way round, but they knew what they had to do. Just like the rest of us. Hang in there.

50 runs, 5 wickets, 48 balls

In an ideal Test cricket setting, to keep the number of runs required lower than the number of balls left, a team would target the weak one out. Between Cummins and Lyon, the latter would be an ideal target. But this wasn’t an ideal Test match. Especially with a Washington involved.

Little smiles that Australia had recuperated after just one run off the first four balls of Patrick James Cummins’ over were turned to moans as Washington hit 10 runs off the last two with a combination of a six and a four. A six that came off a hook over fine leg.

Rohit Sharma in the dugout must have given a wry smile.

39 runs, 5 wickets, 42 balls

Test Cricket what? This was now time for a T20 heist.

Pant scooped and slog-swept two back-to-back deliveries for four. The crack that Australia thought would’ve given them a wicket only took four runs away from them as Washington Sundar left one for Tim Paine to stop. He couldn’t.

“Lord Almighty, save thy Gabba!”

24 runs, 5 wickets, 36 balls  

Josh Hazlewood was brought into the attack. Exactly a month ago, he had dismissed five Indian batsmen in the space of five overs. Australia had six left here. He had only given away eight runs at Adelaide. Australia had 24 left to give away at Brisbane.

Both Pant and Washington didn’t feature in the XI in that match. This is precisely why they made each ball count.

Earlier on the day, I had heard Rishabh Pant scream “Ajao ek aur, ajao!”, asking Cheteshwar Pujara for a second. It was a fight out there. Fight for everything.

He ensured he kept his hunger intact till late. More running and a bit of luck meant India scored 9 runs off that over. One more than what Hazlewood gave away in the entire second innings at Adelaide.

15 runs, 5 wickets, 30 balls

A run every two balls!

I heard footsteps come close towards the room. It was my father. He had returned back home a little earlier today. No doubts why?

He wanted to watch this happen. For more than three decades he had heard (radio) or seen India getting decimated in Australia. It was now time to see India beat them for a second series in a row time. With a less experienced team than the last time. Against a stronger Australia team than the last time. And he wanted to witness this all with me.

But when Washington Sundar’s stumps were knocked over by Nathan Lyon off the fifth ball, I saw him put his hands on his head and exclaim, “Arey yaar, tch tch!”

I looked at him and said, “Ho jaega.”

As if I was the one batting.

10 runs, 4 wickets, 24 balls

There were two different generations of Indians watching this game together. One, unable to forget the gloom of the past, the other looking to get out in the light. One worrying about the uncertainty of sport, the other throwing their worries to embark towards certainty.

I was a 23-year old watching this Test match. Rishabh Pant was a 23-year old playing this Test match. Nothing was common between us, except for our belief, that this will happen now. No more Gabbatoir!

My father and the cricketing fathers for Rishabh may have exclaimed with Shardul Thakur being caught by Lyon off Hazlewood with just three to win. But that didn’t make them cowards. They were customers of bad days, hesitant to look beyond for the good ones. It was our job to make them realize, no more. No more Gabbatoir.

And just as Rishabh Pant crunched that cannon ball off Josh Hazlewood through long-off, I willingly held my breath. I saw the ball roll down the ground and I saw what followed. So did my father. So did everyone.

“YES!!!!!!!!”

I looked to my left, my father approached me and we did a fist bump. As if we were batting. We might as well have been. Every Indian who witnessed this might have been. They had a share in this stock of emotion. They had every right to not remain silent and forget every single scar that the most recent past or a long history had left on them.

It was done.

19-01-2021, 1:08 PM

A day we will never forget. A day we can never afford to forget. A day when a whole nation was brought together, without anyone having to leave their house. A day when the whole world witnessed what wasn’t meant to happen, what couldn’t have happened, and what did happen.