Sreegen.eth

I was at the Kensington Oval for the WC finals & this is my version of what I saw at the stadium: I was seated at long on, it was 14.4 when Klaasen hit Axar for another 6, & single handedly deflated India. By the end of the over India will have conceded 34 runs in 8 balls. Scoreboard read 30 off 30 with 6 wickets in hand. Players shoulders had dropped. Intensity was gone. South African pavillion which was right besides me, was clapping and cheering, loudest of the day. Fans mostly Indians had gone quiet. Onslaught from Miller & Klaasen was so brutal, you could feel the eerie uneasiness in the atmosphere. Fans had succumbed to lost cause, shocked at what had just happened, already talking about losing 3 finals in 12 months. Some promising never to go to another game ever. Resigning to weeks of depression and sadness that was going to ensue. Ball was now given to by no means a lanky pacer. In land of Joel Garner, the big bird, this was a small bird at best. He ran in to complete the formalities, but he had other ideas. He still had 12 legal deliveries or 40% of game to make any sort of impact. South African support staff just sat a little more upright now. Their plan to score runs off spinners had worked brilliantly, hard part of the job was already done. Each ball was an event in that over, every delivery he bowled, it felt like electricity would run through entire stadium. All the deflated, undercharged fans and players were getting turbo charged by this genius, one ball at a time. That over did not bring any wicket, but it charged everyone in that ground, he instilled belief it's not fucking over yet. Dropping shoulders were more upright now, nervous energy was rushing through SA camp. I will do injustice to describe how it felt, but best I can describe is he was the pied piper of Kensington oval, a true genius, a magician was at work that afternoon. It felt like SRK was giving his 70 minute Chak De speech or was listening Nawazuddin Siddique's Bajrangi bhaijaan news report or Vicky Kaushal's URI rally. That over was nothing but a rally cry for the stadium. Some 70 year old's in first row were banging the barricade, not worrying about their weak bodies, younger ones shouting so loud, their vocal cords would fall off, clapping so hard their hands were on the verge of bleeding. Entire stadium was now turbo charged pro max. Miller and Klaasen knew they will need to work around this magician. Their skills too pale today in front of his brilliance. In comes Hardik, India's only choice at the moment. They knew this is a golden chance to score runs off this over and game will be sealed shut. Klaasen goes after it and Hardik reaps rewards. Belief even stronger now. Hardik bowls a clutch over, manages to keep the momentum in India's favor. The pied piper comes back for his last 6 balls. Stadium was already rallying behind him, it was the time to hit the hammer. Jansen who had a poor game until now was visibly under confident. First up to Miller and it was a peach. Jansen on non striker end dreading to face the magician. His turn came on ball 4. Ball flew one bounce to boundary past Rishab Pant, but only after taking one of the bails with it. Grandstand which was built only for this world cup and was a temporary fixture could collapse any minute by the sheer thumping it was taking by the fans jubilant. Dark clouds forming over with lightning in the distance. You could not tell if it was the weather system or our very own Thor's doing who was welding his hammer. Maharaj coming in next had one job now, shield Miller from this Thor. He manages to do that but only to read 20 off 2 overs. India's best ever had 6 runs, 1 wicket coming off in his 2 overs, but more importantly he had rallied his teammates, electrified an entire stadium and made SA dressing room running firmly on nervous energy now I witnessed magic, a leader, and a spell of pace bowling in the lands of Marshall and Garner which even they would be mighty proud of.