The India-Windies series.

SERIES WON. YES YES YES :D
Yes, I am a bad girl who updates late, but HEY, school is a killer.

India lost the 3rd ODI rather miserably. After having started so well, with Uthappa scoring quick runs, our last 7 wickets collapsed for a paltry 35 runs. Having bundled India out for 268, Windies had almost no trouble at all making the 269 runs to win. On a brilliant batting wicket, India had lost out. Terrible. It was so pathetic, as if our middle order was non existent. Really sad.

BUT THEN. The 4th ODI came along. I was of course, in school having dance pratice, but we were all getting constant updates and we spent much of dance prac squealing in delight about India's magnifique performance. :) Which is why I am watching the retelecast now, and I must say, India batted superbly. Uthappa and Ganguly started brilliantly, and after Uthappa got out, Jammy came to the centre. Dada and Jammy then made a BEAUTIFULLY stabilising partnership of 101.

Dada got a gorgeous 68, with a six and several boundaries. He hit hard and ran hard, making his innings a balanced one. He turned the strike over nicely, and him and Jammy complemented each other perfectly, one with sheer power and aggression, and the other a solid wall of defence and textbook strokeplay. :) It was a sight indeed.

Dada then got out to a silly sort of stumping. Sachin came in and started a little dodgily, but soon he got into a rhythm which carried him and Jammy to another 100+ partnership. Jammy just rocks :D

But Jammy knew what he had to do, because he just was not India's finishing man. He started trying for big shots and got himself out- so that Dhoni would come in and finish it in style for India. Dhoni did not disappoint. Three GIGANTIC sixes from Dhoni and one HUGGGEEEE one from Sachin. The ball was lost TWICE in the same over. It was an insane and breathtaking performance. Dhoni was playing in his usual flamboyant and powerful style, with huge flourishes of the bat, while Sachin just exhibited the pure class of a master. The final 10 overs brought 107 runs to the Indian total. At one stage, no one would have expected India to go much past 300 at most. But they got to a magnificient 341, which eventually just proved too much for Windies.

I have not watched the Windian reply of course, but I must say that India took wickets at consistent intervals and Windies just never got going. They finally bundled out for 181 after 41.2 overs or so. I must say that the top order really outdid itself today. A quickfire 28 from Uthappa, 68 from Dada, 78 from Jammy, 40 off 20 balls from Dhoni and 100 off 76 balls from the little master himself.

To quote my dad, "It was an Autralian-esque performance." And I think that really says it all. I am SO SO proud of their amazing performance. :)
And once again, Jammy did his usual thanking the opposition thing at the end of the series. Ahhh I love our team at times like this <3

The SL series starts soon. Jayasuriya is their key man, and he's in terrific form. I think we really have to outdo ourselves like today to win against SL. Here's to a great series ahead! :)

In other news, the ads for the Windies series and that for the SL series are simply great. Amusing and inventive :) I <333 Indian ads. They are so creative and different. They reach out to a billion people, they make us laugh, cry, despair and cheer. Especially the cricket ads. I remember one entry in my other blog about how it is because of the ads that Indian fans stay so rooted to their team even when India plays worse than Holland or USA. Well, propaganda or not, the ads make me very happy.

One of the commentators just said, "that's a batting card that would have swung the mood of an entire nation". How true is that? I mean, in India, cricket is simply an everybody thing. Even if you're not a cricket fan, there's probably no way you can be unaware of the score of an Indian match. Everyone knows about it, everyone discusses it, in the streets, in the trains, in the workplaces, in the homes, everyone from the poorest to the richest.

Well. That's about it then. I don't know when I'll next update this blog... probably not until the SL match (8th Feb). Till next time!

<333 to TeamIndia and the MenInBlue!