The Night Of The Underdog

Johannesburg was the place to be at, for every Hyderabadi last night. Deccan Chargers, that remained an underdog in IPL Season 1, rocked IPL Season 2 with grace, poise and spirit of Hyderabad. That spirit of survival is euphemistically called the spirit of Hyderabad.

This match kept me awake till 12: 30 am and I slept, before the chargers were crowned because I needed to catch up for my driving class next morning. I was happy with the fact that DC meted out a crushing defeat to the Royal Challengers. Challengers began the match on a good note by lifting a good number of wickets: Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds among others. Eventually, DC turned the tables on RC by their sheer prowess, astuteness and spirit. The match, however, kept the audience (esp. DC Supporters) on tenterhooks till the last 1 ball. A sense of triumph and pride was captured on every player’s face, against the background score of “Go Chargers Go”; every time a wicket was lifted. And gracing it, were the DC Cheer Leaders lending the oomph factor! Both the teams were quite aggressive on the field, as if it were the last match of their lives! Why not? In every Endeavour, one must give their 100 %. Ohja from DC lifted 3 prominent wickets. One could see his lips saying ‘fuck’ when he took the wickets and in another moment, he was caught giving a series of lengthy kisses in the air. The camera, in those last tense moments was switched on an off at Venkatram Reddy, Owner of DC and Vijay Mallya, Owner of RC.

There was some verbal sparring on Facebook too between Bangloreans and Hyderabadi’s. At my place, we could hear and see crackers going off in haze filled horizons. The gust of wind, rain and bloody power cut played spoilsport but that didn’t deter us from staying awake. Now that’s what we call the madness of Indian Premier League (IPL). While Akon staged a spectacular performance, Katrina Kaifs swivel to the tunes of ‘Jai Ho’, made the feeling of victory stonger and sweeter. IPL T20 was a nightmarish experience for every bowler, but IPL Season 2 revolutionized that perception.