The memories of that fateful night still haunt me.Thinking of that dark night still gives me nightmares.Even today i wake up in the dark of the night , terribly terrified, when i think of what happened that night.
I am not referring to an encounter with a ghost or the night before any college exam , where only a night out stands between you and failure, i am talking about what is known as The Death of NITT Dream. Every student who has ever stepped on NITT soil and has even a remote interest in sports dreams of winning the very prestigious RUBY CUP of NITT. I too dreamt of it ever since i first heard of it in the college. I made a good start to fulfilling my dream when my team reached the quarter-finals in second year before we were brutally defeated by our seniors. After giving a very disappointing performance in third year,we were all determined to give it one last try to live those moments of glory in final year.
I vowed to myself before the final year Ruby cup began that i will win this year's cup at any cost. I was at my best through-out the tournament. I gave some scintillating performances with both bat and ball to bail my team of many crisis situations. Our persistent efforts paid off as we reached the finals after toiling in for weeks.With our arch rivals too in the final,it had all the making of a grand final.I too knew that all my efforts would go in vain if i falter at the most crucial stage.I was geared up to rip the opposition apart with my toe-crushing yorkers.But it
was much tougher than it initially seemed.
We managed to make a paltry 59 in the allotted 20 overs because of the high-quality bowling of the opposition.The total would have been much lesser but i was able to pull together some late order partnerships after our famed top order had caved in.We did an excellent task of restricting them to 44-6 in 18 overs.We had managed to contain the opposition thanks to some spirited bowling and fielding by our team.With me and Pada,the greatest bowler to have stepped in NITT,each having one over things were pretty much under control.But then there was another twist to the tale.
Everyone was expecting that Pada would bowl the last over and let me bowl the penultimate over.But thanks to his nightmarish experience in Wisdom cup,where he was hit for a last bowl six to eliminate us from the tournament,he gave the himalayan task of bowling the last over to me. But i was still pretty cool with it because i was assuming that Pada,as economical a bowler we know him to be, would provide me with plenty of runs to defend in the final over. But as they say -Cricket is a game of surprises. And then we saw one.Pada bowled the worst six balls of his life conceding 13 runs and all of a sudden we were on the recieving end. When i was given the ball,everyone on and off the ground had given any hope of our victory. But i was determined to snatch my dream from the jaws of defeat.Let's see what happened next.
I sent a screeching yorker the first ball and the batsman could not even touch it. 5 balls to go with 2 runs to win.Their main batsman holed out in the next ball. It was getting extremely interesting by the minute. Another dot ball reduced the equation to 3 balls and 2 runs. Things turned in our favour as i took two successive wickets of the next two balls.I was totally exhausted because i was putting intense effort in each ball.But i couldn't have stopped here.I had to bowl one more ball before i could accomplish my college dream.I ran with every single bit of energy in my body and fired the perfect yorker. On seeing that the batsman could not manage to touch it,i fell to the ground thinking that it's over, i have finally snatched my dream from the jaws of defeat. But then the unexpected happened.The batsman ran even though the ball was in keeper's hand.Adverse situations often hamper your ability to think.The keeper for some inexplicable reason did not hit the stumps on his end and threw the ball in my direction, much to my shock.And the fielder who was supposed to backup the throws from the keeper made a complete mess of what was a simple run-out at the non-striker's end.And before we could realise we had lost the match,we had trampled our cherished dream beneath our own feet.The final year juntaa who had already started celebrating as soon as i bowled the ball,suddenly turned silent.The players on the field just watched each other shocked.I too blacked out for some time.Then i slowly regained myself and headed towards the loneliest part of my hostel terrace where i stayed through-out the night thinking about what happened on the field but my mind didn't seem to work.All i could feel that time was a flood of emotions in my heart and the painful tears in my eyes.I lay there whole night feeling so frightened.I tried to calm myself and sleep but the painful memories kept haunting me throughout the night.
A lot of time has passed since that dark night.My friends still regard my final over performance as one of the best bowling spells in Ruby cup.Victory or defeat is a part of the game,they say.I try to think rationally about the whole night.But soon it turns out to be a nightmare.I keep thinking what if i had bowled the batsman out or what if i had mustered the last bit of energy in my body and jumped to stop the wayward throw of the keeper? My mind is flooded with millions of "what if" questions.It still haunts me....
I am not referring to an encounter with a ghost or the night before any college exam , where only a night out stands between you and failure, i am talking about what is known as The Death of NITT Dream. Every student who has ever stepped on NITT soil and has even a remote interest in sports dreams of winning the very prestigious RUBY CUP of NITT. I too dreamt of it ever since i first heard of it in the college. I made a good start to fulfilling my dream when my team reached the quarter-finals in second year before we were brutally defeated by our seniors. After giving a very disappointing performance in third year,we were all determined to give it one last try to live those moments of glory in final year.
I vowed to myself before the final year Ruby cup began that i will win this year's cup at any cost. I was at my best through-out the tournament. I gave some scintillating performances with both bat and ball to bail my team of many crisis situations. Our persistent efforts paid off as we reached the finals after toiling in for weeks.With our arch rivals too in the final,it had all the making of a grand final.I too knew that all my efforts would go in vain if i falter at the most crucial stage.I was geared up to rip the opposition apart with my toe-crushing yorkers.But it
was much tougher than it initially seemed.
We managed to make a paltry 59 in the allotted 20 overs because of the high-quality bowling of the opposition.The total would have been much lesser but i was able to pull together some late order partnerships after our famed top order had caved in.We did an excellent task of restricting them to 44-6 in 18 overs.We had managed to contain the opposition thanks to some spirited bowling and fielding by our team.With me and Pada,the greatest bowler to have stepped in NITT,each having one over things were pretty much under control.But then there was another twist to the tale.
Everyone was expecting that Pada would bowl the last over and let me bowl the penultimate over.But thanks to his nightmarish experience in Wisdom cup,where he was hit for a last bowl six to eliminate us from the tournament,he gave the himalayan task of bowling the last over to me. But i was still pretty cool with it because i was assuming that Pada,as economical a bowler we know him to be, would provide me with plenty of runs to defend in the final over. But as they say -Cricket is a game of surprises. And then we saw one.Pada bowled the worst six balls of his life conceding 13 runs and all of a sudden we were on the recieving end. When i was given the ball,everyone on and off the ground had given any hope of our victory. But i was determined to snatch my dream from the jaws of defeat.Let's see what happened next.
I sent a screeching yorker the first ball and the batsman could not even touch it. 5 balls to go with 2 runs to win.Their main batsman holed out in the next ball. It was getting extremely interesting by the minute. Another dot ball reduced the equation to 3 balls and 2 runs. Things turned in our favour as i took two successive wickets of the next two balls.I was totally exhausted because i was putting intense effort in each ball.But i couldn't have stopped here.I had to bowl one more ball before i could accomplish my college dream.I ran with every single bit of energy in my body and fired the perfect yorker. On seeing that the batsman could not manage to touch it,i fell to the ground thinking that it's over, i have finally snatched my dream from the jaws of defeat. But then the unexpected happened.The batsman ran even though the ball was in keeper's hand.Adverse situations often hamper your ability to think.The keeper for some inexplicable reason did not hit the stumps on his end and threw the ball in my direction, much to my shock.And the fielder who was supposed to backup the throws from the keeper made a complete mess of what was a simple run-out at the non-striker's end.And before we could realise we had lost the match,we had trampled our cherished dream beneath our own feet.The final year juntaa who had already started celebrating as soon as i bowled the ball,suddenly turned silent.The players on the field just watched each other shocked.I too blacked out for some time.Then i slowly regained myself and headed towards the loneliest part of my hostel terrace where i stayed through-out the night thinking about what happened on the field but my mind didn't seem to work.All i could feel that time was a flood of emotions in my heart and the painful tears in my eyes.I lay there whole night feeling so frightened.I tried to calm myself and sleep but the painful memories kept haunting me throughout the night.
A lot of time has passed since that dark night.My friends still regard my final over performance as one of the best bowling spells in Ruby cup.Victory or defeat is a part of the game,they say.I try to think rationally about the whole night.But soon it turns out to be a nightmare.I keep thinking what if i had bowled the batsman out or what if i had mustered the last bit of energy in my body and jumped to stop the wayward throw of the keeper? My mind is flooded with millions of "what if" questions.It still haunts me....
