32 Beautiful Moments

So the day started and players came out to warm up. The maestro came and the crowd erupted. He carried two bats under his arm, some would say a child carried two toys, some would say a warrior carried two swords. Each catch he took, each ball he fielded and each time he rolled his arm during the hour long warm up it was as if the crowd was already getting their money's worth.

And then it was time to field. Ponting opened the innings, powerplays happened and there were 15 men on the field; my eyes were set on Sachin and Sachin alone. To be frank I don't know when I will see him in action live again.

• He fielded at short midwicket and tried the underarm back flick (azar style) to run out watson. On realizing what he had done, he sheepishly looked at Sehwag and giggled as if to say "Am I not allowed to have fun".
• Whenever he went to the boundary and about 1000 people went mad.
• During the drinks break, all the foster girls came to him first and offered him a drink.
• Bhajji got angry at everybody who misfielded and always looked at Sachin as if to say "kuchh to sikhao inko "
  

And then he batted... 32 beautiful runs to say the least. The square cut for four, the flick of the hips for four, the square drive and the cover drive, that ever so sweet sound only one bat in the history of cricket can produce (and I could hear it even from the third tier). But alas like all good things it ended. One bad judgement and it was over. Maybe it was the appetizer before the big one at Mohali.

The fact that I left the stadium soon after Sachin got out, makes me think what I will do once he retires. Maybe then people in my life won't get jealous of him.