Rooting for The Lord @ Lord’s

I was looking for one chance to cheer for team India and Sachin Tendulkar as a compensation for having missed the World Cup celebrations in Mumbai. Since past few days my friend was subjected to some illogical, hypothetical and unimaginable situations created by me to just get a glimpse of The Lord who was in London for the last one month. But the thought of seeing him play at The Home of Cricket never occurred to my mind until my brother urged me to watch a test match instead of a one day international in London.

The 100^th test match between India and England was high on emotions and expectations. The biggest of them was Sachin Tendulkar’s 100^th international century on the ground that he has failed to concur during the majestic 21 years of cricket. Standing in the gallery capturing The Lord’s Cricket Ground, I saw Suresh Raina on his way for the net practice. Rahul Dravid followed soon and it was the turn of The Master Blaster. Showing the glimpse of an ace cricketer, Sachin stopped for few minutes at the pitch to get a hang of the wicket from the ground staff. This allowed me to quickly move towards the practice area where all other fans were expecting him. The sound of ‘Sachin Sachin’ became louder as he approached the MCC Cricket Academy Ground for the net practice.

Soon it was time to take the seats. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid were taking guard as need to draw the match was on every Indian supporter’s mind. Just as Rahul Dravid was out a group of Indian supporters near me were seen cheering and clapping. It was evident that they were hoping for more wickets to fall to watch their favourite batsman play at The Mecca of Cricket. The stadium was alive and crowds applauded the master’s entry as Gautam Gambhir’s wicket paved way for Sachin’s chance to score at Lord’s. Sitting under the hot sun me and my friend were wondering what must be going to through the mind of Sachin Tendulkar. Be constantly under pressure to excel in every match with expectation of more than 1 billion Indian fans. Concentrate on the task and not be bothered with the surrounding noise and mind games on the field. Recovering from the viral fever. Anticipation of that 100^th ton during the 100^th test between India & England, on the ground he was playing after 20 years with not even a half century under his belt. It would have been a dream, just like winning the World Cup at Wankhede stadium was. These thoughts reminded me of watching cricket matches at Wankhede with chants of Ganapti Bappa Morya booming in the stadium.

It was post lunch, Raina was hitting the ball well and it was a slow start for Sachin. He was seen keen on giving the strike to Raina and was stuck with 11 runs for long time. It was when I heard the familiar Ganapati Bappa Morya chants from the North Stand, full of Indian supporters. Sachin’s 12^th run was cheered by every Indian fan inside the stadium. The dropped catch off Anderson’s delivery caught my breath as Sachin survived. But was trapped leg before on the every next ball. As the fall of another wicket sunk in, I realised Lord’s was giving standing ovation to one of the greatest cricketer to dwarf all the possible records in the history. I followed suite, cheering for the man I first saw at the Wankhede stadium, playing a Ranaji Trophy game for Mumbai and took his autograph. Two decades later I was as much eager to get a glimpse of Tendlya as he continues to inspire us.