cricinfo.com About cricinfoblogs
Blogs home
First Class, first person Blues Brothers Rob's Lobs Tour Diaries Pak Spin Girls Aloud
Beyond The Test World On The Circuit What's New The Surfer It Figures The IPL Buzz

Cricinfo Blogs Home

« Oh hundred, my hundred | Watching ... painfully »

More than magic

Posted by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan on 01/14/2006 in India in Pakistan 2005-06

There isn’t much that Sourav Ganguly hasn’t done on a cricket field, but what he did around 2:20pm today was quite novel. Here was a game that, barring a miracle of biblical proportions, could not be won. Here was India, in the opening Test of a crucial series, being butchered silly. Here was 668 runs conceded, shoulders drooping in every direction, morale trampled upon, and only a declaration to look forward to. And what does he do?

Misjudge a catch as Rana Naved-ul-Hasan lofted one over his head at mid-off. Fair enough. But wait, what does he do now? Keeps his eyes on the ball, back-peddle, extend his right hand upwards, realise it may be too late, propel himself backward and let the instincts take over. Sometime over the course of the next second, he must have felt the ball in his hand, and sometime during the next few milli-seconds he must have realised it hadn’t popped out.

And sometime soon, just for a few moments, he might have forgotten all that had gone before and all that is likely to happen later. He leaped, he pumped his fist, and he stood in his spot and celebrated as his team-mates mobbed him. It was a little more than magical. He had pulled the rabbit out of the hat, but importantly had done it without he himself knowing he would.

Contributors

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
Andrew McGlashan
Paul Coupar
John Stern
Dileep_Premachandran
Anand Vasu
George Binoy
Andrew Miller
Will Luke
Charlotte Edwards
Sidharth Monga
S Rajesh
Kumar Sangakkara
Edward Craig
Nagraj Gollapudi
Jenny Thompson
Isobel Joyce
Urooj Mumtaz
Cri-Zelda Brits
Lawrence Booth
Cricinfo

Categories
2007 World Cup Champions Trophy DLF Cup England Women in India England in Australia, 2006-07 England in India, 2005-06 England in New Zealand 2007-08 England in Sri Lanka, 2007-08 ICC Women's World Cup Qualifiers, 2007-08 ICC World Twenty20 India and South Africa in Ireland, 2007 India in Australia 2007-08 India in Bangladesh, 2007 India in England, 2007 India in Pakistan 2005-06 India in South Africa 2006-07 India in West Indies 2006 Indian Premier League Kumar Sangakkara diary Quadrangular series, Ireland, 2007 Sri Lanka tri-series 2006 Under-19 World Cup World Cricket League
Recent Posts
Hectic and surreal English interests Momentum is over-rated The aftermath of The Slap Indian Foreign Legion? Slapgate - the IPL's first controversy Warne, a pocketful of sunshine Storm in the cheering corner Random thoughts from the first leg Expect the unexpected
Archives
May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007March 2007February 2007January 2007December 2006November 2006October 2006September 2006August 2006July 2006June 2006May 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006
cricket links
The Guardian The Daily Telegraph The Times The Independent The Age Sydney Morning Herald The Australian NZ Herald SuperSport BBC Rediff
Web Feeds
© Cricinfo 2007