What A Match it was..............

Hi friends this is the first ever blog I am writing, the reason-- Aniket's blogs inspired me, he is my best friend from my school days.This goes a long time ago , we were in the 10th class. The students of our school were divided in 4 groups called HOUSES which were named on different colors , Yellow HOUSE, Green HOUSE, Red HOUSE and Blue HOUSE. Every year there used to be cricket matches for a trophy called JACKSON Trophy. All the 4 HOUSES used to participate in it , its players mainly comprised of students from class 10 and class 9. Green and Red HOUSE teams had the best of the cricketing talent. While Yellow and Blue HOUSE were considered underdogs.Aniket , my best buddy was in the Green HOUSE and I was in the Yellow. Our first match was with Blue HOUSE team, which we won comprehensively and qualified for the FINALS, I was a part of the team , but wasnt there in the playing XI for that match. Green HOUSE lost to guys in Red. So the stage was all set for the mega finals , I am calling it a mega final because all the students from class 10 were invited to watch the match, whish was not the case in the league games. It somehow happened that one of our key players didnt turn up for the match and so I was in. Our team won the toss and elected to bat first. The Red HOUSE bowlers turned the heat on and the wickets tumbled one by one. The score was reduced to 36/9 , that is when I walked in.I was playing cricket on the mats for the first time in my life , I was wearing the batting pads for the first time in my life and hence my captain suggested that I should limp to the pitch so that we can claim for a runner as running with the batting pads on is difficult if you are doing it for the first time, I acted well in limping down to the pitch , that is when my captain came running and asked me if I need a runner , I went to the umpire and said "Sir I need a runner as my right leg is injured". Luckily for me I wasnt interrogated further on the issue and the runner was granted.I was on strike and my heart was pounding since the responsibility of the team was on my shoulders and i was a bit nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach , like Sachin Tendulkar has before every innings. I took guard and was set to face the first ball. I dont remember who the bowler was , but i still remember that he tried to bowl a yorker to me ,thinking that I am just a statue standing in front of stumps, he was wrong , I defended the bowl pretty well. It gave me lots of confidence . Thankfully it was the last bowl of the over, I had a nice batting partner at the other end , his name was Altaf. He was batting well when I joned him. He along with my captain motivated me to stay at the wicket and play normally.After a few deliveries I was back on strike, this time the bowler bowled me on my legs , and I flicked it to the square leg boundary , and it was a beautiful sight to watch the ball disappear into the fence. My first boundary of the match and that too in a crunch situation, I was high on spirits. Our partnership blossomed and we kept on piling runs at good pace. I even played an ON DRIVE for another boundary, I had only two fours in my innings. After some time we were in the final over and I was on strike , the score had improved to reach 72/9, a partnership of 36 between us was speaking volumes in the context of the match or it will be better to say from the situation our team was in. First ball of the last over , I defended it down the pitch , as soon as i did that , my captain who was running for me gave the call to the non-striker and they went for the run which was very much on the cards. But unluckily for me and my team , my captain's shoes got stuck in the mat and he tumbled on the ground , resulting in a run out . And thus we were bundled out for 72.Red HOUSE had a very good batting line up and a target of 73 in 12 overs wasnt a daunting task. I wasnt fielding since I had an invisible injury on my right leg. So I was a spectator for the remainder of the innings. The Red HOUSE guys began well and they were hitting our bowlers every corner of the ground , as far as i remember , the score read 32/2 in 4 overs , wickets did tumble ocassionally. The match finally reached to its last over, Red HOUSE needed just 3 runs from 6 balls and with 3 wickets in hand. I thought the only way to win this match will be if the bowler takes all the three wickets. I was praying that we should win it , because it was due to the last wicket effort that we imposed a fighting total , in which i played a key role. FIRST ball , the batsman played a nice looking shot towards mid on , and lo the good looking shot was converted into an astonishing catch. 1 down , I thought, 2 more to go. My fingers were crossed , every one was tense and was involved in the match, the equaton now read 5 balls left , 3 runs needed and 2 wickets in hand, anything was possible. our team guys were all charged up due to the brilliant catch taken. Next ball , and what i heard was the off stump tumbling down, it was such a relief. Now things looked very much in our hands , including the match , our bowler was on a hat-trick. We just wished that he should get it , it will be icing on the cake for us. Last man from the Red HOUSE , who until now were looking as if they would run away with the match , came in. We all had our fingers crossed , hoping for the hat-trick and the match. Bowler came in running and bowled the ball , a perfect yorker and the middle stump was uprooted. We couldnt believe it , we had won the FINALS , it was celebration time. Our team guys hugged each other and jumped over each other in joy.After the match my innings was appreciated by everyone , including my captain , who thought I could have easily played the first match. I was delighted and proud of myself for playing a match saving knock.Do reply if you liked my first blog , my email id is shahnawazsoni@gmail.com. I know it was more intended towards the cricketing audience , but I had to write it since it was one of the sweetest memories of my school days . Will write more in future......................hopefully