In the happiest of times, Ajmal looks sad. Must be those eyebrows, there’s irony and grief written there – what use it winning all those games, when I must bowl the losing over. In that last over, those eyebrows became a river continuously changing its course.
After his 18th over, I really felt for him – I dreaded what the 20th may do to him or his eyebrows. I tweeted - Really wonder how Ajmal’s eyebrows will hold up in the 20th - anything less than 15 will be game on. What I meant was anything less than 20, but that sounded too gimmicky, what with twenty20 and 20th over, so I made it 15.
And even though 17 is less than 15, Ajmal knew what I knew – that Hussey fellah will even get 42 in this over if he has to – he will force me to bowl no balls, wides, bad balls.
He also knew, if he tied the game, they will force him to bowl the super over – he just had to end it there, for his own good, and that of his eyebrows.
Did you know, Ajmal was the last one to get on the team bus, and he sat all alone in the last seat. He tossed the ball a few times, and said, this is not salad – how can I keep tossing it?
Oh, these last overs, they can screw you.
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1 comment:
Poor guy. Noone should blame him.
I think today's match was a reflection of changes that need to be made in the system. Pakistan, and also the Indian team, should learn from Australia. I was reading an article about Imran Khan the other day, and he said
"We have thrived on our natural talent. But I feel sad that if we had a proper system to use this talent more effectively, we would have been unbeatable in the world. Look at Australia they are champions because they have system that works right down to the club level"
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