SOLID SERENADE

To be honest, I first thought of putting down my thoughts regarding the upcoming IND-NZ test series which had the possibilities of a certain few records being broken & being made simultaneously. But then, suddenly my eyes caught an encounter(of cricket) that wasn't only exciting on the particular given day but would be remembered for quite a while & might go down in cricket's history as ONE OF THE most dramatic turnarounds if not THE MOST as two Sri Lankan cricketers proved the words "Its not over till its over".
OK, so coming to the game. Having restricted the currently struggling Australian batting line-up (which sounds a little strange actually) to a modest 239 it seemed the Lankans had a good chase is hand & that proper application at the crease wud get them to the finish line.
But as the rule of the nature goes, what all we wish is not all we find around the corner. Sooner than later the Lankans found themselves in a bit of a spot of bother as Sanga & Mahela walked back to the pavilion & soon, there was ABSOLUTE PANDEMONIUM. Batsmen came & went & for a while it just brought back memories of some of the great batting disasters that India displayed back in the 90s. At 107/8, the game surely looked to be well & truly gone for the islanders but then, two men just seemed to get in the mood for some game. At first it was all fun & games with Angelo Matthews being the last recognized batsman just doing his job of fighting on & Malinga having some nice time in the middle hitting some boundaries & enjoying himself. But in a short while, it all became real serious with the Aussies realising that in all the FUN & GAMES  only the lankans were now having the FUN & pulling the GAME away. And with a new record 9th wicket partnership put up in ODI history the stage was all set for one of the most unbelievable come-from-behind performances.
But again, such amazing stories only end on a real high drama as Malinga just fell short of grabbing the oppurtunity to push his team over the line & fell but not before having scored a magnificent 56 for his team. With 1 being the required number for both teams ( wicket for the aussies & run for the lankans) it reminded how right Darwin was in his theory that only the fittest survive & so the mentally strong enough Lions managed to get over the line. Ironically this display was also quite similar to a display by the Indian team just a month back against the same opposiiton in a test match in which Laxman & Ishant managed to guts it out in the middle with Ishant just falling a little short of the target only to be completed by Laxman & Ojha.
In the end what needs to be said is that it was an absolutely SOLID SERENADE on display by two superb performers & what better place than the historic MCG to create such dazzle & to top it all, the finishing touch came from the man whose name literally means THE HOLDER OF THE FLUTE.......MURALIDHARAN.

CHEERS FELLAS!!!!