CHENNAI DREAMS

Yes, Chennai finally got a match that wasn't rained out.. India Vs West Indies.. Though i've got bored of seeing these two teams play so much against each other in the past one year, i still went cause i was sure we would have a match..

Chepauk never ceases to amaze me.. Each time u enter the stadium, it's just breathtaking.. Gau and me got there an hour and half before play thinking there would be too much crowd.. The roar that greeted the players when they came for practice and warm up was unbelievable..

Indian innings began badly with gambhir getting out the second over.. It was all fireworks after that.. Uthappa's innings was one of the best i've seen by an Indian in recent times (Dinesh Karthik's innings in the previous match comes close).. His timing was so perfect and he seemed to play with so little effort..

I thought Sachin and Dravid did a great job by staying there long enough and taking India to about 230 in 34 overs.. Both played beautifully and got to well deserved half centuries.. An interesting point to note is that Sachin hit just 2 boundaries in his knock of 60 and still managed a strike rate of 91.. Terrific running between the wickets..

When Dravid got out, all hell broke lose.. The famous Indian batting collapse began and i still can't believe we were bowled out for 269.. Horrid performance considering the start we had..

It was a dream start for India in the bowling department too.. Getting Chris Gayle LBW first ball.. Morton followed soon but not before Sreesanth bowled what was possibly the worst over of the innings(22 runs with 10 runs as extras).. I still can't believe Ajit Agarkar has become India's pace spearhaead (Barring Zaheer Khan of course)..

Samuels is an underrated cricketer.. Economic bowling and he showed us today that he can weave magic with the bat too.. Amazing balance and placement.. Terrific innings to watch.. Pity he was dismissed at 98..

Lara is just style personified.. There is so much grace in his batting and today he showed why he is considered one of the best batsman ever.. Super innings by him and his partnership with Samuels ensured a Windies win.. Windies of course have a reputation to keep up and hence still managed to lose 7 wickets from the comfortable position they were in..

The only sour point of this match was a kid in front of me who kept jumping right through the match and kept blocking my view.. Idiot.. His dad must have given him an entire bottle of glucose before bringing him here.. So much energy..

Chennai crowd is just amazing.. They applauded not only the Indians but also when Windies made good stops etc.. It was very nice to hear them chant 'Lara Lara' when he was batting.. Great atmosphere for cricket..

Actor Rajnikanth was in the pavillion and apparently everyone there spent more time looking at him, than at the match.. Like they have a rule that each bowler must bowl only 10 overs, there must be a limit on number of times a trailor is played on the big screen.. They must've played the trailor of 'Pachaikili Muthucharam' like a million times.. I wanted to watch this movie badly but now i think i'll reconsider my decision (I know, i'm gonna end up watching the movie anyway)..

All in all, a great day of cricket.. Five really good innings that kept us entertained.. Samuels might have ensured his team a victory but it was Uthappa who won our hearts with a spellbinding performance.. This may not be the fairy tale ending that we hoped for but hey, it atleast didn't rain.. Thank God for that..