The underdog has a very significant place in our everyday life. There is no other thing as hugely motivating as their triumph and that is the reason that any piece of literature or movie depicting the underdog's triumph has won accolades , awards and affection , Lagaan being a stellar example of the same .
Not all avenues are kind to the underdogs.When it comes to sports ,they have been defeated,nine times out of ten and that is why an upset / win by an underdog has always been special . In Cricket , the underdogs are given the tags of associate nations and Kenya is the name that first comes to mind when we speak about the triumph of the underdog. In a world cup campaign that took place in their backyard way back in 2003 , they were called rude names ( which included whipping boys and which alienated Sidhu from cricket commentary for years to come) and were expected to bow out pretty early into the tournament.Bow out they did , but in a spectacular fashion , in a semifinal against India. They gave a shock to most of the teams that took them lightly breaking certain egos and careers in the way until the Men in Blue brought the Masai Mara Express to halt.
Considering the fact the ICC has brought the Axe down on the associate nations for the 2015 world cup , nothing would have been better than the Kenyans defeating the Kiwis and thereby making a statement on behalf of the underdogs. Sadly it was not to be. It was a blink and miss game with the Kiwis walking away with most of the honors. On a sunny morning in Chennai , Kenya won the toss but it was the first and last thing that they did right on a day when almost everything went wrong for them. They looked like caricatures against the Kiwi bowling trio of Bennet , Southee and Oram who practiced their trade with considerable ease.
Coming to the Kiwi chase , it was more of a net practice than a world cup match . The David Vs Goliath match up ended tamely at the seventh over of the Kiwi chase , the Kenyans heaving a sigh , having come to the end of the nightmare finally.
Hero of the match : Southee was good , Oram better , but the man who won the laurels was a certain Hamish Bennet , who came into the match , replacing Kyle Mills. I loved the way he bowled and would love to see more of this man.
The Villain of the piece : If there is anyone I would call the antagonist , it would be the committee who designed the fixture. A match up between Kenya and another associate nation like Canada or Zimbabwe would have been a great morale booster for Kenya. Wonder what is the logic that goes behind designing the fixtures.
This might not have been the best of fixtures but it was really disturbing to see the stadium nearly empty. I agree no sane soul would pay an exorbitant amount for such games , but the least thing that the ICC can do is allow free entry to students so that they can learn to enjoy the game while the teams would have an audience to applaud their effort.
There's another match happening right now between Srilanka and Canada and hopefully it will be an interesting game , considering the trouble Canada gave England during the warm-ups.
Watch out this space for more on World Cup..
Ciao
Not all avenues are kind to the underdogs.When it comes to sports ,they have been defeated,nine times out of ten and that is why an upset / win by an underdog has always been special . In Cricket , the underdogs are given the tags of associate nations and Kenya is the name that first comes to mind when we speak about the triumph of the underdog. In a world cup campaign that took place in their backyard way back in 2003 , they were called rude names ( which included whipping boys and which alienated Sidhu from cricket commentary for years to come) and were expected to bow out pretty early into the tournament.Bow out they did , but in a spectacular fashion , in a semifinal against India. They gave a shock to most of the teams that took them lightly breaking certain egos and careers in the way until the Men in Blue brought the Masai Mara Express to halt.
Considering the fact the ICC has brought the Axe down on the associate nations for the 2015 world cup , nothing would have been better than the Kenyans defeating the Kiwis and thereby making a statement on behalf of the underdogs. Sadly it was not to be. It was a blink and miss game with the Kiwis walking away with most of the honors. On a sunny morning in Chennai , Kenya won the toss but it was the first and last thing that they did right on a day when almost everything went wrong for them. They looked like caricatures against the Kiwi bowling trio of Bennet , Southee and Oram who practiced their trade with considerable ease.
Coming to the Kiwi chase , it was more of a net practice than a world cup match . The David Vs Goliath match up ended tamely at the seventh over of the Kiwi chase , the Kenyans heaving a sigh , having come to the end of the nightmare finally.
Hero of the match : Southee was good , Oram better , but the man who won the laurels was a certain Hamish Bennet , who came into the match , replacing Kyle Mills. I loved the way he bowled and would love to see more of this man.
The Villain of the piece : If there is anyone I would call the antagonist , it would be the committee who designed the fixture. A match up between Kenya and another associate nation like Canada or Zimbabwe would have been a great morale booster for Kenya. Wonder what is the logic that goes behind designing the fixtures.
This might not have been the best of fixtures but it was really disturbing to see the stadium nearly empty. I agree no sane soul would pay an exorbitant amount for such games , but the least thing that the ICC can do is allow free entry to students so that they can learn to enjoy the game while the teams would have an audience to applaud their effort.
There's another match happening right now between Srilanka and Canada and hopefully it will be an interesting game , considering the trouble Canada gave England during the warm-ups.
Watch out this space for more on World Cup..
Ciao
Would love to read an 'updated' blog!
ReplyDelete-Pravin.