Memories of Sep 24th - the day India were crowned as the T20 Champions of the World

[Sachinism]

Brilliant tournament, brilliant action.. Kinda catapulted T20 to the entire world. That last ball in the final, when Mis-bah 5 runs scooped it, was one of the rare ocassions in my life when my heart missed a beat. Simply breathtaking action. However, my favorite match was the semi-final qualifying match between India and S.Africa. That catch off Smith by Karthik, that flying run-out of Rohit Sharma to get rid of Kemp, RPS destroying Pollock's stumps.... Woah, tis like it all happened yesterday!

corrected!

[Dravid]

year already eh :yay::yay: one of the best days of my lifee:dance:

[Dravid]

That last ball in the final, when Misbah scooped it, was one of the rare ocassions in my life when my heart missed a beat. Simply breathtaking action.

dude, when i saw that shot happening, i thought it went all the way back for 6, but for the 1st time was more then relived to see that chomu sree waiting for it to come down.. i went from oh ***ing shyt to rofl hahaha woohoooooooo w00t w000tttttt in 5 seconds :hysterical:

[SachDan]

dude' date= when i saw that shot happening, i thought it went all the way back for 6, but for the 1st time was more then relived to see that chomu sree waiting for it to come down.. i went from oh ***ing shyt to rofl hahaha woohoooooooo w00t w000tttttt in 5 seconds :hysterical:

millions of others too had the same feeling Dravid bhai.

[punjabi_khota]

My very next door neighbour is a Pakistani (the shared wall is like LOC) and he had people in his apartment . And they were making all kinds of noises. I was watching it all alone in my bed and trying to shout whenever we got some breakthroughs. but in the end, they suddenly fell silent, and I shouted my lungs out...hahaha.

[Guest Hiten.]

CAN NEVER FORGET THE FEELING! I remember this game starting at 7 am (in Canada). All my buddies who hardly attended early morning classes were sitting in one of our uni's atrium at 7 am. We (Indians) were sitting downstairs and our neighbors were sitting on the first floor. Every time an Indian batsman hit a 4 we would yell our lungs out and vice versa. They started dancing once the Indians set a target of 141, they kept telling me (when we went to smoke during the innings break) that India lost this game as 141 is not defend-able in T20. I kept my cool (and for a minute or 2 I felt they might be right, as Sreesanth was being spanked by Imran all over the park). ONLY wicket that I yelled my lungs out was Misbah's wicket. I don't think I have ever experienced such high blood rush, nor I will (unless India makes to it the WC final or T20 final). In other words, THAT feeling = ABSO***INGLUTELY AMAZING !

[Predator_05]

Nice banner, ludhi Nice sig, Dravid Humarey ICF mein kaise kalaakar baithe hain...:haha:

[Cricketics]

one of the best days of my life.. that atmosphere, those friends who i watched along with..what a victory. .what a script.. the atmosphere in the ground loooked brilliant asusual. INDIAN FLAGS WERE ALL OVER THE GROUND. WHAT A SIGHT IT WAS.. BRILLIANT INDIA BRILLIANT

[flamy]

MAN MAN MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We started the tourney with that ROFL Bowl-Out where the Pakeezzas got PWNED! :D When we lost to NZ, man I was so depressed. And I'm ashamed to say I slept thru the Sixy England Match. :(( I devoured the highlights later, tho. Then, came the super matches. The SA match was awesome, with that catch and RPS just running thru the SA side. LOL, this annoying biatch next to me was whining how India never get direct hits and BAM! Rohit Sharma hands PWNAGE to her face and Kemp. :yay: I kept mum, letting my team do the talking. :isalute: But, the BEST T20 match, even among the best cricket I have ever seen has to be the Ind-Aus SemiFinal. INTENSE, HIGH QUALITY CRICKET. Gotta love Bumble exclaiming... "The Aussies gave it a real go, but India were SO STRONG!!! And, what a see-saw, nail-biting, body-cramping, breathtaking FINALE we had!!! I, like everyone, thought 'that shot' was a six. I must concede though, I feel there was a bit of luck in us winning that day. For me though, the Aus match sealed it. I was ecstatic after that match. Of course, it also marked the arrival of only the greatest, badassest, coolest, trendiest, wickedest, pwnagest Captain India, and the Cricket World has ever known. :D

[Desi Cartman]

When Misbah hit the last shot .............. My friend was on the phone and he doesnt have foxtel/digital so his telecast is 1-2 seconds quicker .. so I hear him 2 seconds early say "OOOh Shiiiit" and then I saw the shot and went "ohh noo" but then he said "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and I was like "kya hua ... kya hua ... B.C. " and the rest is history Masha-allah .. Boyz played well :isalute:

[flamy]

^^ That is uncanny. It was the exact same emotions for me. The apartment complex next to mine had a big screen and were receiving their feed quicker than mine. When the ball went in the air, I only gasped for a microsecond before I knew that it was all good because of the huge cheer that erupted.

[mhr123]

U All Forgot Our Own Jogi :(

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

It was the fifth day of my first job and I watched the match with my new colleagues in the office restroom. It was the most unbelievable atmosphere I've ever witnessed ... even the most laid-back people started going crazy towards the end of the match. Most of us were new employees and this moment proved to be real ice-breaker. I must have watched the video of this match many times over just to re-live the most exhilarating moments I've experienced as an Indian Cricket Fan.

[bharat297]

great moment yes ... but for me the greatest moment ive witnessed was our 2001 series victory (mainly because of the way we fought back in the 2nd test to turn around and then win the series)

[umpire]

anniversy?? I think 20th September last year India was playing against SA and had to win. I think final was little latter.

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Yeah it was on 24th september if my memory serves me right. Looks like Cartman just wanted to be the first one to start the thread.

[bharat297]

i think he means that the anniversary is coming up soon

[Desi Cartman]

arey nahi the final was on the 14 th Sept or wasnt it :hmmmm2:

[Dark Warrior]

Hail India :yay::two_thumbs_up:

[Dinx - the Jinx]

Memories of Sep 24th - the day India were crowned as the T20 Champions of the World :omg: Geez… Its been one full year since we became the first ever world champions of the T20 format. As we toast this success, I thought of putting together my experience of this wonderful feeling. Please post yours as well… The day began for me at 7:00 AM with a sort of expectation and excitement, which I’ve never experienced before. For someone who usually wakes up at 9:00, gets ready and hits the office by 10:00, this was definitely a new experience. Although the early wakeup was partly due to the fact that I was supposed to attend a training that day :--D, starting at 9:30, I have to admit that I hardly slept the previous night, my sleep being disturbed by scenes from the earlier matches against SA and the Semi final rout of Australia. Add to this, the fantasy of beating Pakistan in a major WC final. For some strange reason I wasn’t feeling nervous :nervous:. There was a sort of over-confidence that has built-in, thanks to our stupendous wins over SA and Australia :two_thumbs_up:, and it was high time for us to script our revenge ans show the middle finger :finger: for the last ball sixer that Javed Miandad hit around 21 years ago, which had tormented us for close to one and half decades. In my dreams it was Pakistan who batted first and posted a total and it was Yuvi (for obvious reasons :haha:) who played Rajesh Chauhan this time, blasting the last ball of the match about 10-15 metres beyond the mid-wicket boundary, going down on his knees. The moment he hit it, he punched his fist in the air, as he was so sure about the power of his brutal hit and its outcome, and he remained in that position till he was bull dozed first by the non-striker Bajji and then the rest of the contingent who swept the park like water bursting out of a cracked dam. Well… it was a dream and it was sweet. But the reality, as it turned out, was even SWEETER. Out of bed, I quickly got ready, skipped breakfast and drove to office. Training started promptly at 9:30 . During the lunch break, I checked the preview of the final on cricinfo and other sites, felt high :two_thumbs_up: and went to the cafeteria for lunch. My original plan for the day was to goto my friends’ place near Airport road and watch the match in a group. But when I hit the cafeteria, my plans changed upside down. Guess what??? I saw guys setting up a giant screen and speakers to show the match live at our own cafeteria. I thought, dude,, this place is gonnu Rock :rock: The match was to start at 5:30PM local time and the training was supposed to go till 6:00. I was just hoping that the trainer completes the training a little earlier and let us go. The second half of the training contained subjects, that I was already familiar with and hence my mind was refusing to listen to the lecture :banghead::banghead:. It was wandering elsewhere in Johannesburg, where the historical first ever T20 final was about to begin in a few hours. When the training actually came to a close at 5:20PM, I felt relieved and ran straight to the lift lobby to get to the cafeteria. When I reached the cafeteria, it was already brimming with a huge crowd, mostly in the age group of 20 to 35. There were people who had their face painted in the tricolor and there were even some flags being waived :isalute::isalute:. Although I have witnessed such delirium during the numerous cricket matches I’ve watched in the cricket stadiums, this is the first time I’m being part of a cricket crazy crowd at work place. It was a unique experience and I was silently applauding :congrats: the nice gesture of the management for making this happen, even though it would mean quite a bit of loss in productivity. There were seats neatly arranged in front of the giant screen and all but a few were already occupied. Some of the brave studs were seated on the parapet walls, which would enable them to run up and down when a boundary was hit or a wicket was taken . I envied all those freshers as they were in huge groups and were about to experience an once in a life time feeling. My next challenge was to find myself a seat, from whatever was left and also make sure that I get a good view of the screen. I found one for myself and was comfortably seated. The pre- match analysis was going on at full swing, with Bhogle, Gavaskar, Shastri and one could see the pride and excitement in these experts which rubbed on to the crowd. With a generous dose of “Chak De” song being aired by ESPN/STAR, every one was getting pumped up. The first disappointment came when the Indian card was shown and there was no Sehwag. Although it was expected after his injury in the semi finals, I was just hoping that he would recover. :thumbs_down: The first of the roar came when MSD won the toss and chose to bat immediately. It was Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan (whom I’m seeing for the first time and later on became my favorite during the IPL). Everyone around were up on their toes and cheering as the first ball was bowled and there was my realization of a long time dream, India Vs Pakistan in the final of a major international tournament. Within a few balls, heartbeat stopped as Pathan was almost run out but he dint. I was seated about 10-12 rows from the big screen and everyone in front of me rose and kept standing till the green light came. I couldn’t see even an inch of the screen. I thoughts this is not gonnu work out for me decided to find a better place or go back home and watch on TV. Just behind the screen was the smoking zone and I thought let me have a quick smoke :bandit: before heading home. And when I went there, I could see the mirror images from the back side. Although it was funny to see Gambhir playing right handed and Umar Gul bowling left handed, I kinda got used to it by the time I finished my first cigarette. That’s when I got the :idea:gyan :idea:that this is the best seat (well… the fact of the matter is, there was no seat and I had to stand all through the match) in the house, with undisturbed view and unrestricted access to tobacco :bandit::bandit::bandit:. I’m not going into the details of the match, as the whole world knows what happened from there on. Let me jump directly to the last over of the match, where Jogi was at the top of his run up. During this elapsed period, the match turned and twisted in every possible direction and I had stubbed out my 14th cigarette into the already overflowing ashtray. Before this, I’ve never had so many cigarettes in such a short duration. Although Jogi bowled the last over well in the previous match, I wasn’t very sure whether he can repeat the magic again :nervous::nervous:. A wide, a dot ball and a sixer later, I thought the match is all but over for us, when Misbah tried the unthinkable :shot:. The rest is history. There I was standing behind the screen, amidst hundreds of people, boys and girls, freshers and senior execs alike, jumping and shouting, pumping fists with tears running down the cheeks… For a moment I thought I’ve lived my life to the fullest… It took several minutes for the high fives, the hugging :beer::adore::cheers:and hand shaking to stop. From the cafeteria on the terrace I could see the roads getting filled with traffic, which were stark naked just moments ago. I finished the last of my cigarette during the post match interviews and victory laps. It was time to go. I felt like KING that day, that moment. Now it was time to party. Collected a couple of friends (girls ) from office, went home to pick my flat mate (poor guy he watched the match all alone) and hit the pub :beer::beer_yum::beer_yum:. Oh god, forgot to mention the traffic. The streets were jam packed with cars and bikes pumping the horns at will and it was a carnival out there on Bannerghetta Road. While in the car, called Chennai, spoke to dad, brother and friends and shared the most fulfilling joy I’ve ever had as an Indian Cricket Fan. I wasn’t introduced to ICF at that time and hence missed being part of the hara-kiri that you guys must have had. But now :icflove: My best moments/scenes that will stay put in my mind and vision for years to come are: 1. Bajji dancing bhangra near the boundary, with still one ball to go in the semi final.:eyedance: 2. Yuvi pointing his bat at Freddie before the start of Stuart Broad’s over and the massacre that followed.:finger: 3. Dinesh Karthik's flying catch to send Smith packing in the match against SA:trytofly: 4. Uthappa bowing to all sections of the crowd with his hats off, after hitting the stumps during the bowl out against Pakistan.:hatsoff::hatsoff::hatsoff::hatsoff: 5. Sreesanth thumping his hands on the pitch like a warrior after sending Hayden’s stumps cart-wheeling :ridinghorse: