The Matchup!!!

What a shot!!!
And that makes it 30 runs for the over... 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6
Sehwag is on a roll and now the Delhi Daredevils need just 1 run more to win of 7 overs...
What a fine display of attacking batting...and to have such an experience on my first ever Live Match was a bonus...

To put things into perspective...I am talking about tyesterday's T20 match between Delhi DareDevils and the Deccan Chargers...
Delhi is my homestate and I have undying loyalty towards it even though I have been in Hyderabad close to 3 years now and in AP itself for almost 7...But that does not change the fact that I am a Delhiite by heart and yesterday I was all for the DareDevils...

The match was at Uppal Stadium and getting there from HITEC was a royal pain...we somehow reached there as the first over had just begun...with hopes and dreamy eyed we walked into the stadium to find our seats already taken...not wanting to create any scene (it was more to watch the cricket than waste our time squabbling with people) we rested our already weary bodies somewhere near mid-wicket (from one end that is)...

It was a sight...the field was green all over and looked magnificent...the legends were there on the field and McGrath was bowling...he looked so ordinary.
In fact, everyone we looked at...the bowler, the fielder or even the batsmen who had just walked in they did not look like the stars they look on TV...Its the distance I know but they were just there in front of us and it didnt seem like a big deal...it could be anyone.
Then a loud crack and the ball just effortlessly clears the field and lands way back into the crowd...

It then strikes you that these are no ordinary men...you cannot even imagine the finesse with which they guide or force the ball on TV as it does on the widescreen experience that your eyes and ears give you...

Watching a match live on TV is an altogether different experience...you are up close and personal with the players...you can see their changing expressions...the turning of the bat at the last moment...a fielder stopping the ball cms. from the rope in slow...a bowler releasing the ball with a perfect seam up...and all of this again in slow motion and with more angles than you could care to see from...

There is nothing of this sort when you are in a stadium...you have to strain your eyes to make out who is who...you have but once chance to see that cover drive..or else you can see it on the big screen standing in one corner of the ground with a pathetic resolution and wierd colour scheme...But there is something that no TV in any home can ever equal...

Its the single motion play...
The bowler glides in and gets into his delivery stride...delives a short ball which the batsmen pulls towards the mid-wicket...the fielder runs after it and slides to pick it up...gathers it cleanly and throws it from the edge of the ground straight over the top of the stumps and the batsman just making his ground...
When you are there, this all happens in a few secs with no pauses and in one continuous stream showcasing some terrific talent...where those ordinary looking people on the field suddenly jump into another gear and do extraordinary things...and you are seeing all of this in one go since you cannot afford to miss a moment...if its gone, its gone forever...that's what draws you towards the game...

On TV there are maybe 10 pauses when the camera changes direction...you see the bowler now...now you see the batsmen pulling the ball...now you see the fielder running after it...now he slides and throws it back and then you see the wicketkeeper gathering the ball on top of the stumps...This you may say brings you closer to the action but I say it takes you away...you won't believe it until you have been there...That single motion bigscreen experience is to be felt to be believed...
The fact that Delhi DareDevils knocked the wind out of Deccan Chargers was the icing on the cake...it just made the experience all the more wonderful...

I never understood why is there so much excitement to see a live match in a stadium filled to the brim amidst a sweating and screaming crowd when we can watch it from the comfort of our homes with so many camera angles and everything replayed back in slow motion...
Now I know.