Being Provoked

From the land of jelly beans to the storm of sixes, England has realized one of the most important aspects about the Indians; Never Provoke Them. They come twice as hard as ever and hit back strongly. This was proved back in England and in the land of Proteas the Indian showed it once again.

Back to the test series victory in England, the frivolous trick of irritating Zaheer Khan at the crease by the party of Kevin Peterson and others in the slip, was followed by one of the destructive spells bowled by a fellow Indian. Jelly beans are better in the mouth, than on ground. This time, when Zaheer took his crease for the second time, he couldn’t tolerate. He went straight dashing at the EGO of England pointing his bat strongly. ‘This is not expected of you at this level, mate!’ Never mind, we got the best results possible, with Zaheer destroying England, to provide India with a lead in the series. May be, England didn’t learn a lesson then, to face the similar casualties in the T20 world cup currently.

What did Freddie have to do with Yuvraj, when he was peacefully batting at the crease in the middle? Yuvraj wasn’t in the best of nicks and when Flintoff completed his over, which went for a few runs only, he had some words to say. Showing his aggression to the opposition has always been his way of playing the game, if not by bat and bowl, by mouth and actions. The series level in India by England cannot be forgotten as well, where Flintoff removed his shirt only to get it back in England by the then captain of our country, Ganguly after the Natwest series victory. Forget the past, what do you think happened after those exchanges between the world’s best all rounder and the world’s best stroke player! Yuvraj was not happy with him, going harsh on him as well with words and advancing, until the umpire made the block.

This doesn’t stop him from playing his shots. Next over bowled by Broad, saw the ball flying all over the ground for sixes. Six sixes in a row, what a splendid performance! The record for the fastest 50 as well, consuming only 12 balls; It couldn’t have come on a better occasion for India. India into a do or die match and Yuvy pays his tribute to the team. But all thanks to Freddie to provoke him to do what almost became a nightmare for Broad. Not that without that, it wouldn’t have come; it would have come similar but definitely not this big!

Adding to the flavour, yuvraj, who had become the victims to 5 sixes from Mascarehenes, paid the respects back to the same team, if not to the same person. As told in hindi “Sir se bhoj hat gaya! Jho Karza maine Dimitri se le rakha tha, use sooth sameth uske dost Broad ko lauta diya. Kya hai na, main kabhi kisi ka karz rakhtha nahi!” Yuvy must be giggling!