A match that transcended the ordinary

This was the only World T20 game India were playing in Bengaluru, so I had impressed upon my dad to use any and all means necessary to obtain tickets prior to my arrival for Easter holidays.

Everybody and their uncle had predicted a facile win for India. I shared that view and was actually just hoping for a good contest to get my money's worth. And boy did this match not disappoint!

Although R Ashwin was the Man of the Match for ultra-economical 4-0-20-2 and a handful of runs with the bat, to my mind, Hardik Pandya was the guy who won the game for India with his last-over heroics with the ball and 15 off 7 with the bat.

For Bangladesh, Tamim Iqbal and Shakib al Hasan both looked deadly when they were in full flow during the chase, and the latter also bowled a tight sub-6 RPO spell.

Definitely the weather. Bengaluru is in the midst of a heat-wave right now. It gets to about 38°C by 3 PM (the hottest point of the day) and even when we got to the stadium at 7.15pm, it was hovering around 30°C. With about 40,000+ people in attendance, the stands were a muggy sauna with an occasional respite in the form of a breeze.

Enough has been written about the last over/ball and MS Dhoni running out poor Mustafizur Rahman, so I'm going to go with Soumya Sarkar's full-body extension dive to account for Pandya's wicket which was just spectacular. Every Indian fan around me stood up and applauded and gave that catch the plaudits it deserved.

The loudest cheers were reserved for when Virat Kohli came to field near the long-off boundary close to where I sat. Pandya took a difficult skier, jumping right next to the fence to get rid of Mithun early on.

OK, bit of a rant here #sorry. A group of three-four guys sitting right next to me got up and left in the 12th over of the Bangladesh chase as they felt "it's over boss, let's head out before the crowds". Seriously guys, how do you feel today?! This was one of the most memorable games at this ground in years and you ran away because you couldn't stick around to see how the game played out? Well, you got what you deserved. Next time, sit at home and give true fans a chance at this experience. #notsorry

There was a very colorful and animated contingent of Bangla fans at the front end of our stand in full costumed effect. Tiger face paint, tiger stripes shirts and a couple of them even had tiger masks on!

Eclectic mix of tunes. Some Kannada classics, a couple of modern 'item numbers', an occasional Vande Mataram snippet, several techno anthems and several live dhol-drumming interludes (every time a six was struck) all got the crowd up on their feet.

Another cool aspect was that everyone in my stand was treated to a free vegetarian thali meal with their ticket. It consisted of Karnataka's famous bisi bele bath (hot lentils with rice), a piece of Gujarati staple dhokla, a slice of cake and a ladoo. Unexpected and very tasty!

Notwithstanding the astounding outcome as a result of the last three balls WWW, I think the quality of the cricket was average. Fluffed catches, several lapses in judgement (for both sides), lacklustre fielding by India and limited batting pyrotechnics all contributed to a middling game of cricket. But none of that really matters. All that matters is the sound that will live on in my memory for the rest of my life when thousands of people went utterly berserk as Dhoni broke the stumps at the end of the game. I, along with the rest of the stadium, literally went through every emotion possible during the course of this game. From joy and anger through to denial and betrayal, disappointment and exuberance, this match restored my faith in sports as something that can transcend the ordinary and approach the sublime.

Marks out of 10
12.