Why the Irish will celebrate MahaShivratri in 2011

Om Namah Shivaya. While the entire country is celebrating Mahashivratri, there is another country celebrating inside India thanks to a hugely impressive cricketing win - Ireland. As David Lloyd screamed "This is it , this is it this is it", an entire nation must have silently said "this is it in cricket". Wooooo hooooooo !!! They came up with an unbelievably stunning performance to beat their arrogant(at times!), cricket wise more accomplished country-cousins England in our very own Bengaluru. From the evidence that we have so far, apparently Bengaluru hosts the awesomest and bestest matches of the World Cups held in Sub continent. Remember Jadeja vs Pakistan and Prasad vs Sohail in 96 or the India vs England game just 3 days back (see my prev blog post for more details) ?

I must say when I saw the Englishmen in the afternoon beating the Irish bowlers all over the park , I thought the match would be over by 8pm IST. Who would have given the Irish a chance to chase a mammoth 328? The half time joke was that the Irish bowled better than India coz' they conceded only 328 compared to 338 that India conceded!

The Irish then played and man, did they play out of their skins. They were 5 down for 113 and am sure most of the Englishmen were thinking of packing up soon and heading out to a bar. But but but Kevin O'Brien had different ideas. Apparently around the same time he started batting , some of the Indians taught the Irish how to chant "Om Namah shivaya" !

I switched to Star Cricket around 9pm hoping to catch some post match theatrics from Irish turbaned Sidhu , Bhogle and team but was stunned to see Brien batting on 76 from 38 balls and you bet, we didn't change the channel after that ! Brien's knock was reminiscent of Vivian Richards in the way he played minus the swagger but he more than made up with his reddish pink hair(apparently, the brothers look so similar that the team had difficulties identifying who's who between them and Kevin offered to color his hair! That was my joke , no offense! On a more serious note, its for charity fund raising ) He tonked 13 powerful boundaries and 7 massive sixes,including the biggest six of the tournament en route to the fastest World Cup hundred ever!!! It was wonderful to see the 100 celebrations from Brien, the Irish team , his parents and the "always support the underdog" crowd.

What was also on display during the chase was a great cricketing brain from the Irishmen. I can't say the same about the English though! For example ,once Brien reached his hundred , the supporting cast of Cusack and Mooney played the aggressor's role while Brien played second fiddle. At a crucial juncture, Cusack even sacrificed his wicket to help Brien stay at the crease.Cool , calm , composed batting towards the end helped them beat their "we had no idea what to do" bigger brothers. As the captain described at the end of the game , this was the day of their lives. What a difference 3 days can make. Strauss could do no wrong with the bat on Sunday and he had no clue what to do right after the 25th over on the field!

Finally, O'brien told Michael Atherton that they won't be able to celebrate in the bars tonight coz' of the 11pm rule in Bengaluru. Its a pity that the city would miss the famous Irish drinking songs and celebrations (hopefully tomorrow evening they can indulge in the famous pubs of the city!) but hey, the Irish can definitely go ahead and witness celebrations across the city on probably the only night when tons of people would be outside!

Whats next for England ?? They have to recover somehow (no idea how !) and try their best to beat South Africa whereas the Irishmen will face the Indians, again in Bengaluru.(Both games on Sunday). Oh and don't forget an expensive IPL Contract going out for O'Brien. Till then wish you all a happy "jaagarane" if you're going to stay awake the entire night. Wish you all a very happy Mahashivratri! Om namah shivaya.