I watched the last four overs of today's game against Pakistan. With 60 runs to get and 4 overs to go, Hardik not really timing the ball, it looked gone. But something inside me told me that this would end in a last ball finish - I had a grander vision - that Virat would hit a winning six or something like that.
It's kind of true that we sense the energy across the screen - good or bad - and this was a good one. There was this honesty between Hardik and Virat that this was a mountain and they would last it out and see - a moment of pure surrender with no ego but at the same time staying still and open to all opportunities. Hardik gave up when he lost that stillness and tried to hit Nawaz but Virat stayed true to his inner stillness, his belief, his humility. He could well lose, but he would stay till the end and give it his best.
When Harsha Bhogle said that in all these years he had not detected a weak moment in Virat but today he saw a tear perhaps, its a sign of that humility, of the power of surrender, of staying true to the game, to what it taught you, and staying humble and under it. And when you do that and keep your eyes and ears open, it opens doors. You don't control and try to make anything happen in a pre-planned manner - you just let it happen.
The way he explained it after the game - the well placed four over extra cover, the hard run twos and threes all added up to the grand flourishes of sixes off consecutive balls off Rauf, of getting Afridi rattled (he is not the best death bowler in my opinion) and then letting others take over and finish the game - be it Kartik or Ashwin.
Complete team work. And with such a nice example, it looks really good for India now. This is the attitude we needed, the softness and flexibility in our approach. Good dressing room stuff. And certainly Rahul Dravid must be contributing in his own way to that.
I was not optimistic of India's chances this World Cup but now I am.Not just for this tournament, but going forward too. Well done India.
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