ICT- The warriors

Chapter 1

If someone had told me that I, the girl who doesn't wake up until noon given a choice, would wake up at 5 am to watch a test match I would have sent them straight to a mental asylum, but that is what I have been doing for past few days.

Where do I even begin, now let me be honest, I am a huge cricket fan but I never had the patience for test matches, most of the time I just watch the highlights at the end of the day or I just check scores online but this series had me glued to my mobile screen for the entire day.

The team, our very own ICT is so good that words can't even begin to explain them. Whoever says that cricket is just a sport will definitely change their opinion after this series. Those guys fought like warriors, people kept writing them off everytime and the came back with a perfect reply each time.

Just imagine the situation, they were washed out for just 36 in first match, then the captain whom I might add is one of the best batsmen is not available for upcoming matches, they were already missing a few from their pace attack due to injuries.

The public, media and critics were attacking them right left and center. No one believed even for a minute that the team could beat Australia in Australia, imagine how much it should have affected the morale of the team.

But then how does the team respond, they come all guns blazing in the second test, the captain Rahane leading from the front, they win the match to level the series. But that is not it, I swear that win was special but the draw in the 3rd test is the best ever match I have watched.

The team is now high on morale but the next match brings its own problems. First our players are abused racially by the crowd ( I don't even understand what kind of people they are, like seriously racial abuses, I get the booing alright but abuses?), and there is trail of injuries one after another, one after another.

And by the time they were playing the final innings, the media and critics were making noises again. And I thought we have lost the match by the time Rahane got out but like always the team surprised me and a million others.

The way Pujara and Rishab were batting, if I had to put it poetically it was like a hurricane on one end and Mountain on the other. It was almost like the Mountain was blocking the bowlers from escaping when the hurricane was hitting them all over the park. And Rishab was playing with an injury to boot.

Australians tried everything to break that partnership and finally succeeded too but they had no idea what was awaiting them next.
In come the duo, Ashwin and Vihari, high on pain meds. If I call Pujara, a mountain I don't even know what to call these two.

When these two were batting I didn't see two players in white playing, what I saw was two warrior clad in strongest armour, injured all over but simply refusing to give up. They put their bodies in way of the ball and doing everything they can. The Australian again tried everything they can, both with words and balls but these two stood tall absorbed everything with so much resilience. I was so angry on the bowlers when they bowled bouncers after bouncers( I know they were doing their job but still). I was almost in tears watching these two and then the camera focuses the dressing room.

I cried, there were two warriors on the field determined to finish the game because they knew there was no one else to bat. But there was this injured Rajput warrior, all padded up and ready, just in case things don't go their way. At that point I was not concerned about the match at all, if this is the level of dedication our team has then results really didn't matter to me.

I sat there counting ball after ball awaiting the end, our warrior succeed in wearing out the opponent and draw the match. I'll tell this very confidently, I wouldn't have been so happy even if our team had won the match, the draw was that special.

But that is not the end, our team doesn't even get time to breathe before they are bombarded with the questions about playing 11 for the next match. People again start making fun asking do you even have 11 fit players for the final test.

The team weathers that too and get ready for the Gabba test, the Australian fortress with the most inexperienced squad. The fast bowlers in our squad had only 11 test wickets compared to the Australian's 1000+ test wicket, if that doesn't tell us about the imbalance nothing will.

But what do you get, the debutants play like pros spearheading the bowling attack, they completely bowl out Australia. And when it looked like the team would crumble while batting, there comes another warrior duo at no.7 and no.8 to rescue the team. Two debutants, Shardhul and Sundar, batted with so much elegance. Their shots were so smooth, so perfect like right out of dream. They were so fearless that frustrated Australians even more.

What was even more special was the way the team stood together as a family.

The way the team surrounded Siraj as if forming a protective shield while he was complaining about the abuses, the way the ever calm Rahane looked furious when he had an arm wrapped around Siraj staring at the abusers.

The way Ashwin was waiting at the boundary line when Sundar got out, like a big brother wanting to say 'You did well, I am proud of you"

The way Shardhul smiled when he took the final catch on Siraj's fifth wicket although it means he has lost his own chance to take a fifer.

The way Bumrah was waiting for Siraj, and hugging him to heart's content (I remember Jassi telling "I am not much of a hugger" in an interview) when the team came back after the 3rd innings.

I don't know what is awaiting us tomorrow but I don't even care. This team has shown the world what they are capable of, they have shown they are not dependent on individuals rather they perform as a team, they have shown the world the way to fight like true warrior. And as a fan of cricket and ICT this is going to be the most memorable series for me and I am very proud to be an ICT fan.