Letter of the Day

His Dream

He came from Down Under with a dream
To India, to extend his realm
The cricketing world they had at their feet
But success in India, they still had to meet.
With 15 test wins on the trot
The ultimate team record they had got
But lurked in his mind a solitary thought
Series wins in India - they had naught.

Confident ? You said it, yep
A light in their eyes, a spring in their step
Mumbai was the first stop here
Of what they called the Final Frontier.
Fit, and ready, and raring to go
The Indians could not stop their flow,
With Gilchrist and Hayden packing a punch,
They had the Indians for breakfast and lunch.
They left Mumbai on sweet sixteen
The Indian team, almost a has been.

Next stop - Kolkata, the Garden of Eden
But the Turbanator had a few tricks hidden
A hattrick - he almost had them all
But He still stood, like a wall
A century ; the Indians eight down
The Aussies were cocky, the Indians set to drown
He went back with a feeling he prized
Slept, with a dream almost realised.

Two days later he was still rubbing his eyes
The Indians had showed a phoenix-like rise
Laxman authored a great fightback
The Aussies had just started to crack
Sachin `n' Bhajji spun a web after tea
T'was the Indians turn to party
The patting of backs, the popping of corks
For the Aussies had looked like the team to fox.

Now onto Chennai for the final test
He knew they had to play their best
They tried, but Bhajji just kept picking,
Wickets, like the clock kept ticking
Tendulkar, then joined the fun,
But Hayden pulled out a double ton.
He had hopes - there were runs to get
But he forgot the nemesis they'd met.

VVS Laxman again led the way
His dream looked like slipping away
But Gillespie struck ; He started to think
Maybe they still could be back from the brink
But Sameer Dighe thought otherwise
With steel in his nerves, fire in his eyes
Bhajji hit the ball, punched the air
The Indians knew they were finally there.

He came from Down Under with a dream
To India, to extend his realm
But though they played with all their might,
Though they put up a real fight
Things were not as he had willed
His dream ... would remain unfulfilled.....

Anupama Khare