Tendulkar Farewell Series: Sachin Dazzles Short Of Century, India Poised To Wrap It Up Tomorrow!

Mumbai, Day 2: The morning session of the 2^nd day of the 2^nd and final Test between India and West Indies perhaps has beaten even an India-Pakistan cricket thriller in terms of viewership, suspense, expectations and excitement. And the fans, ex-cricketers or organizers, Bollywood superstars, Chief Ministers, central ministers, political bigwigs and business tycoons who thronged the Wankhede stadium or millions of television sets were not disappointed by the God of Cricket. The master-blaster almost found his golden touch delivering glorious straight drives, elegant square cuts, lofted shots—he tried even the flick over the head of the wicket keeper that was made official by Virender Sehwag in one-day cricket. He added 36 more runs to overnight 38 crafting a partnership of 148 solid runs with Pujara to lift India out of the woods. He got out for a majestic 74 falling to Deonarayan and although fans wanted him to go on for a memorable century they were not disappointed either. It was a standing ovation for the cricket legend all the way back to the pavilion. In all probability this was the last of Sachin Tendulkar as far as playing cricket is concerned. It is still painful though to think that he will never be seen playing with his heart out hitting all around the park.

The Indian cricket Board officials and curators were perhaps rather too eager of presenting a winning farewell series, because like the first Test this one is also set to get over in two and half days tomorrow. Inspite of the Tendulkar nostalgia and show of tremendous passion the strong-ever Pujara (113) kept his end in perfect order and notched up his 5^th Test century crafting another momentous partnership with Virat Kohli (57). After the heroic knock of 177 in Kolkata Test Rohit Sharma (111 not out—two consecutive centuries in his first two Tests) proved again how useful a cricketer he has become for India by achieving another century off just 118 balls. The Indian first innings throughout had the perfect one-day cricket look and style (495 in 108 overs). With all these healthy knocks India gained a massive lead of 313 runs and captured three West Indies wickets for 43 runs at stumps on second day. Ashwin struck immediately with two victims and hopefully for West Indies Gayle is patiently not out at 6. West Indies off spinner Shillingford made it a fifth consecutive five-wicket haul in Test cricket and this is indeed a great plus for the definitely weaker team in this Series. The Scorecard:

Finally it is going to be a very happy ending for Sachin Tendulkar and his fans with India poised to wrap it 2-0 tomorrow with a huge victory margin once again. Do not lose heart; you can still watch your God of Cricket in action tomorrow too.

The VIP Brat: A Study in Contrast!

Here we’re talking about only two compartments inside a particular AC 2-Tier coach in a particular daily train under the Indian Railways that departs a particular originating station at around noontime and reaches the destination city early morning the next day. The train is popular because it is superfast and always on time. That fateful noon too, the train was ready for boarding about one hour before departure. We cut to the inside of that particular coach having those two compartments for our contrasting study. Two elderly couples were in a state of considerable distress. One of them, both technically senior citizens, had been allotted two upper berths and the husband was at his wits end how to proceed, because his wife was being taken for check-up after surgeries in both of her knees—she could hardly walk and her climbing up the berth was a sheer impossibility. The husband was also on the wrong side of the sixties, but he thought he could manage the climbing once he managed a ...

Mitali: The Trauma of Losing a Sibling

Maybe I lied to her when I used to reassure her that she was going to be alright and was going to resume her life in some measure of normalcy in the future years; maybe all my gestures/expressions were false when I used to run my fingers across her forehead or embrace her on occasions when she was able to move around a bit; and maybe all my exhibitions of love care and responsibility were exposed as superficial when I failed to turn up in Delhi where she along with my mother were treated during September-October, 2022 (my mother Urmila Chakravarty was also diagnosed with dental cancer the same month the same year as she was) and when all the members of my parental family and the in-laws converged. Since that fateful day in August, 2022 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to that disastrous day of March 6, 2025—the day my younger blood sister Mitali (Mainu) Chakravarty Sarma (November 2, 1963—March 6, 2025) passed away in the wee hours in a hospital in Guwahati after giving a bra...

Release of Book 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories'!

The fourth collection of stories titled 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories' by Chinmay Chakravarty has been released on Amazon KDP just now! This collection, short stories in a lighter vein plus with mild satire like the previous collections, has been published in both the E-book and Paperback formats. The links are given below: International: Click Here ! India: Click Here ! Other collections of short stories by the same author: The Cheerless Chauffeur and Other Tales(2021)--Notion Press. Funny and Fishy Tales(2022)--KDP. The Weirdos(2022)--Ukiyoto Publishing. All books of the author are available on Goodreads, apart from Amazon and other outlets! Have a look!