Balle.. Balle... Chandigad Duo!!

There is a reason for the Balle… Balle… dance to be done not just by the farmers in Northern part of India but all the sports lover across the nation. A little early than the Baisakhi season alright, but the effort well worth spent.

Two Chandigadhians have given us ample reasons to do so. One quite popular in the sporting fraternity of India, the Yuvraj of Indian Cricket finally breathing a sigh of relief that he will be able to replace the Prince in the test side. The other a sporting star on the Indian sporting horizon, growing in stature from a dim twinkle a few years ago to a rather bright spot on the golfing scene, Jeev Milkha Singh. Emulating his father in winning the Padmashree Award, but vowing to go much beyond that one day.

Yuvraj has grown the fondness of English leather after he himself was tonked out of park for 5 sixers in the 20-20 world cup. The revenge after that has only helped Indian side thrash their past rulers comprehensively on several occasions. In the last week, the six Sixers that he hit to Chris Broad were proven not be just a flash in the pan.

On Chacha Nehru’s birthday he tore the English attack to pieces despite an ailing back. Absolutely going berserk in making a 63 ball century and making further 38 runs in the next 11 balls to stand tall at 138 not out in just 74 balls. The earlier platform given by the upcoming Mr. consistent Gautam Gambhir and his fellow Delhite Dynamic Veeru was milked to its fullest potential to give a mere impossible target of 387. The outcome was quite predictable even by academic standards. The fact that the English side not having much of match practice in recent past and being beaten comprehensively in the 1st One Day they played in this series by the local Mumbai team proved to be only lame excuses proving the point.

But what the lanky star has always struggled in his busy career with is consistency. He came back strongly trouncing all such doubts and and his critics alike. Not only did he manage to pull India out of the trouble with 27 for 3 and play another cracker of an inning to complete his 10th ODI Century; he turned around to bowl a fantastic spell with envious figures of 4 for 28 in full quota of 10 overs. That alone would have fetched him a Man of the Match award.

English side must be scratching their heads and hoping on law of averages to give them some hope in already dented confidence to salvage something. The 7 match series statistically is still wide open, but when you are beaten so comprehensively by one player twice on the trot it does no good to your morale.

There was one individual though who demonstrated how to keep the morale high despite poor performance not far from there, in the other Colonial sport gifted to India . The game of Golf. Jeev Milkha Singh has featured on my blog a few times now and I’m sure this would not be the last time. Despite having a disappointing 1st round of +2 in arguably the most prestigious tournament on Asian Tour, the Singapore Open. Jeev hung in there believing in his unorthodox swings and relentless practice regimes.
This tournament has a very healthy purse of 5mn USD attracting the best talent around the world. The big list of names in Sentosa were World # 3 Phil Mickelson, World # 4 and two major winners for this year Padraig Harrington, the “big Easy”, Ernie Els from South Africa and many many more.
Getting into Sunday Jeev was behind the leader by an almost unachievable margin of 6 strokes in most tournaments. But Jeev went about his business calm and collected. He missed the two footer birdie chance to end the 3rd Round. Any golfer would tell you how difficult it is to shrug off such frustrating end of a round, especially when you have such a minimal margin for error in such star studded field. But that wasn’t the only ‘WTF’ moment he had for the day. In the 4th round on the long and difficult Par 5 7th hole, after a beautiful second shot on the green, he not only missed a makeable Eagle shot, but missed a foot long birdie shot as well.
When the world # 4 is hot on your trail playing alongside, shaking off these blemishes is almost impossible. But the new confidence that Jeev has developed especially after finishing T9th in the PGA Championship this year saw him through. Padraig Harrington’s intimidating round alongside him didn’t deter him nor did the late charge by another Major winner Ernie Els.

This win has made him the first person to win more than $1mn in a season on Asian Tour, has virtually assured him the Order of Merit on Asian Tour, which in itself will push him well within the top 50 in the world Ranking, which again means he will get to play all the 4 majors for next year. But what stands out the most is the calm and assured way in which he is getting his wins and top 10s across the globe. This has been a very busy year for him. He must have easily played 40+ rounds in this calendar year, which is quite a tall task. Thus injuries have accompanied him across the globe just like his clubs. But like his other Chandigadian brother he has come out fighting over those injuries. And representing the new “Can-Do” spirit of the Indian sport persons.

The Yuvraj of Indian Cricket will be stepping in the shoes of the Maharaja as we speak and the “King Singh” of the Indian Golf is going to only grow in his stature. Folks, be ready to take bow for them. India’s emergence as a sports nation is on the rise…!!