Just as fated
The magic of a Tuesday night at Mullanpur, just as fate had in mind
Every Tuesday, I have a late morning class, and since the IPL began, it just so happens that the Punjab Kings also play that day. Today, I woke up a few minutes late, but I didn’t make much of it, for it was fated to happen (or not if I was an alarm guy). It was also fated that I watch Maxie bat, as after leaving the team on 33-0, three wickets fell when I returned 15 minutes later. Though I’ve been wary of Prabhsimran playing at Mullanpur due to his continued struggles against any new ball movement, it felt like today he’d pull an Arya and save the day courtesy Punjab’s deep batting and him successfully negating the swing Arora was getting, but because I was fated to watch Maxie bat, he got out 5 balls later (or I wouldn’t have had I woken up on time).
It’s always been my preference that Punjab chase on Tuesdays so I don’t miss Maxwell’s batting if he does bat, but lucky for me, I wasn’t fated to see him ultimately add yet another tally to his batting failures this IPL. By the time I got to campus, Punjab were already all out for 111, and just like that, I thought to myself, “there went my 100% win record watching Punjab play in class.” The past 2 Tuesdays, you could find me sitting on the second chair to the left of the 4th row zoned out with my left earbud in and me crouching down to watch my team play on pirated streams rather than listen to the lecture, as even though they were fated to lose and I had to actually focus on today’s lecture, I of course went against my fate (for as long as I could that is).
Sure, I knew we weren’t winning today, but before it was time for what was fated to happen, I thought I mind as well get an idea of how badly our NRR will be dented, and though instead I got hyped by Marco clipping the top of off a length to dismiss Narine and de Kock flicking it over to Shedge, deep down I knew no miracle would be pulled off, enforced by Shedge spilling what was a tough opportunity to dismiss Raghuvanshi the following ball with him proceeding to carry out fate’s duty, though by then, it was time to lock in on the lecture.
But I of course would be checking the score on Cricinfo (which is how I followed the rest of the match).
From what was shaping up to be an expected massive NRR dent courtesy Raghuvanshi, I soon found myself having some hope when the Cricinfo Win Probability shot up from around 3.6% to over 33% after an unsuccessful LBW review from Venkatesh, and just like that, I was fated to soon immediately be instilled with more hope with Chahal taking two wickets the following over. With Russell at the other end as the collapse continued, it was obvious that we’d have to clean the tail out to win this, but as fate would have it, I found myself thinking “what the fuck was the management thinking?” after Chahal got smashed for 16 runs by Russell and I read a Cricinfo commenter mentioning how he strikes at over 200 against Chahal, for he was the last man that stood between what was fated to happen anyway and what wasn’t fated to happen, originally that is. But it now felt like another Punjab bottlejob for the books, up there with when we failed to chase 4 off 6 in 2021, until it wasn’t.
Indeed, Russell was fated to be the last man to stand, but only for the final wicket, and just like that, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day.
I randomly thought of Azhar Mahmood’s 10 good ball philosophy while walking to class, but I knew I was just coping, but who would’ve thought that the Punjab Kings of all teams would bowl them defending 111, and that too against the team responsible for destroying my evening on that fateful day in 2014 (I was probably the only one fated to remember his philosophy, but still). I didn’t have much hope from Punjab going into the season, so I’d certainly be the last person to think they’d be able to pull off such a heist.
As unexpected as this Punjab victory was fated to happen, the joy is still ephemeral for both the players, and us fans (well at least me), but it was certainly as sweet as the Thai Boba Tea I decided to treat myself to celebrate this twist of fate. It’s not like we finally slayed the demons of 2014, but considering us Punjab fans don’t really have much to celebrate every year, why shouldn’t we spread the happiness from the moments we get to have here and there? That is how I found myself writing this piece, just as it was fated to happen.
It had to all be poured out on the day, as otherwise, it’d all be back to normal by the time I woke up, and I could no longer put a cap on these raw emotions off cloud nine. It’s a very small window as you could tell, just like the one Punjab was fated to have in pulling off this miracle. Chalking everything up to fate makes for lazy stories, but for writing a story on a team that hasnt’ made the playoffs in over a decade, I’d say an exception in this case is justified.
In the end, who knows if we’re even fated to finally lift the trophy this year? For all I know, it could be shaping up to be a repeat of either the 2014 heartbreak, the jaw dropping in shock yet again as it did in 2018 and 2020 when we should’ve made the playoffs, or another stinker like last year as the rational mind thought after the Mega Auction. But for now, that’s all she wrote.