Just like KKR had already printed T-shirts proudly proclaiming “KKR Winner 2024,” I too had an article all set to go, titled “Australian Captains: The New Nawabs of Hyderabad.” But, much like those unseen SRH winner T-shirts, this article will never see the bottom of the printer. But the boys played well, and if those three magical words could have been a love story between the players and the fans. Here’s the plot summary:
Meet cute
Our first encounter with SRH this season was like a blind date that you reluctantly agreed to because your friend promised, ‘He’s different this time.’ Spoiler alert: He wasn’t. They lost to KKR in the very first match, and it felt like last year’s ghost was haunting us again. Think of it as a date, who shows up late, spills coffee, and has spinach in his teeth. Not promising. But when they scored 277 and broke records, we all started looking at SRH like it was SRK and we were Deepika dancing to “Main Agar Kahoon” from Om Shanti Om.
Falling in love
When SRH smashed 287 and then 266 in back-to-back matches, it was like they went from nerdy Clark Kent to Superman in seconds. The city turned orange, reels overflowed, and we were all like teenagers in a Karan Johar movie, doodling hearts in our notebooks and writing ‘SRH 4ever’ on our Instagram stories. We didn’t show it to everyone because we didn’t want to jinx it, but we all had an invisible tattoo saying “Ee Sari Cup Manade.”
Magic is gone
Like that classic rom-com plot where the guy stops trying after the girl falls for him, during mid season SRH started losing to teams they should have easily beaten. It was like they went from sending us ‘Good morning, beautiful’ texts to ‘k’ replies. We started eyeing RCB, who were on a winning streak, and suddenly the next door guy seemed a lot more attractive. Second thoughts started creeping in, but thanks to rain (that one point we got and qualified), like in every love story, it kept the spark alive. Then losing to KKR in the first qualifier gave the typical feeling in a relationship that I knew this wasn’t going to work.
Heartbreak
Our love didn’t die easily. Just when we were about to delete their number, SRH pulled off a stunning qualifier win in the second chance. It was like they showed up outside our window with a mandolin playing ‘Tujhe Dekha Toh Yeh Jaana…’. We fell hard, all over again, and marched into the finals with our hearts on our sleeves. But then KKR happened again. Our hearts shattered like a dropped phone screen. We wanted to scream, cry, and write angry tweets, but now IPL was over and there was no next match to vent about, no score to obsess over, and no RCB fans to troll. Just us and our shattered dreams.
But “agle din Aishwarya aai” when our Indian cricket team reached the USA, and now we’ve quickly moved on because the World Cup is our heart’s true desire, and only Team India can either fulfill or break our hearts again.
The Why Junction
Sandesh Johnny
@johnnykasandesh
(This comedian is here to tell funny stories about Hyderabad)
(The writer’s views are his own)