CHENNAI: The scoreboard will show that Team India scored 387 for 4 in the fourth innings of the first Test against England to record a 6-wicket win. But numbers can never reveal that this match was almost never held; that when it was finally staged, it was under the watchful eyes and guns of around 5,000 security personnel; that, just days before the Test, Cyclone Nisha had thrown life out of gear in Chennai; that the TNCA had less than a week to organise the contest; that schoolchildren were burdened by exams and their parents by office duties while the Test was on...
All that mattered little. The irrepressible pulse of Chennai, complete with banner, bugle and painted face, brought the MA Chidambaram Stadium alive on all five days of the match.
A journey undertaken to absorb the intricacies of the game, a chance to breathe the same air as white-flanneled heroes… a cricket match means many things to many people. On Monday, it became more than a vehicle for the unfulfilled aspirations of everyday life; it became a reason to unite, celebrate and escape, even if momentarily, such harsh realities as the terrorist strikes in Mumbai.
The unofficial scoreboard says cricket won. And so did the spirit of Chennai.