June 2002, sky was overcast with dark clouds and as they say weather not at all fit for cricket. But Team Samsung was least bothered. The 2nd half classes for them were held at the Mecon Stadium and the zeal of the team members in attending those classes was worth noticing. For the people, Team Samsung was the 3rd row of the morning Computer section 03 of DAV Shyamli-A bunch of sports fanatics who had all the excuses in the world to bunk classes and play cricket. The overcast condition was enough to mete out despair and chagrin to any cricket fan. Team Samsung had other plans.
Football fever was catching up with the world cup euphoria at its acme. So someone came up with a brilliant idea” How about playing football?” Unanimity was not that difficult to achieve and it was a matter of a few minutes when stage was set for the action to begin. Teams were formed. Strategies were a bit difficult to form as little did they know about the soccer skills of each other unlike cricket.
The match began and the pandemonium too. It’s not that hard to imagine the scene of about 15 lunatics fighting for a single ball. “Come on, pass the ball” was all he could hear surrounded by few of the most agile defenders. He had no intentions of sharing the glory of the first goal to be scored. So he gave it a kick himself. The ball sailed high and far enough to turn his resplendence into a futile attempt. “Hard luck” he thought to himself. But lady luck seemed to betray him all throughout the day and he committed errors (read as sins) to lead his team to a 0-2 defeat. The other day had similar things to witness. The third one was no different. It was time for the captain to put the thinking cap on. He was demoted to the post of a goalkeeper(no offences meant to goalkeepers).A goalkeeper is considered to be the ultimate savior of a team’s dignity upon whose shoulders rests the responsibility to make sure that the fort is secure. Things here were a bit different. Goalkeeping here was considered as the most passive of all positions and was assigned to the one who was not fit to play striker, midfield or defender. Standing at the goalpost he wondered if he would ever make an impact as strong as he had in cricket. His thought process was broken by an explosion.” What was that?” That was Prateek (alias Bhurri) special dear. “What a save!” exclaimed the ever animated Som and Nandi. That was surely not intended to be one. It was just a face coming in the way of a powerful kick and the goalpost. Took him a while to realize that he had actually made an almost impossible save. He could barely manage a smile amidst the pain the kick had inflicted. A ray of hope glimmered to redeem his lost pride. What followed were a series of regulation saves and a few laudable ones to give his confidence a much needed boost and prepare him for the ultimate test-the penalty shoot out.
The excitement was rising. “Spare a thought for the poor thing “he thought. “Get ready” was the call and the sturdy athletic Bhurri appeared from nowhere. ”Oh God” was all he could manage. 5.4.3.2.1….vroom!!!!!!! He made a desperate dive and succeeded in deflecting the ball. It was a save. Jubilation and applause followed. He was hardly concerned whether his team scored or not. He was thrilled at the save and intended to get a few more up his sleeve. His team did not score. Then came Manas. He cursed the opponents’ captain for accumulating an army of hard hitters. If Bhurri was a torpedo Manas was no less. Once again a powerful kick and a save. His teammates could barely believe what they saw. So did him. As an economist would say” A liability was turning into an asset”. The penalty shoot out ended with a score of 2-1 with the star keeper on the victorious side. So excited were his teammates that they compared him with Oliver Kahn (the star German goalkeeper who could do nothing wrong before the finals against
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