Sudden death.
Number 11 from Zakir steps onto the field… and HE MISSES!!!
BITS needs to put it in, ONE penalty away from victory!! Vijay Bhaiyya steps up to the plate to take what COULD be the final penalty. He was easily the best player in the second half. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. The crowd is on their toes.
AND HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BITS WIN!!!! And in a split second, eyes are wet, a thousand people spill onto the field, everyone’s yelling, shirts are off, people are thrown into the air…. We won. It was a smash-and-grab but every win counts. BITS wins the FOOTBALL GOLD!!!!
Penalty 5: 4-3 Zakir.
Now ALL the pressure on Manjo as he walks steadily towards the ball. Every eye on the field on him. AND HE DELIVERS!!!
Penalty 4: The crowd is trying to play mental games with the Zakir players, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting them. Score 3-3
Arpit steps up to shouts of “come on!!” … Argh. But it’s saved by Zakir. Now it’s level at 3-3.
Penalty 3: Number 3 from Zakir scores, the BITSian goalie was helpless.
Akshay Sathe steps up to take the BITSian penalty. Nail biting tension. And he scores!!!!! 3-2 to BITS.
Penalty 2: Number 15 who was behin every successful Zakir move, bottles it. He misses and sends it wide. The BITSian supporters erupt into cheers around me. Score 1-1.
Ujjwal sends the Zakir goalie the wrong way!!!! BITS leads 2-1.
Penalty 1: Goalie went the right way, but Zakir scores anyway. 1-0 to them
BRILLIANT shot. Rachit scores. THAT’s how penalties are supposed to be taken, oozing confidence, slamming into the corner of the backside of the net.
6:31
The BITSian team appear to be imitating the “united we stand” trick. Let’s hope it proves lucky. Let the games begin!!
6:30
Sorry, we appear to be misinformed, penalty shootouts are happening. Scratch extra-time.
6:25
And full-time, it’s 0-0. God knows how they managed to hang in there. Can we hear the footsteps of guardian angels?
“We’re going into overtime, welcome to the space jam… Here’s your chance, do your dance, and the space jaamm”.
And I am cut short. Harsha solemnly tells me that it’s “extratime”. We have a ridiculously boring BEP ed.
I continue my song…
6:24
Vijay Bhiayya is really showing his juniors how it’s done, he’s the only one!!
Oh wait, is that concussion?? His own player hit the ball against his head.
The ref was no where in sight, but decidedly declared an offside. Influence from the audience? Well, it happened in front of me, so I’ll vouch for him.
BITS are taking a safety first approach, sadly that’s all they can offer right now.
Pawas: The BITSians are using their heads as much as their legs. And by heads, I means HEADS. Not brains.
6:23
Call in the medics! High boot to same guy.
Free kick to BITS. 35 yards.
There’s no Zakir player in the BITSian half, a first today.
6:22
The guy who had earlier got barged lands firmly on his backside while trying to do something funky with the ball. Do we have medics ready? He might need them soon.
6:21
“I’ll tell you what our problem is, the Zakir players have got speed and we’re just too slow”- Soumyadeep’s two cents. “Isolated, that’s what they are. And thank God there’s no extra time, our players WILL DIE.”
6:20
A brilliant pass by the Zakir team, impeccable set up… but no goal.
6:19
A BITSian player discretely shoulder charged a Zakir player just now, showing that there’s still some fight left.
6:18
Foul given against BITS more for intention than for actual contact. They look really tired, Zakir’s physical superiority clearly visible now.
6:15
Another surge to the front by the Zakir offence, really putting the pressure on the BITSian side.
Meanwhile, the BITS boys basketball team begins warm up. Here’s hoping for another entertaining game :D :D
6:13
Soumyadeep's million dollar realisation: If BITS wins now, it'll really be a smash and grab.
Football doggy seems to be displaying remarkable talent, following the ball with full concentration.
6:12
Another substitution in the BITSian side, looks like the physical strain seems to be getting to them. Number 5 of Zakir is definitely controlling the plays here. A dog apparently wants to play, probably wanting to provide the much needed support to the BITSians on the left flank.
6:07
Sorry for the interruption, we're experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment. Score still steady at 0-0, despite Zakir's forceful offence .
6:08
A succession of offsides against Zakir, the BITSian s seem to have right approach.
Brilliant block by Akshay. We need that kind of confidence at this point of time.
The BITSian team is riding purely on their luck, they seem to being hanging onto their ninth life at the moment as another attempt sails just outside the BITSian goalpost.
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4 comments:
give sum credit to sharvin, the goalkeeper for that excellent penalty save. it was not "Zakir misses". rather shd hav been "Sharvin saves"
I second abhishek.... Sharvin deserves credit for the penalty saves and also for keeping brilliantly in the tournament considering the fact that its his 1st tournament for BITS.
Looks like EPC is back to what it does most often - criticizing BITSians and their efforts. You've made a mockery of what was a brilliant defensive display against one of the top teams in the Delhi leagues.
The BITSians who are using their heads and not brains in my opinion are the ones who wrote this article.
BEP has done a great job with Live Blogging. Hatsoff to harshavardhan and his team, but this article ...
Thanks for your comments. No credit taken away from Sharvin...he was brilliant. We had a split second to write it considering that it was live. And in our excitement of seeing BITS perform well, we may have overlooked things like whether it was a save or a miss.
@Manoj: Glad you liked our initiative. This being the first time experience in live blogging for us, there is a lot of scope for improvement.
We are all very proud of you. As a senior member of the football team and as the Sports Secretary you have done BITS proud. We are in no way trying to play down the skill of BITS team. It is probably the fact that we expected very high standards of our team which is once again due to our confidence in you guys.
hats off to BEP for this new live blogging concept. really good work.
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