Jemi, Harman & new realities

There are people I know personally, who on Friday morning found their eyes welling up.

- Sharda Ugra

They saw highlights of that unreal, parallel-universe kind of victory over Australia. This doesn't count others thousands of miles away from the DY Patil Stadium who watched Amanjot Kaur's three 'what, me worry?' shots finish the match with 9 balls to spare and promptly burst into tears.

There was so much of that emotion going around amongst the players, support staff, families that of course everyone invested in the result had to break down - in solidarity as much as in thanks for what we had witnessed. Those few hours of cricket that disentangled the knotty leaden-weighted dread after Australia scored 337.

Disentangled and then separated belief from disbelief, purpose from doubt, mission from memory. Then put together what mattered on a field and gave us a new set of realities. And India's greatest white-ball victory over Australia since December 1980 when the two countries played their first limited overs international.

Emerging as pilot, navigator and North Star out of the messy scrum of arms, armpits, hands, and shoulders of her teammates, her T-shirt soaked and muddied, her face shining with tears and sweat, making signs of love and wonderment, was Jemi. Forever from today, just Jemi.