And just like that it ends. In an anti-climax. In disappointment. In deep sighs and what ifs. In long faces and averted gazes. In the realization that the dream is over for this year.

It isn’t supposed to be like this. With the form we are in coming into the last game, belief is strong that we will deliver our end of the bargain and then let the result between Mumbai and Kolkata tell us if we are in or out. But it doesn’t happen that way and no excuses for that. Yet, it would have been great to get that extra day of hope. To sit down and watch the game as a team one last time even if we do get knocked out. To say relaxed goodbyes.

By the time we have shaken the last hands after the game, instructions are already being passed about transportation arrangements for the next day. People have to fly out all around the country and to other parts of the world. A large contingent returns to Australia but not David Hussey who leaves for Nottingham in England with his wife and baby, who is just a few days older than IPL-IV. Ryan McLaren and David Miller along with everyone’s favorite Security Officer Dino Gangaram head back to South Africa. There are flights to be boarded to Mumbai, Baroda, Goa. There are cab arrangements to be made for Merut and Jalandhar. It’s time to return to short breaks in hectic calendars, to doting families and friends, to waiting girlfriends and in Gilly’s case, pregnant wife.

Soon it is clear that one group heads to Chandigarh and the other to Delhi the very next morning and from there on each to his own destination. I decide to spend an extra day in scenic Himachal roaming around the Kangra Valley. It helps that there isn’t too much time to sit and think. We need this diversion to keep our minds off the defeat and its implications. But in the end there is no avoiding it. We must confront, accept and move on.

The dressing room is scattered with conversations emanating from small groups. A little bit if chatter about the game, recollecting stories from the month, exchanging addresses and permanent phone numbers, getting pictures taken with everyone. Each one of us has had a very unique and personal IPL experience. Some look back at good contributions, some on lost chances, some wonder whether they could have made an impact. But nobody is totally satisfied because as a team we didn’t reach our potential often enough. We beat the best sides around plenty of times, we know we are good. And we are proud of how we have fought back from the brink. We know as a team we have it in us to go further and even win this thing. So there is despair, there is pride and there is hope and that’s not such a bad place to be in really.

We meet again for a few drinks later that night. The future is on everybody’s mind. Ranji seasons, internationals and even the next IPL. There are also vacations, vineyards, media commitments and potential weddings. In the morning there is a hurried sponsor commitment to fulfill just as the bus leaves for the airport. This time, I am not in it. I spend the day visiting the monastry in McLeod Ganj and the crowded yet charming Bhagsu. The next day it is time to get back to regular life. It will need some getting used to. Till then there are some more memories to share, some great tales to tell.