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| An effortless and classy knock |
5 years ago just days prior to the most marquee cricket world cup was being
hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. There were last minute hiccups ( not unusual ) if you are an avid Indian cricket
buff for the hosting of the group B
match between India and England. The match was originally scheduled to be
held at Eden Gardens Kolkata. Not surprisingly
the venue was not deemed fit to hold a world cup match. I had made all the
plans to book the tickets for Kolkata but the match was awarded to Bengaluru
and i could not book the tickets due
to unavailability online. We finally decided
to conjure some courage and
travelled to Bengaluru where we had a
distant relative who had arranged 2 tickets of hospitality near the pavilion. I
could never thank the relative enough for his courtesy. So here we were finally after a whole host of
security check ins finally arriving at
the Chinnaswamy stadium.i had heard a lot about the venue and it sure did not
disappoint.
India won the toss and decided to
bat Sehwag might have been dismissed 3 times in the first over after scoring a
boundary off the first ball. Tendulkar lit up the stadium with a wonderful
century the 47th off his
career as India was in complete control for the first 39 overs as the Bengaluru
crowd was creating a raucous as if it were a monsoon wedding. The maestro was duly supported by half centuries from Gambhir and
Yuvraj. During the 46th over India were cruising at 3/305 and India
collapsed dramatically with Tim Bresnan being the tormentor in chief taking 5/48 with India being dismissed
for 338 a huge score which could have been much more had it not been for the late
flury of wickets. It was an absolute privilege to be part of Tendulkar’s 98th
international century and his 5th in world cups and we were quite satisfied with the score
thinking that England did not have the wherewithal to pull off the chase. Little
did we know of storm which was going to hit Bengaluru.
England started off briskly
scoring more than a run a ball. Pieterson’s stay at the crease was short, sharp
and brisk scoring 31 runs off 22 balls
before being caught smartly by Munaf Patel off his own bowling after a
opening stand of 68 with skipper Strauss
who continued his merry way. Jonathan Trott proved to be an able ally to Strauss
sharing a 43 run stand before being trapped on his pads by a Piyush Chawla
delivery. Bell and Strauss had a stand
of 170 runs off 27 overs which should have been the deciding factor of the
match. In all my years of watching cricket i have not seen a better innings by
an English batsman. Strauss scored runs in an effortless manner threading gaps
for 1’s and 2’s while the Indian fielding
was being tested. Strauss scored a century without breaking sweat and hitting a
ball without anger. His placements and timing was so immaculate that i could
just not help gasp at the ease with which he was toying with the Indian attack.
The only nervous moment in that
partnership came when Bell survived a leg before appeal against Yuvraj Singh
when he was hit on the pads with all the hawk eye parameters being fulfilled
and just when it looked Yuvraj had struck gold, Billy Bowden the umpire ruled
in favour of Bell citing that he was 2.5 metres down the pitch and that technology’s
prediction could not be conclusive. It surely was a matter of intense
of debate among everybody off the field and crowd hushed in the stands. England
were cruising at 280/2 at the end of the 43rd over when they decided
to take the final batting power play a decision which could swing the fate of
the match either way. Zaheer struck for
India when Bell tried to slog him but was caught at extra cover by Kohli who
had dropped him on 68 before. Zaheer was on a hat trick when he bowled the ball
of the match by crashing into Strauss’s toes who was dismissed for a whirlwind
145 the highest score by an English player in a world cup. The Bengaluru crowd
was going ballistic behind Zaheer khan and it found its voice again after Strauss’s
innings had left them shell shocked.
Paul Collingwood lost his nerve
as he tired a wild swipe across the line to be castled for 1 . Mathew Prior too
did not seem to handle pressure as he
tried a heave only to be caught by Harbhajan. It was absolute
pandemonium in the English camp Graeme Swann hit a flat sixer off Chawla
bringing England back with a sniffer of a chance. England now needed 29 runs of
last 2 overs. Three balls later Bresnan sent Chawla in the same direction for a
maximum and later was cleaned up by Chawla in the same over. Ajmal Shehazad
also scored a maximum off Patel right below where we were seated with bated breath to set up the grand finish. with 2 needed of
last ball England could muster up a mere single as the game ended in a tie much
to the shock of the crowd and everybody present.
It was quite an engrossing and
thrilling form of cricket where neither side deserved to lose . Srauss innings
outclassed Tendulkar’s who himself had
scored a brilliant hundred smashing 5 sixes. Strauss was adjudged the man of
the match deservedly so. The atmosphere at the chinnaswamy and outside on the
roads was one of absolute mania and the world cup fever had truly caught up
with the Indian fans. I had witnessed a lot of matches in many stadiums in India
but a tie had always eluded me and it was a truly memorable encounter at Bengaluru.
