Mother of All Matches...Best of all Innings!!

Long time back i was given a TAZ in my team...(For Non-Wiproites , TAZ means Thanks a Zillion), a voucher from landmark for 150 rupees. After too much of introspection and roaming about i decided on a CD. The CD of the India Vs Pak 2003 World Cup match. The match which saw a new face of Indian Cricket. I was in college during that WC and yeah we just enjoyed that Roller coaster ride of Indian team in that series. With Sachin being in prime form, we loved every match of it and every bit of it except the finals. Though all those matches can be written about and talked about as there was something special in each of them, like The Six in Caddick's ball by Sachin in the England match, the Straight drive which could have seriously hurt Aleem Dar in the Namibia match, this match is real real special and so a recap of it all.. Lots would be about Sachin and you have to bear it as you know you are reading the blogspot of Ms.Nitya!

The Build up:Okie, titled as the "Mother of all matches" , India met Arch-Rivals Pakistan in a group match on March 1st 2003. It was a Sunday and the whole of India was hooked on to the TV Set. The Indian line up for the match was Sourav(C),Dravid(VC),Sachin,Sehwag,Kaif,Yuvraj,Pathan,Zaheer,Nehra,Mongia and Kumble. Both the captains exchanged official ties before the start of the match. The toss was won by the Pak Captain Waqar Younis and they elected to bat.

Pak Innings:Pakistanis batted was pretty well i should say. Saeed Anwar(101) led the attack with a century.All the other batsmen played around him.taufeeq Umar(22),Youhana(25),Younis(32) all of them played their parts well.It was all down Rashid Latif and Wasim Akram in the last few overs and they literally stole runs at their pace. At the end of their 50 overs Pakis had scored 273 runs and looked all set to win against India for the first time in a World Cup match as India's highest successful WC run chase till then was 222.

Behind the Scenes: Once the Indian team went into their dressing room, Sachin did not speak to anyone. Was involved in any of the discussions about the chasing.He took a bowl of ice-cream, put his headphones on and went and sat in a corner.Got up from there and padded up just in time (This was shred by the master himself in the recent interview in NDTV). When Sachin and Sehwag started walking down the stairs, Sehwag told Sachin "Don't tell me anything other them Jao aur Lage Raho" and Sachin supposedly answered "I am going to take it to these guys".(Excerpt from John Wright's Indian Summers)

Indian Innings: The Pakistani players who weren't aware of all these, and who had a awesome bowling line up came into the field with all the confidence in the World. Sachin who generally prefers batting second faced the first ball. With Akram opening the bowling the first runs on the board came with Tendulkar flicking Akram to the on-side fence for a sweetly-timed boundary. The Second over is the one which set the tone for the match.Akthar came in at the speed of Rawalpindi Express (;-)) just to be hit all over the ground. The first hit was cut shot, inside out and over the top, sending the ball into the stands several rows back at point for a 6. This was followed by two boundaries in the same over. At the other end Sehwag joined the party very soon by playing a similar cut for 6 in the first ball of Waqar Younis.The Indians raced to the team 50 in 30 balls. When the score was 53, Sehwag got out playing a loose shot. The next ball up Sourav Ganguly was walking back to the pavilion.(One more reason for me to like this match!!! :-) )

Phase 2: Promoted up the order, Kaif started slowly playing around Sachin.The master ensured that the RR was no where affected. When he was in 32 , Razzaq dropped Sachin and by that probably the match. Akram was visibly vivid with Razzaq for that. There was no stopping from then on. Sachin presented a bouquet to shots to entertain the 20,000 + crowd there.India reached 100 in 12 overs. Sachin crossed 12,000 odi runs. With the huge pressure and heat Sachin started to cramp badly, he was given assistance between the overs. Mohd.Kaif got out when the score was 155, which brought Dravid to the crease.

<

Finally:When Sachin was on 98, the pain increasing he got his clone as his runner.Shoaib who came in for his third spell bowled a brute of a delivery, rearing from a length that got the better of Tendulkar. The master fell just two runs short of a most deserving ton. Tendulkar departed on 98 (75 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) in the 28th over.At that juncture we needed only a further 97 runs for victory in more than 20 overs. Yuvraj Singh(50*) and Dravid (44*) played as sensibly as they can and took India to 274 with about 4 overs to spare. The smiles in the Indian dressing room said it all. After being bashed up and let down by the nation after they had lost to Aussies 10 days back,they were National heroes again. Sachin without any doubt was declared the man of the match yet again. This was a day when every cricket fan would been happy. Yet again, one man had played the game as well as it could be.