Sachin’s Anthem
After Kolaveri Di, Dhanush continued his success by singing about Sachin for Boost Ad.
Virender Sehwag hits 200
Yesterday the world has seen the true potential of Virender Sehwag through his Swashbuckling innings of 219.
10 years back, getting a century in a test was an awesome thing. Then Sehwag came and the equations changed in test arena and he proved that getting 300 is not a tough task with in 300 balls. It was at that moment I thought that if any one could score the highest score in ODIs, it would be either Sachin or Sehwag. Sachin for his technique, experience and perseverance. Sehwag for just one reason, his blitzkrieg.
I have been waiting for this innings for quite long now. He came pretty close against Bangladesh but couldn’t make it big. In midst of having a bad patch of career this year, he needed the much required innings to prove and stabilise his position in the team for the upcoming tours.
After three consecutive failures, yesterday was the right day for him to score well and take India home. He showed his natural flair in scoring the runs without giving any chances to West Indies team. He scored an amazing 219 which includes 25 Fours & 7 Sixes. I would like to see more and more such innings from Sehwag.
Raise the bat for the Hundredth time
I am happy that my third consecutive post in my blog is about Sachin Tendulkar. I couldn’t stop writing this on my wall as Sachin is yet again close to the most talked about milestone of the year. Will he or will he not hit this milestone century is something which is being discussed all around the globe for last 9 months now. I wish him good luck and hope to see him raise his bat for the hundredth time. I just can’t wait for the day 4 of the test match to start.
Sachin Completes 22 Years in International Cricket
22 Years back this is the day when the world has seen the start of the career of the most patronized cricketer in the world. He is the player who has scored avalanche of runs and broke all kinds of records in batting. The player who has mastered and invented so many batting techniques has been the best connoisseur in all forms of cricket. He is the player who stooped in front of all kinds of attacks and have shown his dominance. His impudence as a youth is still untarnished even after all these years. For more than a billion Indians and many more all over the world, its been a life time experience and joy while for him its a blink of the eye and every match is a fresh start.
He is none other than Sachin Tendulkar, the cricketing god. November 15th 1989, Sachin made his debut against the arch rival Pakistan. At that point no one would have even thought in their dreams that the then 16 year old kid would make it so big. He has been with the team for 22 years now and has groomed many other legends along with him.
At this juncture of his life and career, I wish him more and more matches, runs, centuries, records and most important a happy family life.
15000 Test Runs by Sachin Tendulkar
If at all there was always a new feather added to the cap when they say “a feather in the cap”, then Sachin would have been wearing a big feather cap. As everyone knows that the maestro has already have all the known batting records in cricket has yet reached another milestone in his glittering career.
During his 33 on the day 3 of the test between India & West Indies, he has crossed the new milestone of 15000 runs in test matches. He is now almost 2000 runs ahead of his next highest rungetter Dravid. But the only disappointing factor during this match is that his fans has to wait for yet another match to see him reach his Century of Centuries.
Quotable Quotes
Gambhir: “All credit goes to Sachin Tendulkar. We played for him. Beating Australia and Pakistan and now this, its a dream come true.”
Harbhajan singh: ” It means the world to me. I have been part of the three world-cups. This is for the nation. Thank you very much, we love you. This cup is for the people. Love you India!”
Virat Kohli: “This goes out to all the people of India. THis is my first world cup; I can’t ask for more. Tendulkar has carried the burden of nation for 21 years; It was time we carried him. Chak de India!”
Tendulkar: “Couldn’t have asked for anything more than this. Winning the world cup is the proudest moment of my life. Thanks to my team-mates. Without them, nothing would have happened. I couldn’t control my tears of joy. Thanks to the support staff. Thanks to Mike Horn, who has helped with the expectations and pressure. The team stuck together in the rough phases and proved people wrong who doubted our ability. Self belief has been always there but in the last two years, we have been very consistent. It’s been great honour to be part of this team. Thanks to Gary and Paddy Upton.
Zaheer: “I can’t explain this feeling. It’s for this special man (tendulkar).”
Sangakkara: “Very proud of everyone, especially Mahela who rose up to the occasion and put up a great hundred. When you look at this Indian team anything less than 350 looks less! They deserved this title, the way they played in front of a great crowd. Both Sri Lanka and India will be proud with the way they have played. Thanks to Sri Lankan fans. Congrats India, you were the better side today. The only way to stop India is to get atleast 7 wickets. Gautam was outstanding and Dhoni stepped up and performed.”
Yuvraj Singh: “This is unbelievable. Under-19 World cup, then Twenty20 but this is the most special. For Sachin, for everyone else. I want to dedicate this to my guru ji, for my mother and my friends. Last time we were in World-cup final, we made lots of mistakes. Batting second is lot of pressure but Gauti and MS played outstandingly. They played like it was a normal game. We batted like champions. We don;t have a proper left-arm spinner and so it was my job to do it. Narendra Hirwani has been helping me and I have been working hard. Tonight is going to be good night! Thank you India!”
Dhoni: “I took a quite few decisions tonight, if we hadn’t won I would have been asked quite a few questions: Why no Ashwin, Why sreesanth. Why no Yuvraj, Why did I bat ahead?! That pushed me and motivated to do well.The pressure had got to me in the previous games. In this game, I wanted to bat up the order and Gary backed me and by the senior players. I had a point to prove to myself. Virat and Gautam batted brillantly; lots of singles. Then with the help of bit of dew , we put pressure on the spinners. I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big hundred.”
India vs Srilanka–World Cup Finals
April 2nd, 2011 the day which will be remembered forever by all the Indians. It’s the day when the whole nation came together to celebrate the winning moment. It is the day when the only missing glory in Sachin “THE GOD” Tendulkar’s illustrious career of 21 years has been added as yet another star to his achievements. It is the day when India recaptured the crown which was first lifted by Kapil Devils 28 years back.
Pre-Match
This has been the second most hyped match (second only to India vs Pakistan match in Semis) of the whole tournament. So many theories and analysis have come up before the match. Some of them are:
- All the teams whose captains name started with letter “S” have lost and hence Sangakarra would not win the cup.
- The calendar of 1983 has read exactly same as 2011 calendar and hence India has all the chances to win.
- In its last three matches, India defeated the West Indies, Australia, Pakistan in the same order of their world cup victories (1979,1987,1992) and next is Srilanka’s turn(1996).
The match is also important for 2 champions of cricket. Muralidharan who is playing his last ODI and Sachin who is raring to get his 100th ton and maiden World Cup final victory.
Form
Srilanka WWWWTWLW
India WWWLWWTW
Both the teams have been in great form in this world cup. There has been 3 batsmen from each from both teams in the top 10 batsmen in this world cup. With respect to the bowling India had slight edge over Sri Lanka in the performances in this world cup. Zaheer & Yuvi have done excellent job for India. Fielding has been strength of Srilanka and India is doing good these days because of the youngsters.
Toss
As I have said previously I am not comfortable with day and night matches in the important games as the result is almost decided and hence I was waiting for the toss to be won by India.
Ravi Shastri came out with the captains and the referee Jeff Crowe for the toss. Jeff Crowe’s presence in World Cup finals as match referee continues to cause unusual incidents. After 2007 debacle, this final also had a false start.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni tossed the specially minted coin into the air and it was heads. Ravi announced that Dhoni won the toss. Oops wait, there is a confusion. No one heard what Sangakarra called. He claimed he called correctly while Dhoni did not accept. Then in a rather unusual decision, Crowe asked Dhoni to toss the coin again. This time, Sanga called head and got it right and elected to Bat first.
Jeff Goof up
I was shocked with the way toss went. What was he doing? His job was simple. Just listen to the call, see the coin and announce who won the toss. If the crowd is too noisy and couldn’t hear the call, then step in ASAP. If coin is about to hit the ground and couldn’t heard the call yet, then best thing would be to immediately should out “dead toss.” Pick-up the coin and have the captains do it again.
First Power Play
Zaheer Khan started off with a maiden and went on to bowl three consecutive maidens. Sreesanth who was a surprise pick by Dhoni did a decent job in containing runs while the likes of Dilshan and Tharanga were batting. Zaheer’s fourth over started off in style by picking up his first wicket of the match and 20th wicket of the tournament. It was a Good start for India. Sreesanth was extremely nervous, but was successful in keeping his emotions in control.
Middle Overs
Dilshan, the most devastating batsman for Srilanka just threw his wicket for a very poor ball down the leg-side. The partnership between Dilshan and Sangakarra looked good and India got the breakthrough at the right moment.
Jayawardene came to the crease determined and started off playing shots very fluently right from ball one. He and Sangakarra started scoring at good rate and the runs were coming easily. If this partnership went on further then it would have been quite hard for India to come back into the game.
Indian team was successful in getting wicket of Sangakarra and a successful review against Samaraweera and a cheap wicket of Kapudegara. India seemed in a good position at the end of 40 where the scorecard read 183/5 which was much less than 5 run rate.
Last 10 overs
We all thought that two quick wickets have kept India on top and Srilanka can be restricted to 230. But Kulasekara who came ahead of Parera joined hands with Jayawardene and hit 63 runs in the batting power play. After Kulasekara did his job sacrificed his wicket Parera pitched in and scored the last useful runs.
Jayawardene who played very well right from start went on to finish his third century in world cups. Srilanka made a very very competitive score of 274 for the loss of 6 wickets. Zaheer Khan who gave just 17 runs in first 7 overs went ended up as 10-3-60-2.
India Innings
275 is never an easy target in a World Cup final and its a Huge challenge up for India. With the last 63 runs in the batting power play it was a massive momentum shift Sri Lanka’s way. India should open positively and Sehwag and Sachin in the top order has to fire.
0.2 overs, 0/1
There was lot of talk in commentary box focused mainly on the importance of Sehwag’s cameo up front. Everyone was expecting at least a quick 50 of 30 or 40 balls. The whole stadium fell silent when Malinga sent Sehwag back to dressing room in the second ball of the innings with out any score on the board. That means India has to start fresh with out Sehwag and 9 wickets in hand. A dream start for Sri Lanka.
Sehwag being an important wicket asked for review with no success. He was not sure neither was Sachin that it was not out but just because he was an important player and it was Key for him to fire at the top, he took the liberty and wasted the review without even consulting Sachin who was watching from the other end.
Sachin Finishes 2nd highest runscorer
Now the whole nation looks at Sachin to score something big and save India. Sachin looked very confident and fans cheered him a lot for each run he has scored. The confidence with which he was playing, I thought he was determined to reach his century. On the other side Gambhir also looked confident. 7th over first ball, Malinga picks up his second and its none other than Sachin.
A nation falls silent. I am pretty sure that not only stadium but people watching the match around the world fell silent at this moment.
Young guns
There was a time when Indians used to switch off their TVs once Sachin is out. Today was a bit similar situation as India lost the opening pair cheaply. Infact I and my friends wanted to leave but just had a small faith on the new young guns of India.
It was time for Gambhir and Kohli to play responsible innings and guide India to a decent score and out of the pressure situation that they are in right now. Throughout the series both have not done any extra ordinary job and this was time for them to prove the point.
Both played really well taking singles and hitting the loose balls for boundaries. They gave their 100% to the game.They were able to take off the pressure that India had after looking the first two wickets. It was in 22nd over that Dilshan has taken a splendid catch (May be one of the best catches of the world cup) to dismiss Kohli. No complains on Kohli as he was out for a good ball and a great catch. But there was one point to be noted here that Sangakarra might have made a mistake in not bringing Malinga or Murali while this partnership was building.
Dhoni – The Super Cool
With three batsman still to come, India almost has the game back at level-pegging now as the scorecard showed 115/3 in 22 overs.
Everyone was waiting for Yuvi the consistent performer of the world cup to come and show some heroics to take the game home from here. But to everyone’s surprise Dhoni comes in ahead of Yuvraj. This was unexpected but a brave decision from Dhoni. He has not performed even in a single match in this tournament and hence everyone were skeptic with this move. I thought if he performs well and takes India to victory then he would be a lucky bastard yet again to perform at the right time and get the required attention and applause from everyone.
Important Partnership
Gambhir and Dhoni player very sensibly making no mistakes and building the partnership. They both have hit the half centuries and got a 110 run partnership. Gambhir was about to get his 100 in the world cup final and on 97 he tried a needless shot and threw his wicket. Dhoni did a great job in guiding his team to understand the situation of the game and play accordingly. Now on the pitch Dhoni have been warning Gambhir for his careless and needless shots. But at the end its on the individual to have that control. Gambhir misses his century.
Dhoni & Yuvi takes us home
Now India was in a very strong position with needing just 52 runs from 52 balls and having wickets of Dhoni, Yuvi & Raina. The situation for India was very comfortable and everyone were confident that they would win unless if we see some stupidity like Gambhir. But nothing happened like that. Dhoni & Yuvi carried on their innings till the end.
Well maybe fairy-tale endings do happen in real life. Dhoni finishes the tournament in style with his second six of the innings. It’s hard to script it better. A captain’s knock when it was needed most.
Indians in the whole world erupt in joy. India has won the World cup after 28 long years and Sachin has been part of it. What else can any Indian cricket fan ask for.
Greatest Captain for India
Dhoni has now become the greatest captain for India by taking the team to pinnacle in all formats of the game. He won the T20 World Cup & ODI World Cup in first attempt. He has taken the side to No. 1 in test and ODI rankings. Not to forget he is currently the holder of both the IPL and the Champions Trophy. Today I have become a big fan of Dhoni.
Emotional Scenes around
As the six came of Dhoni’s bat the whole dressing room started off jumping and running on to the field. The whole team was in tears of joy. Everyone in the team were congratulating & hugging each other. Indians all around the world were congratulating each other. It was the moment which will be written in the history books and remain in the hearts for ever.
Sachin was then carried for a victory run by the youngsters. It was an emotional scene to watch as the youngsters were fighting to get a chance to carry the GOD on their shoulders. My eyes were moist after seeing this. After the victory it was great to hear that all the players were showing the respect to the GOD by announcing that they have won this cup for him.
Indian teams victory would not have been possible with out Gary. Players know that and hence showed their respect to the coach by taking a victory lap carrying him.
Presentation ceremony
Medals to all the officials.
Medals to the losing team. Nice speech from the loosing captain.
Man of the match award to Dhoni
Man of the series award to Yuvraj Singh.
Medals to all the Indian players.
BCCI announced 1 crore to each player of Indian team.
Indian team everywhere in the news.
Celebrations everywhere
Lunch with the President and Dhoni with a new super cool look.
Just like the India vs Pakistan match, even this match had the dignitaries from different fields come together to cheer team India. Below are some of them whom I was able to spot.
Actors like
Ranbir Kapoor
Saif Ali Khan
Aamir Khan with his wife Kiron
Kunal Khemu
Soha Ali Khan
Preity Zinta
Shahid Kapoor
Vinod Khanna
Rajnikanth
Aftab Sivadasini
Sangeetha Bijalani
Sridevi
Suneel Shetty
Isha Sharvani
Venkatesh
Ex-Cricketers like
Kumble
Vengsarkar
Gilchrist
Merv Hughes
Jadeja
And India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani
