New Delhi: On March 23, 2003 India's much cherished dream came crashing down to earth at the Wanderers. Australia routed India by 125 runs to win the World Cup for a historic third time. Skipper Ricky Ponting played the innings of his life scoring an unbeaten 140 and was involved in a belligerent 234-run partnership with Damien Martyn, thereby batting India out of the game. India's only hope was Virender Sehwag and the rain, but it was not to be. And the prayers remained unanswered.
Now, eight years and one day to that day India take on Australia at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera in a World Cup knockout game that has the potential to bury the ghost of the Wanderers. Over the years India have done enough at home and on tour to not just challenge Australian supremacy, but deal them the knockout punches. A Test win at Perth, Test wins at home, an ODI series win Down Under, and even a T20 World Cup spanking, but none of them would have made up for the loss at the Wanderers. The stage has been different, the stakes have been different. Nothing else but a win in a World Cup game can exact revenge for that fateful day. And it can't get better than doing it at home.
As the Men in Blue take the field on Thursday, there are at least six members in the current Indian squad who would remember the 2003 final ball-by-ball. Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra are like a band of brothers who have an unfinished task at hand. There were those who soldiered with them in the lost cause, and now there are new recruits. But it is these six people who still carry the cross upon their shoulders and now seek a resting place for it.
Among these six is India's bowling spearhead, then an inexperienced lad, who has a score to settle for being taken to the cleaners eight years ago. Sourav Ganguly's decision to bowl first has been debated over reams of pages and hours of air time, but it was Zaheer's first over where he went for 15 runs that set the tone for the game. His inexperience came to the fore when he exchanged words with Adam Gilchrist, known to have a stomach for a fight, and who then went about a demolition job in such a manner that Ganguly had to bring on Harbhajan in the 10th over.
Zaheer has since grown as a player and as a bowler. From that day when he wanted to bowl fast and furious and run through the batting, Zak has become the incisive weapon and a game-changer for India. Every time his skipper has thrown the ball towards him, Zaheer has led from the front even as he has lacked support from the other end and on Thursday it is his battle against the Aussie lineup that will again determine the outcome of the game. This is one battle he must be waiting for, patiently sharpening his skills and strategy.
The other man among those six who has a operation desert storm to launch is Tendulkar. There is a story that when India were faced with the target of chasing 360 in the 2003 final, Tendulkar reportedly told his teammates that if they could hit a boundary every over, they would be left with 250 deliveries to hit another 160 runs.
Unfortunately, the man who would be adjudged the player of the series, failed in the final mistiming a pull and heading back to the pavilion in the first over itself. And as Motera and a billion plus people wait for his hundredth hundred, Tendulkar knows that the most important milestone to achieve in Thursday's game is a win itself. Nothing else will matter.
Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag are the other two pillars of the Indian lineup who have both been in good form, the former with both bat and ball. While Yuvraj has become MS Dhoni's go-to man in the league stages for India picking wickets with his left-arm slow bowling and knocking off the runs with some deft batting, Sehwag will be expected to start from where he left off in the 2003 final. His run-a-ball 82 ensured that India always maintained the steep asking rate. It was his wicket that finally snuffed out all hopes of a miracle. On Thursday, Indian cricket's maverick will be expected to be in top gun mode and it will be the Aussies praying for a miracle.
Harbhajan Singh, with able support from Ravichandran Ashwin, is beginning to look dangerous again. The reason why he hasn't picked up too many wickets in this edition of the World Cup is that the opposition batsmen, untested by the other bowlers, have played him with respect. That's the reason for his great economy rate. But come Thursday and with Bhajji's record against the Aussies, there are chances of seeing another great spell from the offie.
Undoubtedly, these players would have sat with the current crop and recounted the memories of 2003. If those memories have been well preserved, it will provide for just the right motivation and ammunition to deliver the knockout punch to an Australian side vastly different from the one that played in 2003 and one that has only Ponting and Brett Lee left from that encounter.
Already questions are being asked if Motera will prove to be the Waterloo for Ponting's captaincy. The invincibility of the past has given way to a susceptibility to be outplayed. And it was visible the most on Saturday when they lost their last league match to Pakistan that brough to an end their 34-match winning streak in the World Cup, dating back to 1999. It was also the first time since 1992 that they were bowled out without being able to play out their quota of 50 overs.
The defending champions are also weakened by the lack of a class spinner. Jason Krejza has so far picked up five wickets at 46.60, including two each against Zimbabwe and Canada. Steve Smith has one wicket for 139 runs. But most importantly for India, Ponting himself has been in patchy form. However, as a big match player Ponting may just use this game to return to form.
The impact of this game on the cricketing psyche of both nations and on the history of world cricket is unimaginable. A decade ago it was the win at Eden Gardens that set the tone for the change in the world order of Test cricket. An Indian win at Motera could do the same for one-day cricket. Do I hear you say Amen?
0 comments:
Post a Comment