ExpertDabbler

Manzoor Khan wins the toss and elects to bat, the Pakis made 306 in 50 overs.

India started with a bad news. The wicketkeeper-bat Pandey was injured while keeping. Aditya took everyone by surprise by offering to open the bat. He was hardly the prime player he was once but still he thought as a captain he has to take charge and give his best when the chips were down.
He simply tried to play the sheet-anchor role and guide the other players.
He made his first 50 after eons, of 75 balls without a single boundary. Slow considering India was chasing 307 to win.

Rajeev batted briskly and came out with a fine 71 of 59 balls. But when he got out caught behind when the score was at 194, Aditya asked Ratan Shah to come up the order. Again a seemingly insane decision but again it caught the opposition by surprise.

Ratan Shah blasted a brilliant 69 of 49 balls. The middle order, if ever there was one for India suddenly collapsed yet again. 3 quick wickets in 5 overs for a measly 18 runs and India was looking down the barrel.

With 3 wickets in hand, Aditya was clearly frustrated in the middle, the brilliant Pakistani fast bowlers, the fiery Moshin Ahmed having 2 overs to go in the remaining 4 overs, India needed 34 runs.

Aditya decides to go after the other bowler, Salim Khan. He hits three huge sixes and a four of one Salim over. He reaches his hundred with that four.

“Nichayama unnoda kevalamaana hundred in terms of style. But the most important one in your life” he said to himself.

And just when it was all over for Pakistan, a sudden rash of blood saw him run out Ismail the non-striker. The only good aspect was he was the striker for the next over. Very important when the tail is batting.

Two wickets to go, 15 balls and 3 runs to win. Aditya gets a terrible LBW decision to a ball from Moshin Ahmed and it was 9 wickets down. Aditya was crestfallen. His invaluable 106 of 119 balls was going down the drain. Live coverage showed Aditya in tears as he reached the dressing room. It was all over. He knew he has played his last ODI and its going to end on a tragic note.

Moshin had this over and another one to have a go at Manjunath, the last man in.

Adi was sure Manju stood no chance against Moshin, the fastest bowler in the world.

It was a miracle how Manjunath lasted the remaining 3 balls from Moshin. One just missing the off-stump, one fending a bouncer, which falls just in front of the desperate fielder and the last ball beaten outside the off-stump.

Manzoor, the wily Pakistani captain brought back medium pace all rounder Abdul Latif. The over was a maiden. Gurudev faced all the six deliveries. Did not connect a single ball. There were two huge appeals for LBWs. One was rather close.
It was gripping cricket of a different kind.

Last over.

3 runs required. The bowler was Moshin. The first ball, the batsman was Manjunath. Bowled. There was a hush in the Indian Camp and the whole of Pakistan was celebrating and the umpire signaled a no-ball.

2 runs to win, 6 balls to go.

Now the first ball again - beaten outside the off stump. Second ball – wraps in the pads and a huge shout for LBW. Turned down. Third ball, an attempted yorker somehow dug out by Manjunath. Fourth ball, bouncer. Manjunath gets one on his helmet even as he was trying to evade. Fifth ball, Manjunath puts bat to ball and attempts a run. Crowd of fielders converge on Manjunath.

One ball to go. Two runs to win.

Moshin’s attempted yorker express delivery catches the inside edge of Manjunath and races to the fine-leg boundary inspite of a desperate attempt by the keeper.

In one of the greatest cup finals in recent times, India wins a humdinger. Aditya comes running to the ground to hug his bowlers who won it for him with their bats.

India wins the World Cup at Johannesberg after a long long time since Kapil Dev held the trophy at Lords.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 18th, 2005 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.