What a win

NatWest Series [India in England] - 6th ODI

05-Sep-2007

What a win India pulled off on Wednesday. It was the most dramatic victory in recent times. I cannot disagree that I was at the edge of my seat for every second of the last hour or so of the game. Every ball being bowled counted and you could not afford to blink. This is the time when you feel that ad-breaks between overs are a must. One can only imagine how much pressure the players themselves would be under whilst they struggle against the mammoth total. Think about it - Winning is difficult and you cannot afford to lose. In such a situation, only a Maverick can hold on to the belief - "Failure is not an option".

Robin Uthappa, emerged out as a hero in the match. He literally dragged India to victory despite restrains of all forms and deservingly had the honour of hitting the coup de grace of such a historic win. I would not say his batting was impressive, though. He was favored by luck on numerous occasions and runs came to him without any special batting skills of his own. His batting graph showed a prominent 'V' formation behind the wickets, indicating that he scored most of the runs in that area. Now, apart from the one unorthodox scoop that he hit there, towards the end of the game, fetching four crucial runs, none of the shots were actual skillful maneuvers. The ball, always, accidentally took the leading or inside edge and fled past Prior fetching him runs.

But his attitude deserves appreciation. He did not give in to the pressure and constantly vied for runs in spite of escaping the return to the pavilion by a whisker many a times. He never seemed to be in two minds like Dravid and Yuvraj, who ultimately threw their wickets off just because they couldn't decide which out of the hundreds of techniques that they have mastered over the years should they apply. In a post match interview, he was asked, what did he plan to do when he was out there and India needed around 9 runs an over. He innocently confessed that he could not devote any time to thinking and had no plans as such. He just wanted to get fast runs. When asked whether or not he thought that the unconventional flick towards fine leg in the last over was a risk and he could have got bowled like Dhoni, he had a plain answer - "I never thought about getting bowled". Sometimes, that is exactly the kind of thinking you need to adopt. Just focus on what you are there to achieve and forget about the possibility of an untoward happening.

Sachin Tendulkar, once again, showed what he is made of. Missing out on his century for the umpteenth consecutive time did not seem to bother him as long as the country marched towards victory.

All analyses apart, the match was a thorough entertainer and my romance for cricket is back.