ICC Cricket WorldCup 2011 : India-Australia Quarter Final Match Experience : March 24,2011

Akash Oza and I witnessed one of the best matches of ICC worldcup 2011 which ended up in the close finish. The match was full of milestones for different players.

The India Vs. Australia match was quite equivalent οf Brazil vs Germany οr Italy vs Argentina іn a football World Cup a high voltage contest. Sο team winning thе toss was lіkеlу tο hаνе bat initially аnd рlасе thе opposition under pressure bу putting up hugе score οn thе board.

Its India vs Australia quarter final world cup 2011 οn motera pitch ahmedabad guys, and I was among those lucky ones who could manage the tickets.

We all were kееnlу awaiting GOD's 100th century(please don't ask me who the GOD is, shame oon you if you ask so).

An epic battle waѕ expected between four time world champion Australia аnd one οf thе tournament favorite India wіth both team.

Finally, we reached at 1PM sharp and took a seat. The Sun was very much bright and we faced HOT waves badly.

Few metres away, there was a media box and guest room from where commentators and guests watch the game LIVE. We just had reached and were waiting for the toss and I suddenly moved around and saw Little Master Sunil Gavaskar chewing tobacco(Akash said its Manekchand or Rajnigandha). I stood up and pointed with a shout 'Hey Sunny, ho.....' and the whole stand went crazy. We got a good response from him and in no time, we saw Tom Moody, Ravi Shashtri, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian chappel. Meanwhile, toss was won by Ricky Ponting and we were supposed bowl.. and came Sunil Shetty and appeared in guest box with an unknown(atleast for us) guest.

The crowd was cheering up for Sunil Shetty and were waiting for the match to begin. And I tell you, they watched the whole match live and we used to cheer every wicket of Australia. People came in various attires and most commonly Indian team t-shirts to add some spice to the game and the atmosphere as a result.

And Finally, the match started with new ball given to R Ashwin. As the match progresses, the crowd was cheering every ball and shouting many slogans like 'Sachinnn...Sachin.. tap tap tap', 'Jitega bhai jitega...India Jitega', 'Ponting haay haay', Loosers, cheaters', 'India...India... tap tap tap', and many 'oooooooooo......uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh' and showing finers and hands to Aus cricketers when they come up to Indian batsmen while bowling.

In my opinion, the match turned slighly to India when Zaheer got the wicket of Mr. Cricket (Michael Hussey) who is an outstanding cricketer of recent times.

Meanwhile, we saw DADA, Saurav Ganguly in the media box for the commentary.

The Warne moment

“Sachin Tendulkar brought the full house to its feet by coming on to bowl the 30 over. Having bowled a full toss on his second ball, Tendulkar might have given the Aussies a false sense of comfort. His next delivery was a perfect slow leg break, straight out of Shane Warne's book. The flight was perfect, luring Ponting to come out, but then it dipped and then it turned square, leaving Ponting, the Indians and the 45,000 fans gasping. “

 

But Ricky pointing was very much determined and rock solid on ground and continued attacking despite of falls of wickets at the other end. He completed his century in the 45th over. He is the only man next to the GOD in most runs in ODI(nearly 5000 runs). Reaching to another century is no doubt a big milestone for him as he is moving near to the GOD. Ponting countered him by shuffling to his right and working the ball with the turn. When he was tired, he had to face the reverse-swing from Zaheer. In the middle, he picked Ashwin's carom ball, and mixed caution and aggression against Yuvraj Singh. 

A Little note: In the break of AUS-ZIM match, I got a golden chance to meet Legendary Gujarati Music composer shree Gaurang Vyas.

We finally got a target of 261. The first over started with a lot of woooos and uuuuhss as we got Viru little stumbled upon for an appeal of getting caught behind to Lee. It was truly a dream to see the GOD batting like a machine and playing orthodox copybook shots including the viru-related uppercut which went for four to Shaun Tait. In the very next over, Lee bowled 150.0 KPH bowl to the GOD and he drove straight to Cameroon white for no run. Additionally, almost every bowler bowled a wide with same style!!!

The GOD completed his half century in style and sooner was out. He reached to a milestone of 18000 untouchable runs.

Indians played well with the bat and we lost wickets but only with batsmen contributing well to the total maintaining the average of almost 5. Gautam Gambhir reached to the milestone of 3900 ODI runs.

Yuvraj completed his 8000 ODI runs.

India required 93 runs from 101 balls at that stage when we had lost 4 wickets, but they slipped further into the abyss as MS Dhoni got out after looking edgy. He nearly got involved in a run out, had a big swing and a miss against Lee and perished next delivery, cutting to point to leave India needing 74 from 75 balls. It was then that Yuvraj decided to play the World Cup innings of his life.

The batting Powerplay was the final hurdle, but Raina, who gave admirable support to Yuvraj after Dhoni's exit, walloped the first ball from Lee over long-on and Australia's fight evaporated with that shot. Till the end, both the left handers played their role and made India win the match. Look at the way Yuvraj roared after the winning shot. Now we will play against our most awaited opposiotion Pakistan at Mohali for 2nd semifinal.

Harikari of the day

Two overs, four balls, three run-out chances. India needed 94 with six still standing, Ricky Ponting, who could hit a bulls eye wearing a pirate's patch a year ago, squandered the first juicy chance. Yuvraj Singh tapped Mitchell Johnson to the leg side, straight towards Ponting at midwicket. Yuvraj was disinclined to sprint, but his partner Gautam Gambhir was already out off the blocks. He was turned away by Yuvraj, was left stranded out of the crease, but Ponting who failed to pick up the ball cleanly, and when he did, his throw missed by inches.

Two balls later there was more. Yuvraj played all over a fastish David Hussey delivery, and the ball rolled towards the unmanned leg side. Gambhir screamed for a single. Yuvraj, disinterested initially, started and stopped. Gambhir twisted and turned. But Brad Haddin, who had rushed to collect the ball threw to the wrong end. Gambhir, who was left stranded for the second time, walked back to safety. Amazingly the duo had another absolutely identical brain fade off the very next delivery. Gambhir was left stranded and fuming, and this time the Aussies made sure they were not going to let the Indian pair escape. Gambhir walked off shaking his head in disgust and mouthing abuse that would have horrified a few million parents watching with offspring for company.

My Personal note:

It seemed like AUS bowlers had no way to get our left handers out.Even Gautam Gambhir was a run out. :)

Thanks,

Jay Vora.

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