Locked in the confinements of four walls, the demigods of India are entertaining fans through the Instagram video chats or by appearing on shows through video calls. Cricketers like other sportspersons have a shelf life with the stages being – struggle, rise, peak, down curve, retirement and then encashment of nostalgia. The coronavirus lockdown has hit the sports world equally hard. Fans have been robbed of action; athletes of their training, profession, security; and several within the industry and allied, of their livelihoods.
For now, let’s bank on the nostalgia, the ultimate residue of great live encounters. A young fan recently asked the Indian captain Virat Kohli through a video call on what’s his favourite cricket match apart from the 2011 World Cup Final.
“Against Australia, the 2016 World Cup quarter-final (virtual) at Mohali,” replied Kohli. “Purely from the atmosphere and the importance point of view.”
Let’s sail through the memory lanes…
***
March 27, 2016. A jam-packed (yes, once upon a time) Mohali was the setting for a quasi-quarter-final. India, the hosts, entered the tournament as the favourites. A shock defeat in the hands of New Zealand in the Super Ten imbalanced the situation. India beat Pakistan in a rain-curtailed nervy match before pulling off a one-run freakish win against Bangladesh. India’s final Super Ten clash was against Australia, a side that too lost to New Zealand and beat Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The winner of the Mohali tie would make it to the semis.
India-Australia clashes have found a special place in the annals of cricket. From the tied Madras Test to the 2001 series to the 2007 and 2011 knockout World Cup clashes, the memories are plentiful. Less than two months prior to this clash, India had returned from a limited-overs Australia tour with a mixed-bag emotion. India were thrashed 1-4 in the ODIs. The scoreline of the T20Is read 3-0 in favour of India. In the days to come, India beat Sri Lanka in a T20I home series and also won the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.
This was T20I. India did have an edge, but this was Australia, a side that played cricket with only one objective – ‘win’.
Australia elected to bat. Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja got the side off to a flier. Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s Player of the Match against Bangladesh, was brought in the powerplay and went for 22! They had raced to 53 off four overs.
“That Ashwin-over took me to the Zaheer-over from the 2003 World Cup Final. I wasn’t ready to relive that day again. It took me eight years – till the 2011 World Cup quarter-final to come out of the shock that Ponting and his men had given us. Khawaja was going like that, and there was Warner, Maxwell, Watson and Smith still to come,” recalls a cricket fan Sid from that day.
Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra was bowling smartly at the other end, getting Khawaja out in the next over. Indian bowlers capitalised on the broken momentum. The runs dried as left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Yuvraj Singh spun a web. David Warner and Steven Smith returned for six and two, respectively. The power-hitters Glenn Maxwell and Shane Watson managed a scratchy 49 between them consuming 44 balls.
Hardik Pandya was bowling the final over of the Australian innings. He had bowled the dramatic final over at Bengaluru against Bangladesh in the previous game. Bangladesh had two set batsmen in and required only ten off the over. They got nine off the first half of the over before losing three wickets in the next half. The drama of Pandya and final over was to continue.
Australia reached 150 with two balls remaining. At one stage, 220 was a possibility. Worse, Watson was off the strike and new batsman Peter Nevill, not known to be a power-hitter, was on strike. He scooped the first ball he faced for a boundary and ended the innings with a six over deep midwicket.
Nevill finished with a strike rate of 500 and Australia with a total of 160. The last two balls had shifted the momentum slightly towards Australia.
(Trivia: Nevill batted only once in T20Is after this.)
India had the most modest start to the powerplay. After six overs, the score read 37 for two. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were dismissed. Watson had just cleaned the latter with a well-guised slower ball. Two overs later, Watson would have the back of Suresh Raina.
Quick runs became the casualty to India’s wait-and-watch approach. Kohli and Yuvraj stabilised the innings with a 45-run partnership off 38 balls. Yuvraj wasn’t at his fit best after injuring his ankle. The running between the wickets wasn’t at its best. An athletic effort from Watson saw the end of Yuvraj. Watson had announced the closure of his international career after this tournament. He made every effort to ensure he played another game for this country.
By the time the then Indian skipper MS Dhoni walked in, the equation stood – 67 required off six overs. The pressure of a World Cup knockout and a decent attack stood against India. But, then at the crease were cricket’s two of the finest finishers.
WHERE WERE THE NERVES?
Dhoni’s arrival boosted the running between the wickets. Ones and twos were the norms with a boundary an over. In hindsight, it looks all planned and seldom has one witnessed such a calculated approach in a nervy setting.
47 off 24 balls. Watson steamed in. Three singles, one leg-bye, Kohli got to a customary fifty, and it was soon 43 off 19 balls. Dhoni got a thick edge, and Watson’s last ball of international career went for a four.
(Trivia: A few weeks later, Watson was playing under Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. He ended as a runners-up. And two seasons later, he slammed a hundred in the IPL final for Chennai Super Kings, helping Dhoni lift his third IPL trophy.)
“I had resigned to the fact that these two were taking it too late,” said Subhro, who was helping me with the live blog for the match. “But then there’s always hope with Dhoni-Kohli at the crease. If I recall correctly, Kohli looked composed. I was praying if India have to lose this, let them get out and not be till the end. I thought he’s underestimating Faulkner, the man of the match in the 2015 World Cup final.”
Kohli and James Faulkner had an interesting banter episode earlier that year. Faulkner tried sledging Kohli in one of the ODIs in Australia. Kohli replied, “You’re wasting your energy. There’s no point, I’ve smashed you enough in my life. Just go and bowl.”
Faulkner had bowled two economical overs. He was welcomed into the spell with 4, 4, and 6. There were no slogs – absolutely delightful cricketing strokes — a front-foot pull, followed by a square drive and straight loft over wide long-off. Faulkner went for 19.
20 NEEDED OFF 12 BALLS
Kohli toyed with Nathan Coulter-Nile in the next over. His habit of toying with bowlers continued throughout the season. He played an incredible knock in the semis and notched up close to a thousand runs in the IPL that season.
Coming to Coulter-Nile, the order was a dot, square drive, a pull (rather a guide) through fine-leg, a smack through extra cover, dot and trademark-Kohli cover drive to end the over.
It was four required off the final over, and Dhoni finished it off in style. India won with five balls to spare. Just in a span of two overs, Kohli had converted a routine knock to a rare spectacle.
India’s campaign ended in the semi-final after a loss against West Indies, who went on to be the champions.
After the match, Kohli said, “We (me and Dhoni) have always run well, we have an understanding, that’s why you train in the gym, you have those fitness regimes, that paid off today. This innings has to be in my top three, perhaps the top right now because I’m a bit emotional.”
Four years on, it still makes a brilliant watch…
BRIEF SCORES
Australia 160/6 in 20 overs [Aaron Finch 43 (34), Glenn Maxwell 31 (28); Hardik Pandya 4-0-36-2, Yuvraj Singh 3-0-19-1] lost to India 161/4 in 19.1 overs [Virat Kohli 82 (51)*; Shane Watson 4-0-23-2] by six wickets.
