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India Vs Australia, 5th ODI, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hydrabad. Australia had posted 350 in their assigned 50 overs with all players contributing with a ton from Shaun Marsh & 93 from Shane Watson. At that time i thought to myself that it would be a SEHWAG day as he was long overdue, but what followed was the best 3 hours in my life. A godly innings from a godly man. SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR. It all started slow an then the batsmen raised the tempo a bit and just when it all looked a bit easier aussies dismissed Sehwag. Oh! i thought it would be tough and it was looking that way when we were 140 odd for 4 , but Sachin was still batting though. And what followed later was HISTORY. I mean i have never seen someone play with that much grit & determination. Sachin is a class apart. Sublime strokes,aggressive batting,motivating the others,classic batting. He was playing as he was 25. As Raina chipped in, Indians were close,very very close. With Raina out it all looked a bit out of control and then Bhajji’s wicket added to the pressure. I was biting away my nails as if it were chips. Will they or will not? And then the big blow…Sachin dismissed.Period. everyone thought. But Praveen Kumar pulled things back with a 6 but it was all too late. India lost eventually by 3 runs & more than half the team total was scored by SACHIN. That tells a story. A story of a Legend. I feel privileged to have witnessed one such innings in my life. It was more Sachin Vs Australia than India Vs Australia. Such was the way he played. A day when even cricket would be proud that Sachin played it!!! A day that will go in the history books as a win by Australia but Sachin was the real winner, a winner of more than a billion hearts all over the world!!!
The match can be summed up as TEN-DO-LITTLES + WON-DULKAR = INDIA. Just simple math that even a child would know. I felt for the first time why 10 others were even playing cricket. It was a Shame we didnt win after all what Sachin did and all came back to say Sachin didn’t finish it off. All of u who say so Get a Life!!!On a signing note i would like to add that even if someone els had chipped in with a little cameo like Raina did Team India could have GIFTED this game to the Little Master. After all Cricket is a TEAM game!!!
Good Night & Cheers 🙂
Rajster's Ramblings 