Thursday 30 March 2023

On this day in Cricket

30th March 2011 a day when the whole of India rejoiced and celebrated their team's victory over Pakistan in the semi final of 2011 cricket world cup. The match had all the hype and excitement to it even before the social media frenzy had taken over. Politicians, bureaucrats, film stars and every man wanted to witness this match take place. The hype was such that the prime ministers of both nations decided to watch the match together in the stadium and also greeted players from both the sides and wished them well. The build-up to this match was immense and former players from both nations were involved in heated debates and discussions. The match began with India winning the coin toss and electing to bat first. Virender Sehwag who was in blazing form throughout the tournament gave India a blistering start once again and hit Pakistan's best bowler of the tournament Umar Gul all over the ground. Sehwag eventually fell for 38 to newbie Wahab Riaz who ended up becoming the best bowler for Pakistan in the match. A small partnership was building between Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir but the later got out and India started losing their way with Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh the best player for India so far getting out on a golden duck. Sachin Tendulkar on the other end was holding fort and played on but not without much drama because he survived a close LBW call and was dropped 4 times by Pakistani fielders. India lost Dhoni and eventually even Tendulkar fell for 85. The Indian innings was then in a recovery process via a crucial cameo from Suresh Raina and a some boundaries by Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan helped India to reach a respectable total of 260 for the loss of 9 wickets with Wahab Riaz picking up a brilliant 5 for. India had to bowl really well to defend this score.

Pakistan's Chase

The Pakistan innings couldn't have gotten off to a better start as the very first ball of the innings went for a boundary. The opening pair of Kamran Akmal and Mohammed Hafeez were scoring freely and getting runs with some ease. India's best bowler of the tournament Zaheer Khan then struck as usual by first picking up Akmal. After that Pakistan started rebuilding the innings with the arrival of Asad Shafiq along with Hafeez stitched a small partnership when Hafeez's attempt at playing a scoop sweep of Munaf Patel resulting in him getting caught out by the keeper. Younis Khan was the new batsman in and he was building his innings rather slowly which built pressure on Shafiq who tried to cut Yuvraj Singh and was bowled and he struck again by next dismissing Younis Khan as well. India were on top at this moment and two new batsmen were at the crease for Pakistan. Umar Akmal started attacking the Indian bowling and Misbah Ul Haq holding the other end was playing a conservative innings. A brilliant ball from Harbhajan from around the wicket got Umar Akmal bowled and India again started to believe since U Akmal was starting to take the match away from them. Munaf Patel with a brilliant slower ball got Abdul Razzaq and again Harbhajan got Shahid Afridi cheaply. The game was pretty much sealed for India and they picked up wickets of the lower order and tail with Misbah still batting. Misbah's late hitting gave Pakistan a glimmer of hope but not much to secure a victory when he skied the ball up in the air and caught by Virat Kohli to give India a famous win and a place in the world cup final. The match which started off with a bang in the end fizzled out with India winning. The whole nation cheered for its heroes who were next up against Sri Lanka in the final and the celebration was going on until the eve of the final.