When Laxman made Eden his own Garden

It was a hot and humid morning in Kolkata in the month of March 2001. People were rushing on the streets, Metro routes were changed, Trams were full and all were heading towards the Eden Gardens. The day promised a lot for the cricket fans in India. Coming into the Kolkata test one thing was sure that no matter what happened earlier cricket crazy Bengali fans will show enormous enthusiasm and support for the Indian team and its captain Sourav Ganguly.

A week before that day Indians were handed a drubbing by Australia en route to their 16^th straight test win. The Mumbai test defeat reminded India of their horrific time in Australia in 1999-00 where they were whitewashed by almost the same opposition side. Although, a lot had changed for India since that, they had a new team, captain and coach. India was just recovering from the tragic match fixing scandal which rocked the entire cricket fraternity. 

The only thing in favour of India was that the Australia had not won a test series in India for the past 32 years. But, after the dismantling of the Indian team in Mumbai, history seemed to be writing a new chapter for Australia. 

The match started with Steve Waugh winning the toss and deciding to bat on a low-slow track in hot and humid conditions. It looked like that nothing has changed for India since the Mumbai test as Australian batsmen especially Mathew Hayden made merry in the first two sessions. But, a sudden turn of events happened and a young Harbhajan Singh took a first ever hattrick for India in tests and Australia went down from 252-4 to 7 wickets down. His scalps were Ponting, Gilchrist and Warne. Australian captain watched the events standing on the other side of the wicket. The first day ended with a high for India.

The next morning, Steve Waugh did what he was best known for, he played a captain’s knock and scored a century with the help of lower order batsmen. The mighty Australians posted 445 runs on the board. Indian team came out to bat and were soon bundled out in less than 60 over’s posting a total of 171 runs, that too was possible because of Laxman’s counter-attacking 59 runs. Laxman’s innings only gave a glimpse of his brilliance and abilities.

At that time, Australians had some respect for Laxman as they had seen his class in Sydney about a year ago. After the Sydney test, Laxman decided never to open the batting and he scored heavily in first class matches to force his way back into the Indian team. But, what Laxman was about to do was beyond anyone’s expectations.

India was forced to follow-on. There was only one incident in the history of test cricket that a side   following-on, won the test. India lost the first wicket after a relatively good start and VVS Laxman came out to bat. What happened after that is history.

Laxman’s attacking stroke play, immaculate timing, the lazy-elegance, accurate placements said it all. Against a world class bowling attack Laxman defied all odds and played arguably the best test innings by any cricketer in the modern era, considering the circumstances and the context of the match. Watching him play was sheer pleasure. The ease with which he dispatched Australian bowlers McGrath, Gillespie and Warne was truly admirable. His sublime touch made it all look simple.

Meanwhile, wickets continued to fall at the other end, but, Laxman kept mesmerising the spectators with his stylish display. Soon, Rahul Dravid joined him in the middle and they put together a record breaking partnership of 376 runs for the fifth wicket. They batted together for a whole day in the warmth of Kolkata.

Laxman’s partnership with Dravid was so frustrating for the Australian’s that spinner Shane Warne started bowling bouncers, Steve Waugh tried nine bowlers leaving out only himself and Gilchrist, the fielders tried sledging but nothing seemed to be working against the determined Laxman and Dravid.

During his epic knock Laxman scored 281 runs and hit 44 boundaries. Laxman went on to become India’s highest scorer in a test match innings surpassing the great Sunil Gavaskar. Australians were set a target of 384 runs in two and a half sessions, the Indian spinners, especially Harbhajan, ran through the Australian batters and India won the match by 172 runs.

After this match Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman turned into Very Very Special Laxman. His innings made him a national hero. The stylish Hyderabadi had just announced his arrival

Chris Gayle's Cursed Six

Chris Gayle has played many match-defining innings for his team in all three forms of cricket. Most recently, we watched his exploits in the IPL and in the recently concluded series against New Zealand. Chris Gayle has amazing ability to hit sixes frequently and with some ease. He has already hit more than 300 sixes in international matches. 

One such six hit by Gayle proved to be the turning point of a test match. It may seem an exaggeration of a six considering the talking point is a test match. This incident may not find any space in the history books, but, it surely was a defining moment in the match. 

 The test series between West Indies and New Zealand in March 2006 started with the first match being played at Eden Park, Auckland. West Indies captain Chanderpaul won the toss in bowling friendly conditions and decided to have a go at the Kiwis batsmen. The decision turned out to be right for the West Indies as the Kiwis were bundled out for less than 300 with only commendable performance from Scott Styris. In response West Indies batsmen gave a similar kind of reply and left the Kiwis with a slender lead.

Kiwis managed to give West Indians a formidable target of 291. The match was set for an enthralling finish as the target gave both the teams a chance to go 1-0 in the three- test series. New Zealand had the likes of Shane Bond, Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin in their ranks whereas, their opposition had Gayle, Sarwan, Lara and Chanderpaul. 

West Indies started their chase late into the third day and were comfortably placed at 48 for no loss with openers Gayle and Ganga at the crease. The morning hour was expected to be helpful for the bowlers but the openers saw the bowling comfortably. It seemed that the pitch had lost its venom and also the Kiwis bowling lacked some teeth. The ball lost its shine and more than half the runs were already made with all the ten wickets intact. Both the openers were doing great in getting their team closer to the target. Victory seemed inevitable for West Indies with opposition bowlers almost giving up, but, the match was just reaching its climax. 

Chris Gayle playing his usual game, hit a huge six off Vettori with the ball literally going out of the park. The ball was lost and the match resumed with a new ball. With the new shining ball in hand Shane Bond found his lost rhythm, swung the new ball and ripped through the West Indies batting taking 5 wickets with good support from Nathan Astle and Vettori. West Indies were bundled with all ten wickets falling at the expense of just 115 runs. They went from 148 for no loss to 263 all out. Shane Bond was declared man of the match as New Zealand won the match by 27 runs, thanks to their bowlers and that mighty six from Chris Gayle.

The Never Ending Grill

The last few days have been quite compelling for Indian politics. First Anna Hazare and his team went on hunger strike, then they had to face our stubborn government’s hostility and then, when all hopes of a consensus were lost, Anna Hazare decided to jump into political swamp.

During the course of the fast, the activities at Jantar Mantar were carefully watched by the media. Many sections of the society took a dig at Team Anna by saying that all the hype was created by the media and the movement had no impact on the public besides those present at Jantar Mantar. Albeit, it may sound partly correct that media was primarily responsible for the kind of attention Team Anna got. But, it doesn’t mean that Anna Hazare or Team Anna were created by the media or made them who they are. Team Anna members, be it Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi or Prashant Bhushan have all done great things for our society and very few would dare question their credibility. 

When Anna Hazare announced his decision to jump into politics, the media started to question his decision and especially, the timing of the announcement. Media began to suggest that it was Team Anna’s defeat at the hands of government, simply because Anna hazare is an activist, so, he should have refrained from politics. What was more striking was no one tried to focus on the circumstances under which he had to take the decision and probably it was the last option available for them.

 Anna Hazare had made it crystal clear that he took this decision only after getting positive response from the public and he will not contest in the elections under any circumstances. The media continuously questioned the logic behind the decisions made by Team Anna. For instance, earlier, it was questioned that why Kejriwal and other members are not fasting with Hazare and when they did, it was asked, are they too ambitious? In a way Team Anna’s image was dented by the media. If things are questioned continuously, then, at some level it becomes a statement. 

It’s not that Team Anna members are perfect, conflicts are bound to arise in any group. They have made mistakes and the media always pointed them out.

Overall response of the media to the whole situation seemed a little biased. In my views, Anna Hazare deserves a lot more praise for their dedication towards the whole cause of eradicating corruption, and we should understand that the path they have chosen is the last and arguably the most challenging.

Bradman’s 18 minutes of carnage

The sport of cricket is blessed to have seen one of the greatest athletes of all time in its arena in the name of Sir Donald Bradman. The more i read about this legend the more i get astonished by his achievements. Bradman has not only defined batsmanship but has set such high standards that his name could replace the word ‘pinnacle’ in the cricket dictionary. 

The records created by Bradman are very hard to break for any modern day cricketer even though the playing conditions nowadays are getting more batsmen friendly then they were around two decades ago. Some of his records can be considered invincible like his average or his rate of scoring test centuries (29 hundreds in just 52 tests) although, i do believe in the cliché “nothing is impossible”, but, its expecting too much from a player to have a career like Bradman’s especially, in this period where excessive cricket is being played.

Bradman had a transmission gear in his batting arsenal which he was willing to change whenever the situation demanded.  Bradman showed how his style of play could be truly ruthless and murderous for his opposition when he scored more than 300 runs in a single day of a test match. Another such incident of his apocalypse was witnessed by the people of Blue Mountain town in Australia in the year 1931. The match was played between Blackheath and Lithgow to commemorate the opening of a concrete pitch. Bradman during the course of his innings felt the need to go after the bowling and he said to his partner Wendell Bill that “I think I’ll have a go”. 

What was witnessed in the next 18 minutes after that resulted in awestruck admiration from the crowd, teammates and his opponents. He went on to score 100 runs in the span of just three over’s. It was an onslaught on the bowlers Bill Black and Horrie baker who gave away 62 runs in two over’s and 40 runs in one over respectively. In this innings Bradman scored 256 runs including 14 sixes and 29 fours. 

Although, it is also important to mention here that one over in Australia at that time meant eight legal deliveries but i think this won’t make much of a difference to his magnificent feat. Those three over’s recorded figures of 6,6,4,2,4,4,6,1 : 6,4,4,6,6,4,6,4 : 1,6,6,1,1,4,4,6. Even with the advent of T20 cricket his feat seems to be insurmountable, considering, the fastest 100 runs scored by a player in T20 cricket is 34 deliveries by Andrew Symmonds which in itself seems annihilating.