Battle of Wankhede - Part 1

Hi Cricket Lovers,
  
Welcome to Wankhede, Mumbai for the inaugural ODI match between The Riders of the Storm and The Invincible Titans. The players have arrived to Mumbai from all corners of the world to participate in this highly anticipated fixture.

It has been raining since a few days but today it is bright and sunny. Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Chappell are out there in the middle for the pitch report.

Sunny: Welcome everyone! Due to the preceding rains there is going to be swing for the seam bowlers initially due to some dampness in the pitch. But as the sun comes out, it should become better for the batsmen. What is your opinion Ian?

Ian: Yes I agree with you Sunny but I do see small cracks in the pitch. As the day wears on and the ball gets old it will come on to the bat slowly. So ideally the team winning the toss should bat first and post a challenging score on the board.

Hmmm, interesting. Now it seems the two captains are ready for the toss with Ravi Shastri. Lets get down to the middle.

Ravi: Hello Mumbai!! Are you ready? (the camera zooms over some "tracer bullet" posters in the crowd) Shane (Warne) what is your call?

Warne: Heads!

Ravi: Heads it is! What would you like to do?

Warne: Bat first. We would like to post a formidable score and are pretty confident that we will be able to defend it..

Wasim (Akram): The toss is irrelevant. The team who plays better cricket will win.. (In a whisper to Ravi: Hey Shaz, use this cliche in the 20th over of the second innings. You are hereby allowed use it more than once. You are welcome!)

Here come the umpires followed by the The Riders of the Storm. The Riders would hope that their new ball bowlers can get some early breakthroughs and put early pressure on the opposition.

On the other hand, the Titans would want to get off to a good start. They would want to get through the initial half hour so that they can capitalize later.

Sehwag and Trescothick stride on to the middle. Wasim Akram is ready with the ball in hand. Sehwag takes strike.

Akram bowls the first ball down the leg side. Alec Stewart gathers it well. Simon Taufel signals wide. First runs on the board for the Titans. The next ball pitches on leg and misses off squaring Sehwag up completely. Sehwag flashes wildly to the next two balls which are in the corridor of uncertainty. The last ball of the over pitches outside off. Sehwag decided to let this one go. But unfortunately the ball swings in sharply and hits him plumb on the pad. There is a loud appeal. The umpire raises the finger. Viru departs.

What a fantastic over that was from the clever king of swing, Akram, setting the batsman up with outswingers and slipping in an inswinger to get his man. Rahul Dravid is next in but he will be off strike. The burly West Indian paceman Ambrose gets ready to bowl now. The first ball is a loosener, short and wide and is cut away to the deep point boundary by Trescothick. The fourth ball of the over rises sharply from short of good length and almost takes out Dravid. As the ball whizzes past his face, he must have smelt leather and got reminded of the worst music genre for batsmen, chin music! 

A few beautiful cover drives and flicks later, in the fifth over, Rahul Dravid tries to off drive a good length outswinger from Akram but nicks it straight to first slip. Akram is elated. The Riders rejoice. Early wickets are what the fielding team hopes for and they have got two big ones!

The greatest batsman of the world marches on to the middle. This legend of the game has scored 99 centuries in all forms of the game and is on the verge of setting yet another mammoth record which would be virtually impossible for anyone to reach at least for a decade. There is a deafening roar from the crowd. He looks up to the sky seeking blessings from God and his late father as he takes guard.

In the next over, Trescothick pulls the next ball from Ambrose to mid wicket and executes a lovely drive through the covers. But Ambrose has the last laugh as Trescothick cuts the last ball of the sixth over straight to Hashim Amla at point.

This brings the South African limited overs captain AB de Villiers to the crease. The score is 29-3 after 6 overs. After losing three quick wickets it is now time for the Titans to consolidate.

The duo of Sachin and AB take responsibility and accumulate runs by rotating the strike by pushing for singles and two's. In the 26th and 28th overs Sachin and AB get to their fifties respectively. The highlights of the partnership are a couple of exquisite shots - Sachin hitting an Akram inswinger straight down the ground with the full face of the bat and AB getting down the pitch and splendidly lofting a Murali doosra over the cover boundary. The score is 140-3 in 30 overs.

Ravi Shastri remarks that if the Titans manage to score a good total on the board it will be difficult to chase for the Riders. As we listen to this earth shattering fact, in the 31st over AB late cuts a Kumble delivery to third man but two balls later while trying to slog sweep Jumbo over cow corner, he gets a leading edge. The swirling ball is safely pouched by Sourav Ganguly.

Eoin Morgan, the stylish English all rounder is in next. For the next few overs, Murali, Kumble and Aravinda de Silva spin a web around the Titans batsmen. Even the master blaster Sachin is kept on a tight leash as the oldish ball starts turning and gripping on the dry cracked surface.

In the 39th over, Morgan tries to break the shackles by going for his trademark reverse sweep. However, the ball goes straight to third man and is caught well; a very clever piece of captaincy by Akram there. Adam Gilchrist now joins Sachin out in the middle.

The score is just 174-5 in 40 overs. The Titans are in a spot of bother here. The time for the final assault is coming close but they have lost a flurry of wickets and are not building any sort of momentum. Their only consolation is that the little master is still there undefeated on 71.

de Silva has been very impressive till now. He has complemented the other spinners well with his tantalizing off spinners. He bowls his last over in the 43rd over. But the Riders captain does not realize that the dangerous Gilly has already got his eye in. Gilly smashes Aravinda for two towering sixes, one over mid wicket and the other towards long off, the last one eluding the fully stretched Graeme Hick by only a few centimeters spoiling his otherwise decent figures.  The score is 195 for 5.

In the next over, Kumble surprisingly gives the ball some air. Gilly pounces on that opportunity and lofts the ball over the long on fence. It is a delight to watch the best Indian leg spinner of our era bowl against Sachin but Sachin wins the battle this time as he square cuts and paddle sweeps Jumbo for a couple of boundaries to reach the nervous nineties.

Gilly's arrival has provided the much needed impetus to the innings. With the score now on 230-5 of 47 overs it looks like the Titans could cross the 250 mark easily. But could there be a twist in the tale?

In the 48th over Akram removes Gilly with a toe crunching reverse swinging yorker. Zulu comes and gets going immediately as he hits a couple of scorching drives through the covers. In between all this, Sachin has been away from the strike for two overs. The crowds are getting impatient!

In the second ball of the penultimate over, an Ambrose in cutter traps Sachin on the pads. There is a deafening appeal by the entire Riders team. Umpire Daryl Harper raises the dreaded finger. Sachin does not seem to be satisfied and calls for a review. The replays show that the impact was just outside the line of off stump. Thank God for DRS!

In the third last ball of the penultimate over, Tendulkar carves a very full ball from Ambrose through point to reach 93. Just two blows away from the landmark now!! He takes a single of the next ball to reach 94. Zulu takes a single of the last ball to take strike in the last over.

Its the final over of the innings. Klusener is on strike. What should he do? Should he try to hit boundaries (which is the primary objective for any batsman at this stage of the innings) or should he give strike to Sachin to achieve something as marvellous as this (the 100th ton - no need to mention - is it?). But Akram gets his line wrong and sprays the first two balls down the leg side in an attempt to bowl perfect yorkers. Zulu manages to get a feather touch to both of them and they speed away to the fine leg boundary.

All the eyes of cricket lovers throughout the world and also their fingers (for Facebook & Twitter updates), media attention (criticism!) and the ceaseless hopes of Indian fans rest on Klusener hands. If somehow Sachin doesn't get to the landmark because of Klusener farming the strike it will be almost as huge a blow as the infamous 1999 World Cup loss!

The next ball... Zulu gets a single.. (phew!). Now it rests upon Sachin himself. 3 balls, 6 runs to go. As Akram sees Sachin shuffling towards off, Akram delivers a yorker wide of off stump. Sachin misses! The whole world gasps with disbelief.. 6 runs required.. 2 balls to go..

The field is up now.. The next ball, a yorker, Sachin digs it out in the gap between the two cover fielders. It is a sight (actually sometimes quite funny) to see the little master scamper between the wickets like a hare.. They complete a couple. Its 4 runs off the last ball (supremely dramatic isn't it?).. It has been a long wait for cricket fans for this moment.. Can he do it today?

The last ball of the innings.. the ball is full.. very full.. Sachin plays a very brave shot.. the paddle down fine leg.. the ball hits the middle of the bat and goes to the boundary...

Elation! Excitement! Euphoria!

Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batsman in world cricket to score a hundred hundreds.. The crowds go wild.. Sachin waves to the crowd, kisses his helmet and looks upto the heavens with deep contentment.. The entire nation catches fever.. cricket fever.. the whole cricketing fraternity bows!! Twitter experiences server overload! Facebook takes 1 minute to open in 2 mbps speed internet!!

Meanwhile, lets not forget to mention that there was a match going on as well.. The Titans amass 265-6 in the 50 allotted overs. It promises to be a very exciting second innings as well.. A page is already turned in history today.. What will transpire next? Will the Riders be able to achieve the target? Join me next time to find out!! 

Signing off,

Regards,
Fictional Cricket Blogger