|
Yesterday was on the most thrilling
and fantastico cricket match i have for a long time. It was the T20 match of
India against Australia. Though India had already won the series by winning the
two matches, this match was very important for Australia to save their grace.
As expected Australia won the toss
and elected to bat first, as they had already lost the two matches batting
second. The openers gave a very good start maintaining a run rate of over 10.
From Australia side, Watson was on fire yesterday, he was hitting most of the
balls for either 4 or a six. Though Australia was losing wickets at regular
interval, Watson kept the show going on. He played a fantastico innings of
unbeaten 124 runs in just 71 balls. Australia was able to put a mammoth target
of 198 for India to win.
Looking at India’s batting in the
last two matches, it was not a difficult target to chase if they don’t lose the
wickets. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were able to give India a perfect
start as was needed. Shikhar Dhawan quickly scored 26 runs off just 9 balls,
but lost his wicket quickly. Rohit Sharma, like a Mr. Cool was playing his
shots well and helped to keep the required run rate under control. Virat Kohli
came at No. 3 and held the Indian innings towards victory. Both, Rohit and
Virat were very calm and composed and batted superbly. As we began to thought
that they both will be able to carry the Indian innings towards victory, Rohit
Sharma lost his wicket. He made 52 runs of 38 balls. Next came Suresh Raina.
Raina is the number one batsmen in India for the T20 format of match. He is
known for his winning finishes of the game. He and Virat played sensibly
keeping the asking run rate under control. But then, very unfortunately Virat
too lost his wicket in the 15th over. So there were only 5 overs
remaining and India has to score almost 10 runs per over to win the match.
Very unexpectedly Yuvraj Singh was
sent as No. 5 batsmen. We all had expected that Dhoni himself will come in and
sail India to victory. As Yuvraj did not get a chance to bat in the previous
two matches, we didn’t knew whether he was in good form or not. And as we all
feared, he struggled to get the ball onto the bat. There were dot ball and dot
balls and we all started abusing Dhoni and Yuvraj. Poor Raina was still somehow
cover the loss but hitting one or two boundaries in between. But then came the
disastrous 19th over, where India scored just 5 runs, as Yuvraj was
not able to score. Now in the last over India needed 17 runs in 6 balls, with
Yuvraj Singh on strike. We all had just given up as it was impossible for
Yuvraj Singh to score. But then, first ball of the over and Yuvi hit a four. This
again gave life to the match. Second ball and he hit a six. We were like, is it
really happening. Now it was only 7 runs off 4 balls. They took a single and
Raina was able to take doubles in the next two ball. India needed 2 runs of the
last balls. We all just crossed the fingers, and then Raina hit the ball towards
the boundary for a winning four.
What a fantastico end it was. It
kept all our hearts beating faster and faster not knowing what is going to
happen next. Overall it was a great show by the Indian team and they came home
with the winning trophy.
