The atmosphere at the MAC was charged. After all, it was a World Cup match featuring India. And West Indies and India are not exactly friendly. The match would decide who will play Pakistan and who will play Australia (the winner, ironically, would play the reigning champs). India were looking to sign off the league stage with a win.
It seemed like half the city was there. There was utter noise outside the stadium, with people cashing on on the extreme support for the home nation by selling various commodities including flags, banners, wristbands and painted faces.
The Indian innings started auspiciously with a wide four. Early in the innings, however, Sachin Tendulkar, a Chennai favourite, walked for a caught behind that was neither called by the umpire, nor easily spotted from the replay. The other opener, Gambhir, too fell not long after. Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli put on a good partnership, but the conclusion began a saddening series of wickets. Yuvraj braved the heat and a bad stomach to complete his hundred - his first in World Cups. India put on the board a not-very-inspiring total of 268, which the West Indies could have easily chased down even without the bombarding Chris Gayle. Ravi Rampaul picked up five.
The West Indies started off fairly okay, but when home boy Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his and the team's first wicket in his first World Cup match, the crowd erupted. Ten overs later, Darren Bravo, Lara lookalike, fell off a Raina delivery. When opener Dwayne Smith fell in the first over of Zaheer Khan's spell, the collapse was triggered. The Caribbean side crashed from 154 for two to 188 all out, the wickets of Pollard, Thomas, Sammy, Russell, Benn, Sarwan and Rampaul each set off a crowd explosion of increasing magnitude as the Boys in Blue inched closer to a win. Pollard's wicket was particularly dramatic because, as a man who on his day could have shot down that target by himself in ten overs, the expectations were set high and when a figure like that falls for just one run, the joy for the opponent and its supporters is unparallelled. The last time he was dismissed so crucially was that memorable wicket in the IPL final when Dhoni placed a man in an unusual fielding position near the bowler and caught the MI hitter. For a change, the much-worshipped Indian batting order collapsed and the bowling attack which many had dismissed had bailed them out.
Earlier, the amazing Australian winning run of 34 World Cup matches was ended by the very team which had beaten it last, in 1999. Ponting was disappointed, not without reason. This meant that World No. 1 Aussies finished third in the group behind Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The QF line up features games between Pakistan and West Indies, Sri Lanka and England, Australia and India and New Zealand and SA, the third of which is mouthwatering. I can't imagine that one of those two will be eliminated on Thursday for good.
Eight teams left. Next week, four. And two. And it boils down to one winner whose name will be etched in history.
It seemed like half the city was there. There was utter noise outside the stadium, with people cashing on on the extreme support for the home nation by selling various commodities including flags, banners, wristbands and painted faces.
The Indian innings started auspiciously with a wide four. Early in the innings, however, Sachin Tendulkar, a Chennai favourite, walked for a caught behind that was neither called by the umpire, nor easily spotted from the replay. The other opener, Gambhir, too fell not long after. Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli put on a good partnership, but the conclusion began a saddening series of wickets. Yuvraj braved the heat and a bad stomach to complete his hundred - his first in World Cups. India put on the board a not-very-inspiring total of 268, which the West Indies could have easily chased down even without the bombarding Chris Gayle. Ravi Rampaul picked up five.
The West Indies started off fairly okay, but when home boy Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his and the team's first wicket in his first World Cup match, the crowd erupted. Ten overs later, Darren Bravo, Lara lookalike, fell off a Raina delivery. When opener Dwayne Smith fell in the first over of Zaheer Khan's spell, the collapse was triggered. The Caribbean side crashed from 154 for two to 188 all out, the wickets of Pollard, Thomas, Sammy, Russell, Benn, Sarwan and Rampaul each set off a crowd explosion of increasing magnitude as the Boys in Blue inched closer to a win. Pollard's wicket was particularly dramatic because, as a man who on his day could have shot down that target by himself in ten overs, the expectations were set high and when a figure like that falls for just one run, the joy for the opponent and its supporters is unparallelled. The last time he was dismissed so crucially was that memorable wicket in the IPL final when Dhoni placed a man in an unusual fielding position near the bowler and caught the MI hitter. For a change, the much-worshipped Indian batting order collapsed and the bowling attack which many had dismissed had bailed them out.
Earlier, the amazing Australian winning run of 34 World Cup matches was ended by the very team which had beaten it last, in 1999. Ponting was disappointed, not without reason. This meant that World No. 1 Aussies finished third in the group behind Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The QF line up features games between Pakistan and West Indies, Sri Lanka and England, Australia and India and New Zealand and SA, the third of which is mouthwatering. I can't imagine that one of those two will be eliminated on Thursday for good.
Eight teams left. Next week, four. And two. And it boils down to one winner whose name will be etched in history.
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