If you are thinking that here is another review of the movie from a die hard Mahi fan.....then you have got me wrong!
2nd April'2011, the clock ticks to 18:32 at the Wankhede as Thisara Pereira send Zaheer over the deep mid wicket boundary to end the Sri Lankan innings. Wankhede is stunned into silence with the late flourish and the momentum has definitely swung Sangakara's way. Chasing 274 in front of the home crowd to win the world cup! The odds were definitely against India. Now Dhoni and co would have to bat out of their skins against the likes of Malinga and Murli.
Countering Murli on the Wankhede pitch was never going to be easy and the Lankans had added Suraj Randive to their spin armory. Did MSD have a plan to negate Murli and the Sri Lankan spin attack even before the commencement of the Indian innings? Except for MSD, no one else will know!
The Sri Lankan innings got over at a time when in normal circumstances Viru and Sachin would have been walking up to mark their guards. MSD saw no reasons to hasten the proceedings. Afterall this wasn't just another ODI. With the World Cup at stake, MSD took all the time that he could, ringing in the bowling changes and field placements. The onslaught by Mahela and Thisara in the final power play did not help MSD's cause either. Add to that the 3 DRS reviews and the Lankan innings had shot way past the scheduled close. But in all fairness, an innings that saw only 6 Sri Lankan wickets fall and had 23 overs bowled by the spinners should not have extended by as much as 35 mins.
Finally, Sehwag and Tendulkar walked out to bat almost 20 mins later than the actual scheduled time. 20 mins would translate to 5 overs of cricket. The early wickets of Sehwag followed by Tendulkar meant that Sangakara persisted with his fast bowlers in search of making further inroads into the Indian middle order. It was not before the 14th overs that Randive was brought into the attack. However, Sanga held on till the 19th over before he turned to the "Magician" possibly waiting for another wicket to fall and Yuvraj to come in. Holding back Murli did not turn out to be the best of decisions that Sangakara made on the day. It wasn't long until the dew started taking effect making it tougher for Murli, Randive and Dilshan to grip the ball.
Gautam and Virat were exceptional on the night. And by the time captain cool walked in to bat, the best of Murli was already behind him. MSD timed his innings to near perfection, playing his best innings of the tournament on the day when it was most needed. And the rest as they all call it is history with India bringing home the cup after 28 years.
So did MSD take Murli out of the equation by delaying the Sri Lankan innings? I wont be one bit surprised if Dhoni would have done this on purpose and why shouldn't he! He did acknowledge the dew taking effect in his post match interview. He would have thought and planed for the dew factor well in advance. Was that in the spirit of the game....well we can keep debating! But the Legend of MSD will keep growing bigger with each day.
2nd April'2011, the clock ticks to 18:32 at the Wankhede as Thisara Pereira send Zaheer over the deep mid wicket boundary to end the Sri Lankan innings. Wankhede is stunned into silence with the late flourish and the momentum has definitely swung Sangakara's way. Chasing 274 in front of the home crowd to win the world cup! The odds were definitely against India. Now Dhoni and co would have to bat out of their skins against the likes of Malinga and Murli.
Countering Murli on the Wankhede pitch was never going to be easy and the Lankans had added Suraj Randive to their spin armory. Did MSD have a plan to negate Murli and the Sri Lankan spin attack even before the commencement of the Indian innings? Except for MSD, no one else will know!
The Sri Lankan innings got over at a time when in normal circumstances Viru and Sachin would have been walking up to mark their guards. MSD saw no reasons to hasten the proceedings. Afterall this wasn't just another ODI. With the World Cup at stake, MSD took all the time that he could, ringing in the bowling changes and field placements. The onslaught by Mahela and Thisara in the final power play did not help MSD's cause either. Add to that the 3 DRS reviews and the Lankan innings had shot way past the scheduled close. But in all fairness, an innings that saw only 6 Sri Lankan wickets fall and had 23 overs bowled by the spinners should not have extended by as much as 35 mins.
Finally, Sehwag and Tendulkar walked out to bat almost 20 mins later than the actual scheduled time. 20 mins would translate to 5 overs of cricket. The early wickets of Sehwag followed by Tendulkar meant that Sangakara persisted with his fast bowlers in search of making further inroads into the Indian middle order. It was not before the 14th overs that Randive was brought into the attack. However, Sanga held on till the 19th over before he turned to the "Magician" possibly waiting for another wicket to fall and Yuvraj to come in. Holding back Murli did not turn out to be the best of decisions that Sangakara made on the day. It wasn't long until the dew started taking effect making it tougher for Murli, Randive and Dilshan to grip the ball.
Gautam and Virat were exceptional on the night. And by the time captain cool walked in to bat, the best of Murli was already behind him. MSD timed his innings to near perfection, playing his best innings of the tournament on the day when it was most needed. And the rest as they all call it is history with India bringing home the cup after 28 years.
So did MSD take Murli out of the equation by delaying the Sri Lankan innings? I wont be one bit surprised if Dhoni would have done this on purpose and why shouldn't he! He did acknowledge the dew taking effect in his post match interview. He would have thought and planed for the dew factor well in advance. Was that in the spirit of the game....well we can keep debating! But the Legend of MSD will keep growing bigger with each day.
