India Vs South Africa: A Cricket One Day Series to Remember

The first one was a cliffhanger. The second one was history. And the third one was a pride restoring exercise.

The three match One Day International (ODI) Cricket series between India and South Africa concluded at Ahmedabad, India on February 27, 2010. It had been a series to remember for cricketing and for many other reasons.

The first ODI at Jaipur had all the suspense fluctuation of fortunes and twists. For reasons unknown South Africa chose to field first after winning the toss and decided to drop Hashim Amla, the batsman in devastating form fresh after the test series. With typical uncertainty and jerks India managed to score a big 298/9 after 50 overs and looked like clinching the match midway in the African innings. But the uncanny twist in the form of a Parnell-Steyn ninth wicket partnership nearly won the match for South Africa. India ultimately won by 1 run and took 1-0 lead.

The second ODI at Gwalior was a blast. Despite the early loss of Sehwag there was no respite for the African bowlers as Indian batsmen blazed away. Sachin Tendulkar was at his aggressive best from the word go and played mighty shots all around the park rekindling memories of his prowess in the nineties.

Tendulkar crossed the fifty mark, the century mark, the one hundred fifty mark and things started happening in the minds of millions all around the globe. Hysteria engulfed the stadium as he surpassed the previous individual score records in ODIs of 194 held jointly by Saeed Anwar of Pakistan (1997) and Charles Coventry of Zimbabwe (2009).

At that moment just two overs were left and Indian skipper Dhoni was into his lustiest of hits dispatching the balls like bullets over the boundaries. As singles were not taken Tendulkar watched from the other end needing just one run with crowds howling with impatience instead of the usual revelry that normally accompany such shots.

The dream of 200 was reached in the last over and history made. With 47 test centuries and 46 ODI centuries Tendulkar now became the first one to hit 200 in the entire history of one day cricket. Adulation came from all quarters-from the national and international cricket experts and players, the cricket lovers and the political leaders too-crowning him as the greatest cricketer of all time. Nasser Hussein from England decided to put him above even the greatest Sir Donald Bradman.

Political leaders of all hues and colors showered praise on the master blaster proving once again that cricket continues to be the unifying force in a country divided on cultural and linguistic lines. A strong regional political party of Maharashtra who recently created havoc claiming proprietary rights over Mumbai for only sons of soil and even criticized Sachin Tendulkar for daring to declare Mumbai as a city for all Indians and vouching for his Indian identity now turned turtle clamoring for conferring Bharat Ratna(the Pearl of India)-the highest civil award of the country-on Sachin Tendulkar (Tendulkar is a son of soil and his mother tongue is Marathi-the official state language of Maharashtra).

The South African chase of 402 runs was nothing much to write about finally losing the match by 153 runs. India won the series taking an invincible lead of 2-0.

In the third match South Africa won emphatically and restored some of its lost pride. India without four key players from the onset of the series still went ahead with the inevitable experimentation resting more players including Tendulkar. As if win or defeat no longer mattered. Why not then take the Australian standard of best of three or five that does not play matches of academic interest once the series is decided?

Three cheers for cricket!