5 Moments from the first T20 match of Cricket All-Stars Series

Legends ExpressLast night, it felt like the flow of the river of time was reversed as we saw our greatest heroes take to the pitch and play the gentlemen’s game once more. The number of people that were in the stadium in a non-cricket-loving place like the United States of America just went on to show the passion the game inflicts in its fans.That, and the insomniac owls that stayed up late to watch the game on TV in the subcontinent, further testified the fact that people will always love the days gone by and will forever will in the glory that it provided during its time.Old, they say, is always gold. And here are the 5 golden moments from yesterday’s game...

#1 Shoaib Akhtar\'s fiery bouncers

The Rawalpindi Express is back on track

Well, some things never change. This was just one of them. Akhtar might have gained some weight and looks far from what you would call a fit man, but the fieriness in his bowling run-up and action hasn’t left him.

His run-up and all-gun-blazing action still sparks a burning sensation within, a feeling where you want to just pick a ball and throw it as fast as you can.

I was once a very good spinner, someone who could turn the ball gigantically on any given surface. Some people claimed that my spinning ability could make me a Bangladesh player, and even I thought that I could make it as a spin bowler.

Then Akhtar came and ruined everything. Spin bowling seemed like a sign of ‘weak’ to me. I wanted to run 40-50 yards and throw the ball as fast as I could and rip the body of the batsmen by bruising them with bouncers.

I failed terribly, obviously, and lost my spinning ability in the process too.

But Akhtar still remains that guy who can inspire many to become a fast bowler. Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara and Mathew Hayden had no answers to his blazing bouncers and looked like old men (which they are) playing a young and energetic pacer (which Akhtar isn’t, not anymore).

#2 West Indian pace influx

Ambrose’s cult experssions

Once upon a time, the West Indian pace bowling was the most feared in the whole world. They had everything one could possibly want in a pace bowling attack - speed, pitching and aggression. These days, we don’t find that in the West Indian team.

But last night, we, at least, found the bowlers who once led that West Indian bowling attack.

While both Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were nowhere near their best and were spanked all around the park, they exuded a scent of nostalgia which my breath couldn’t help but take in - and completely drown myself in that beautiful mist.

None can now say that the current West Indian, or any team for that matter, possess a bowling attack that has bowlers that Ambrose and Walsh were at their peaks.

#3 Sachin-Warne rivalry

Old rivalry was revived

Ah, this one. While Shane Warne once jokingly said that he saw Sachin Tendulkar hitting his deliveries all over the park in a terrible nightmare, there are millions more who dreamed that they got another shot at witnessing this magical rivalry once again.

And their dream came true last night as Sachin Tendulkar once again padded up to face his bowling adversary-cum-friend, Warne.

A decade ago, the Little Master had an answer for every Shane Warne ball. Dancing down the wicket, he resembled the fire that consumes the universe at the end of time while smashing the ball out to the land of nowhere. The Australian legend was always left with a flabbergasted expression. He knew not how to stop this man.

However, yesterday, we saw the spin wizard at his best as Sachin fell prey to the claws of Warne’s spin.

It was beautiful, majestic, to see both of them face each other again, but with a slight change that Warne finishing as the happier man, something that didn’t happen many times during the olden days.

#4 Shane Warne destroying the magic trio

Lara walks back, but with a smile

Getting Tendulkar alone is a big credit in itself. Add Lara to that, it becomes a brilliant achievement. And then you get VVS Laxman which, quoting Steve Waugh here, is a miracle.

Shane Warne has played many games in which he put in epic spells and got rid of some of the finest batsmen in the world. But regardless of all that, even the former Rajasthan Royals player-coach can admit to having a better dismissals list than the trio of Tendulkar, Laxman and Lara.

At first, a brilliant catch from Jacques Kallis helped Warne get rid of Tendulkar. Then Laxman fell prey to his deceiving spin, while rushing out, and got stumped in the process. Finally, Lara couldn’t read the line of his ball and was trapped LBW in front of the stumps.

That is over 36000 Test runs and 102 Test centuries, combined, for a victim list. Not bad, eh?

#5 Virender Sehwag being Virender Sehwag

Vintage Sehwag

Water is always wet, the grass is always green, Justin Bieber’s songs are always cheesy and Virender Sehwag is always the inferno that blazes fire and the tempest that shakes the very foundations of every fabric of reality that exists.

While he was batting, he showed no mercy as Alan Donald became first-hand witness and victim of his wrath. In the first 8 overs, Sachin’s Blasters scored 88 runs. This was during the time when Sehwag was on the pitch. After he got out, they could muster up only 52 runs in the next 12 overs.

Speak about going from a Twenty20 to Tests in the same game.

His knock of 55 in just 22 balls was the best and definitely the most entertaining among all the other batsmen that took guard on the crease.

Oh, why did these guys have to retire?