It was the month of February in 2007 when Sri Lanka came to India for a short tour of 4 one day internationals. A star-studded Sri Lankan line-up that had the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Marvan Atapattu was sure to give Team India a tough time in the series. The first match ended in a no-result in Kolkata, due to rain, and in the second match at Rajkot, Sri Lanka had edged India by 5 runs courtesy a Sangakkara hundred to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
The scene had now shifted to Margao in Goa for the third match on Valentine’s day; 14th February.
Zaheer knocks two in an over to rock the Lankans early
After Sri Lanka’s captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to bat first on a sluggish pitch, Zaheer Khan roared in right from the first over of the innings. After conceding just two runs in his first over, he wrecked havoc in the second.
He first had the dangerous Sanath Jayasuriya caught brilliantly by Saurav Ganguly and then caught Upul Tharanga plumb in front of the stumps off his fourth delivery to reduce the visitors to 5 for 2.
Ajit Agarkar backed up Zaheer by bowling a tight maiden over next up. Zaheer then came back for his third over to knock Kumar Sangakkara’s stumps over and reduce the Lankans to 6 for 3!
Captain Rahul Dravid kept Zaheer on in search of more wickets but he didn’t pick up any more in the first spell, ending with 3 for 31 off 7 overs.
Russel Arnold keeps the Lankan fight alive
Wirey left-hander Russel Arnold, who is more renowned now for his thoughtful commentary, was once a pretty handy middle order batsman too and specialised in bailing his team out of troublesome situations. This occasion was much the same.
Walking in at 91 for 5 in the 24th over with all the big guns back in the shed, he set about his task of reviving the innings in the company of Dilshan, who didn’t use to open the innings in those days and was a lower middle order batsman instead. The duo combined to add 89 runs for the sixth wicket in 18 overs at almost five runs per over to bring the innings back on track and give the score some respectability.
Despite losing Dilshan in the 42nd over, quickly followed by the wickets of Maharoof and Bandara, Arnold held one end tight and finished unbeaten on 66 to take Sri Lanka’s total to 230 at the end of 50 overs.
Zaheer Khan, who had started the slide with 3 wickets in his first spell, came back to bowl an outstanding final spell of 2 for 11 in 3 overs to finish with magical figures of 5 for 42 off his 10 overs.
India’s innings begins with a stutter too
Saurav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag came out to open India’s innings and it began in trademark fashion with Sehwag hitting Maharoof for two crisp fours to loot 13 off the over. The second over too saw Sehwag hit a flashy boundary but the entertainment didn’t last for long as Dilhara Fernando had him caught off the splice of the bat at backward point.
Sachin Tendulkar, the master blaster, who came out to bat at number three didn’t look his usual self as he scratched around for just one off eight deliveries before being bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara off the inside edge in the fifth over.
Yuvraj Singh too couldn’t hold up an end for too long and departed for 21. With Ganguly getting out for a well made 48 in the 22nd over, the score read 92 for 4 and India were in definite trouble!
Dravid and Dhoni to the rescue
MS Dhoni joined captain Rahul Dravid in the middle after Ganguly’s dismissal and the two went about their job of repairing the innings with the utmost professionalism. While Dravid was his usual self; knocking the singles around without taking any risks, Dhoni played an uncharacteristic inning in which he scored 67 at close to a run a ball but hit just 4 boundaries in it.
The two stitched together a 133-run partnership that had just 8 fours and a six in it combined, which shows how calmly they went about their job and ensured they got it done without any hiccups. The highlights of the stand were Rahul Dravid hitting a hat-trick of fours off Kulasekera in the 31st over and also, becoming only the third Indian to cross 10,000 ODI runs en route to his 66 in this innings.
Dravid fell with just 4 runs needed to win but by then he has ensured that India will go into the final one-dayer with the series locked at 1-1.
A great game it was, with India winning handsomely to give their fans lots to cheer about on Valentine’s Day, but the day was extra special for one man who bowled the spell of his career to win the match for his country – Zaheer Khan, who, for his match figures of 5 for 42, was also named Man of the match in this Indian win.
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