Sporting contests to remember: Cricket is a game of uncertainty - MI vs CSK, IPL 2012

The Legend in Action

May 6^th, 2012. It was a rather hot day in Mumbai and I was standing in the long queue outside Gate No. 4A of Wankhede Stadium along with 4 of my friends. It was a big match we were going to witness live in the stadium. It was going to be the battle between the man who had been serving the nation for last 20 years, Sachin Tendulkar and the man who had brought back the golden days of Indian cricket under his captaincy, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Yes, it was the match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, two strong contenders for the IPL 2012 title. The reason why it was huge for us was that we were a group of 5 people, out of which 2 were hardcore fans of CSK and haters of MI, while other 3 were hardcore fans of MI and haters of CSK. A small battle was taking place in the group itself.

After standing in the queue for more than 45 minutes and completing all the formalities with security check-ups, we finally got into the stands just 5 minutes before start of the match. The toss was over, with Mumbai Indians winning it and choosing to field first. CSK openers, Murali Vijay and du Plessis had started to walk towards the pitch, and suddenly there was a roar from the crowd. Yes, it was ‘the legend’ Sachin Tendulkar walking out on the ground. I must admit that I am not such a great fan of him, but I have utmost respect for what he has done for Indian cricket. In fact, one of the major reasons I had chosen to go for this match was to see Sachin and Dhoni playing against each other, and out of the fear that Sachin might announce his retirement before I get to see him play in the stadium. Obviously, I also came with a hope that he would play well on the day.

CSK got off to a good start with an opening partnership of 47 runs between du Plessis and Murali Vijay. Though du Plessis had scored only 9 runs in the partnership, he gave good support to Murali who was hitting the ball quite well. After the departure of du Plessis came Raina. Unlike du Plessis, he started hitting from the word go. The scorecard was moving at a fast pace with boundaries raining all over the ground. Murali, Raina and Bravo, who came after Murali’s dismissal at the hands of RP Singh, were the main contributors to CSK’s score. However, in the last overs, when the set batsmen were required to be on the pitch to hit, CSK failed to perform. With their fourth wicket falling at around 160, CSK finished their innings at 173/8. The last two overs could give only 15 runs to CSK, which by the IPL or T20 standards weren’t much, and I think that’s where CSK lost the edge. The Indian captain tried his best by going for some big hits, but could not get a big enough total for his team as he failed to stay till the end. Though T20 is a format of “Hit it as hard as possible”, some of the core aspects of this can neither be forgotten nor be ignored by any of the players. One of them is staying for as long as possible. The longer you stay on field, the better position you are in to hit the ball, T20 being no exception to this rule. CSK batsmen failed to do that and lost at least 5-10 crucial runs.

The innings break was a little boring for me. Being a hardcore CSK fan and watching the match on MI’s home ground, I had to listen all the comments against CSK. There were just a handful of people, scattered all over the stadium who were supporting Chennai, and obviously were hoping for a good performance by the CSK bowlers, and yet a good innings from the GOD.

Obviously the second innings started with entire stadium yelling the same chant of “Sachin, Sachin, Sachin”. I was excited at seeing the man walking out of the pavilion and towards pitch. Somewhere, my mind was praying “please let CSK win, but let Sachin get at least a half century”. Half of that prayer did come true. CSK bowlers were up to the mark, at least in the initial overs. Hilfenhaus delivered an excellent first spell by grabbing the wicket of James Franklin when Mumbai hadn’t even reached a score of 10. However, it was too early to predict anything. Sachin started to hit a few shots with arrival of Rohit Sharma. Both of them were in great form and were building Mumbai’s score quite well. I was getting the feeling of the best “return on investment”, watching the GOD playing. Both these batsmen got their half centuries and took the partnership to 126. There was a moment which put the stadium to silence. Du Plessis had taken an amazing one handed catch of Sachin. It was such a good catch that Sachin himself could not believe for a moment that he was out. With the departure of Sachin, MI’s batting seemed like a leaking pipeline. Batsmen were coming and going. Ravindra Jadeja’s over was the turning point. By taking wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ambati Raidu in the same over, he turned the match towards Chennai. What CSK had to do thereafter was just stop boundaries. And they did it well till the last over. It was almost impossible for MI to reach the target, with the in-form Ben Hilfenhaus bowling the last over. We CSK supporters were yelling all over, making fun of MI fans. But alas! The famous saying- “Cricket is a game of uncertainty” suddenly gave its special appearance. 14 runs off 3 balls was the equation and a six was hit by Dwayne Smith. The crowd, full of MI fans, roared and then there was pin-drop silence as Hilfenhaus started his run-up for the next ball. A four, and a roar again was followed by silence. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the last ball of the match. It was certainly a treat for the eyes, joy for the heart and surely a shocker for the brain. How uncertain things can be! The excitement of “what will happen next” was literally killing everyone. And there it was. A loud sound of “tuck”, and the ball roaring past over the bowler’s head for four.

Dwayne Smith after hitting the winning runs

The MI players running into the ground, and Hilfenhaus sitting down, defeated. And then, the MI fans came into action. It was not a roar. I don’t know what it can be called. But whatever it was, it was like once in a lifetime experience for us. My team had lost, my friends were making fun of me, but surely, the sport itself had won. Somewhere deep in my mind, there was a joy of experiencing the thrill, experiencing what the game of cricket can be. It was just beyond words. I am sure everyone present in the stadium would have felt the same. Personally, I was amazed, excited, shocked, happy and sad at the same time, and had only one thought in mind – I am surely going to come next year for the same match.