This is a grab from an IPL finish in 2013, when Kedar
Mahadav Jadhav keeping for Delhi ……in the final over was seen having removed
his right hand glove and keeping with only one glove on! –Dhoni had done that
earlier and did that with precision yesterday too !
Score card reads : India 146 for 7 (Raina 30,
Mustafizur 2-34) beat Bangladesh 145 for 9 (Tamim 35, Ashwin 2-20) by one run ~ only those of us who watched will remember
that drama behind. It was not about a great delivery, but more about that
extraordinary sprint of the aging warrior 15 years beating the already
steaming non-striker, that breathed life India’s chances of qualifiying.
Kapil Dev
running backwards to take a great catch getting rid of Viv Richards off the
bowling of Madanlal on 25thJune 1983 – and this scoop on 24thSept 2007 remain
etched in memories of Indian Cricket lover. We have now seen that ‘ who will bowl that last over ’ – umpteen times –
having been at the helm for only 22 days Mahendra Singh Dhoni took that crucial
decision to go ahead with Joginder Sharma in T 20 no. 46 at New
Wanderers. It was a cracker – 13 off last over. Misbah
on strike – Joginder the bowler, who bowled a poor wide – big one at that ! –
then came a dot ball; 19.2 full toss, hit straight back for a six reducing the
target to a simple 6 off 4. Then came that fatal scoop that Misbah
would rue for rest of life – moved in, tried hitting over fine leg, ball went
up in air and came down into the waiting hands of Santhakumaran Sreesanth, who
too became part of history.
The same Q yesterday too…. who will bowl the last over – Ashish Nehra 4-0-29-1; J Bumrah 4-0-32-0 (he did bowl a great 19th over); Ashwin 4-0-20-2; Ravi Jadeja 4-0-22-2; Suresh Raina 1-0-9-1 ….. the boy left Hardik Pandya
It was Dhoni’s ability to stay calm under intense pressure. With India in danger of falling short of the semi-final stage, Dhoni's charges held their nerve and when asked afterward about the end of game situation he said it was important to keep cool in such hectic situations. "In a situation like this, it's literally chaos. What you are trying to do is you're trying to manage chaos," Dhoni said after the match. "Everybody will come and he'll have his own opinion. -- one could see Nehra offering loads of advice to the tense Pandya.
MS Dhoni lauded allrounder Hardik Pandya's "fantastic execution" of the last ball, which led to Mustafizur Rahman being run out by Dhoni in a mad-cap final over. The equation ultimately boiled down to two needed off the last ball. After a lengthy chat with Dhoni and Ashish Nehra, Pandya sent down a back-of-a-length ball outside off, which Shuvagata Hom could not reach. He attempted a bye, and Mustafizur responded, but Dhoni was too quick for him. He sprinted and broke the stumps down as India edged Bangladesh. Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted that his team lost it under pressure, in the last three balls. "I think the last three balls actually, we lost three wickets and needed only two runs," he said. Though there was lot of drama – with India not setting a great target, it was sort of easy last over – it was 17 off 12 and 11 off 6. Of that boiling cauldron of last over – Mahmudulla scored a single; Mushfiqur Rahim, picked up the slower one, smashed through extra cover for a 4; 3rd was scooped past for another 4 – simple 2 needed off 3. Mushfiqur was all celebrating, had a win a match by his heroics. Next ball held out to deep midwicket, Dhawan completing the catch. Mahmudullah having crossed over slogged a full toss, Jadeja ran in, took the catch, rolled and rolled as Indians celebrated. That last ball, Shuvgata Hom missed a wider delivery, Mustafizur was already running and so was Dhoni who was keeping with a single glove…………the aged workhorse ran faster, broke the stumps and it was celebrations … In the third over of Bangladesh's chase, Hardik Pandya at long-on, snatched the ball flying overhead. In the next few seconds, as the Chinnaswamy Stadium erupted around him,as Pandya appeared to undergo a series of eruptions himself. He had another night to celebrate !
Hail Dhoni, the Captain, the glove man (those great stumpings),
the fastest runner in between wickets, the Chaos Manager!
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
24th Mar 2016.
