I started to watch the cricket match when India was 163/7 and the target was 231 with 17 overs left. Though Dhoni was still at the crease, I felt the target could not be chased. On the other end, Bhubaneshwar was batting. I decided, whatever may be the result of the match, let's watch it till the end.
Every first ball of the over that Dhoni faced, he would take a single and rest of the 5 balls Bhuvi faced, he would defend without scoring any runs. There was no rotation of the strike. I felt that since the balls remaining were close to 100, the batsmen would have felt to keep batting till the end, irrespective of what may be the winning equation.
Bhuvi was timing the ball very good, though he did not score any runs. He either ducked or left the short balls or bouncers. Dhoni was always rotating the strike and let Bhuvi face most of the balls. Bhuvi had scored 9 runs off 40 odd balls and Dhoni had scored 24 off 32 balls when I started to watch the match.
As the match progressed, Bhuvi gradually started hitting the ball from defending. The scoreboard was ticking but slowly.
On of the highest point of the match was Dhoni's luck when the bails did not fall off the stump when it had missed the stump. From 163, they reached 200 gradually. It was the 36th over and last over for Siriwardana and Bhuvi was facing the bowler. Out of nowhere, Bhuvi hit a six. The last boundary was hit around 80 balls ago. With that boundary, India was touching 190 runs.
Where the match literally turned against Sri Lanka was in the 40th over, when Dananjaya who was the chief wreck of the Indian batting was introduced for his second spell. Bhuvi hit back to back fours in his over. With that India touched 200 runs, needing 30 runs off 7 overs. In the 42nd over, Bhuvi again scored two boundaries which helped India reach 217 and Bhuvi reach 47.
In the 45th over, India reached the target and won the match by 3 wickets with a record partnership of exactly 100 runs for the eighth wicket. This is India's highest partnership for the 8th wicket.
Bhuvi had hit one of the classy half-centuries I had seen over a long time. What a fine time to get his maiden fifty and that too resulting in a win. I had seen Dhoni calm over the years in these kind of situations but seeing Bhuvi as batsman being calm and composed to chase a stiff target under tight conditions was a feast.
Photo credit: The Tribune
Bhuvi was timing the ball very good, though he did not score any runs. He either ducked or left the short balls or bouncers. Dhoni was always rotating the strike and let Bhuvi face most of the balls. Bhuvi had scored 9 runs off 40 odd balls and Dhoni had scored 24 off 32 balls when I started to watch the match.
On of the highest point of the match was Dhoni's luck when the bails did not fall off the stump when it had missed the stump. From 163, they reached 200 gradually. It was the 36th over and last over for Siriwardana and Bhuvi was facing the bowler. Out of nowhere, Bhuvi hit a six. The last boundary was hit around 80 balls ago. With that boundary, India was touching 190 runs.
In the 45th over, India reached the target and won the match by 3 wickets with a record partnership of exactly 100 runs for the eighth wicket. This is India's highest partnership for the 8th wicket.
Bhuvi had hit one of the classy half-centuries I had seen over a long time. What a fine time to get his maiden fifty and that too resulting in a win. I had seen Dhoni calm over the years in these kind of situations but seeing Bhuvi as batsman being calm and composed to chase a stiff target under tight conditions was a feast.
Photo credit: The Tribune
