Yes, the final of the 2011 World Cup was a ripper – a steal from one of those Hitchcock movies where Dhoni, in Superman avatar of course, pulls off a heist to win India the World Cup.
The semi-finals saw India and Pakistan tussle it out in a memorable battle at Chandigarh. The quarter final against Australia was scintillating. Yuvraj Singh breathing life into the Indian crowd with a splendid cameo and making the match a reminiscent one.
Roll back. Oh yes, the South Africa game. The only one India lost in their title race in 2011 – a humdinger which saw Ashish Nehra concede a six to Robin Peterson in the final over, a sin for which he is still unforgiven in some parts of the country.
No, but that’s not the game we are talking about. England and India faced off at Bengaluru in a rip-roaring tie which had spectacular moments, wonderful individual performances and collective team spirit.
It isn’t the best tied match in World Cup history. That rests safely with the 1999 World Cup semi-final between Australia and South Africa. But the Bengaluru game was a spectacle to behold. Fans thronged the stadium to watch India reign over England a d they weren’t fully disappointed.
The crowd bore witness to a delightful hundred by Sachin Tendulkar, his first in ODIs against England in home soil. The Mumbaikar occupied the crease for 38.3 overs and smashed 120 in 115 balls as England appeared clueless in the face of the onslaught.
Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh gave him good company with a half-century apiece but India’s surge to a 350-plus total was cut short by a slew of wickets in the final five overs. At the 45-over mark, India had crossed 300 and with seven wickets in hand and Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni at the crease, 350 seemed par.
Tim Bresnan, though, decided to showcase some of those well-honed death bowling skills. Yuvraj and Dhoni fell off successive deliveries (in different overs) as Bresnan mixed up yorkers and slower balls to baffle Indian batsmen.
What looked like 360 at one stage ended on 338 but India were downright favourites to drown England at the Chinnaswamy. Little did they know that the total would not be sufficient enough for a line-up that seemed to be over dependent on Kevin Pietersen.
The flamboyant South African opened alongside Andrew Strauss and raced to 31 in 22 balls but a magical moment in the field from Munaf Patel brought an impromptu end to Pietersen’s blitzkrieg. The England opener slammed one back at the bowler, Munaf Patel. In an attempt to cover his face, Munaf ended up popping the ball in the air as he fell down. As fate would have it, the ball came back to Munaf who was now sitting on the pitch and the catch was pouched. A YouTube moment indeed but England hadn’t lost it yet.
Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss revived the innings after Jonathan Trott fell early. Bell was in every way the perfect second-fiddle to a rampant Strauss. The opener raced past his hundred while Bell milked the spinners and England seemed well on course to overhaul the target.
Just as they were starting to get complacent, Zaheer Khan returned to the attack and nipped out Bell and Strauss off successive deliveries. Bell heaved one to mid-off while Strauss was undone by a spectacular inswinging yorker for 158. The game was alive by now and the crowd had woken up from its slumber as India started to sense their way back in.
England lost their seventh wicket in the 48th over with the total only on 307. The game was surely within India’s grasp now but Graeme Swann and Bresnan struck a six each in the penultimate over by Piyush Chawla. Now, England needed 14 in the final over but they had lost Bresnan off the last ball of the previous over.
Munaf Patel contained the batsmen for two balls giving away just three runs but Ajmal Shahzad powered a half-volley into the stands down the ground off the third ball to bring the required run rate down. With five to win from three balls, the game was there for anybody’s taking. England nudged the ball around and ran hard off the next three balls to eke out a mind-blowing tie.
The game would go down as the closest ever World Cup match, alongside a few other tied games, but with India sealing special wins over Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the knockouts to clinch the title, this spectacle at Bengaluru has remained fairly inconspicuous.