Top 3 tied ODI matches where India came back from the jaws of defeat
In the second one-day match against India at Visakhapatnam, West Indies chasing 322 for a win, were comfortably placed at 221 for 3 in the 32nd over of the innings. Hetmyer was batting on 94 off 63 balls and Shai Hope was batting on 62 off 72 balls. West Indies needed 101 runs off 110 balls at a manageable required run rate of 5.55 runs per over.
West Indies had two set batsmen at the crease who were involved in a fourth-wicket partnership of 143 runs. From there, it was West Indies' game to lose and they very nearly did that. Suddenly, Hetmyer decided to reach his 100 by launching the ball into the orbit, skied a catch to Kohli and India were back in the game.
In the end, India came back from the jaws of defeat to tie the match in which the Indian captain Kohli became the fastest to complete 10,000 ODI runs.
It would have been a heartbreak for the Indian fans had India went on to lose the match on a momentous occasion. To be fair to the West Indian team, they showed a lot of fight and character and did not deserve to lose the match either. In the end, the tie was a fair result for both the teams.
The beauty about a tie match is that the pendulum keeps on swinging from one end to the other and at different points in the game, the two teams involved will feel like having an upper hand before the game turns the other way.
In the end, both the teams will have no regrets for the match ending in a tie. It is a win-win situation for all. At times, it might hurt the better team for the game ending in a tie as India found out recently in their game against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. For Afghanistan, it was a moral victory against India.
The Indians were involved in a total of 9 tied ODI matches including the one at Visakhapatnam. We are going to have a look at 3 of those tied matches where India came back from the jaws of defeat to achieve an honourable tie.
#1. India Vs Sri Lanka, Adelaide (2012)
This was the fifth match of the triangular series involving India, Sri Lanka and the host Australia. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first on a good pitch. Vinay Kumar struck in the very first over and the Sri Lankans were wobbling at 28 for 2.
Dinesh Chandimal was in the form of his life as he was involved in two crucial partnerships with Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Sri Lanka with contributions from Chandimal (81), Jayawardene (43) and Sangakkara (31) reached a respectable total of 236 which left India a target of 237 to win.
In reply, India lost Sachin, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Suresh Raina cheaply and were 118 for 4. At the other end, opener Gambhir was steady and reached his 50 off 62 balls. At the fall of Raina’s wicket, Captain Dhoni joined Gambhir with India requiring another 119 runs in 22 overs.
Gambhir and Dhoni rebuilt the innings with a partnership of 60 runs before Gambhir was stranded on the middle of the pitch on 91 and was run-out by the proverbial “mile”.
When Jadeja joined Dhoni, India needed 59 off 57 balls. But Jadeja did not last long and ended up wasting 10 balls. Luckily for India, they had a strong batting line-up with Ashwin and Irfan Pathan to come.
When Jadeja got out, India needed 53 from 39 balls and the chase, as always, was resting on Dhoni’s shoulders. Ashwin contributed a crucial 14 off 13 balls and put on 28 runs with Dhoni.
In the 46th over bowled by Perera, Dhoni drove Perera down the ground for a six and Ashwin lofted him over extra cover for a four. However, Kulasekara gave away 5 runs only in the 47th over.
India needed 28 off 18, 12 of those balls were to be bowled by death over specialist Lasith Malinga. In the 48th over, Malinga gave away just 4 runs and got rid of Ashwin. India needed 24 off 12 balls.
The 49th over was bowled by Mathews. Irfan Pathan hit a Mathews no-ball for six but was run -out next ball. But Dhoni whipped a four to bring up his 50 then kept the strike with nine needed off the last over of Malinga.
In the last over, Malinga missed two run-out chances before Mathews accounted for Vinay Kumar with a direct hit, leaving Dhoni needing a boundary from the last ball. Dhoni’s slap over cover was crucially stopped by the diving Senanayake but the batsmen scrambled for three to tie.
This tie match was remembered for the blunder committed by umpire S.D. Fry in the 30th over of the Indian innings when he called over after Malinga had bowled 5 balls in the over. Gambhir was supposed to have been on strike for the sixth ball before the umpire got it all wrong. In the end, that one ball would have made all the difference to the final outcome of the match.
What one fails to understand is that in this era of technology-driven cricket why not an opportunity be given to rectify such blatant howlers. This particular error could have been rectified by asking Malinga to bowl 7 balls in his next over. That act would not have hurt the decorum of the game. On the other hand, it would have served justice to the game.