A tribute to Saint Valentine: Tied ODI between India & Sri Lanka
The 45th day of the year, February 14th is celebrated as Valentine’s Day across the world. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards.
Now although, in the game of cricket no two teams can be called as lovers. But if there would be two teams who can be said to enjoy a bonhomie on a cricket field; it would be India & Sri Lanka. And the two South-Asian neighbours paid a fitting tribute to Saint Valentine’s in a match played at the Adelaide Oval in 2012.
The two teams have played 149 ODIs against each other but this is the only match which has resulted in a tie. In fact, in all the 3239 ODIs played till then; it was only the 26th occasion when cricket was literally the winner.
Vinay Kumar gets India to a perfect start
It was the fifth match of the CB series (with Australia being the third team), Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and decided to bat first. Indian seamer Vinay Kumar had a dream start when he accounted for Upul Tharanga’s wicket with the second ball of the match. But Kumara Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal & Jayawardene steered the Sri Lankan ship to safety.
And at 173-3 in the 37th over, the islanders looked set for a big total. Then the fall of Jayawardene’s wicket (again to Vinay Kumar) triggered a mini collapse and the Lankans were left reeling at 210-7 in the 47th over. Some late order hitting by Sachithra Senanayake took the Sri Lankan score to 236 runs for the loss of 9 wickets at the end of 50 overs.
Gambhir & Dhoni come to India’s rescue
In reply, the Indians did not have a good start and lost Sachin Tendulkar in the 6th over. The Indian middle order failed to contribute and they were struggling at 118-4 in the 28th over. For the second time in three days, it was left to Gautam Gambhir & skipper MS Dhoni to take the Indians home.
And the two did not disappoint, they stitched together a partnership of 60 runs and India looked set for their third win the tournament.
A crucial run-out
But then disaster struck in the 41st over. With India needing 59 runs off 58 balls, Gambhir was caught short by a direct hit from Nuwan Kulasekara. Interestingly, in the previous match against Australia as well, Gambhir’s wicket had fallen with India on a score of 178. He had scored 92 runs then and today he scored 91 runs. Later on, Dhoni had said that this run out had cost Indians the match.
With wickets falling at the other end, Dhoni was India’s lone hope and he was making a match out of it. At the end of the 48th over, India needed 24 runs and Sri Lanka looked to be in the driver’s seat. Irfan Pathan’s six off Angelo Mathews and Dhoni’s boundary brought India within 9 runs of the victory mark with an over to go.
The final countdown
The last over of the match had the perfect recipe for a cricket fan. World’s best finisher, Dhoni was up against the best death bowler Lasith Malinga. Dhoni took 3 runs off the first two deliveries and Tony Grieg who was on air said, “A tie again is a possibility”.
Pressure then got the better of Malinga, who missed a simple run-out on the 4th ball of the over. Now India needed 4 runs off 2 deliveries, but tail-ender Vinay Kumar was on strike. He tried to hit but was eventually run-out and it seemed that Mathews’ direct hit had made up for Malinga’s miss in the previous ball.
It was down to the final delivery and Indians were a boundary away from victory. On strike was their captain cool who had won the previous match in similar circumstances. Malinga bowled a full and wide ball, which Dhoni scooped over extra cover
The ball looked set for a boundary, but Senanayake cut it off and the Indians ran three runs. The facial expressions of Jayawardene & Dhoni told the story. No one was celebrating and it took a moment for the result to sink in. It was a tie.
The match itself was not devoid of controversies as the 30th over of the Indian innings saw only 5 balls being delivered due to an umpiring error. In hindsight, one can say that Indians might have won if one more ball was bowled in the 30th over. But as Dhoni said, “I don't know [if a full over might have broken the tie] because you could have had a dot ball. It happens in cricket, so maybe it would have been a dot.”
And like in life, there’s no place for if’s and ands in the game of cricket.