Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
Venue – M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore [December 8-12, 2007].
The Radcliffe Line Rivalry brings in a lot of emotions. After all, an India-Pakistan match is not just about cricket. It is bigger than that. As a result, each and every game goes into the history books. This blog will be talking about one such episode of the India-Pakistan cricket. The year goes back to 2007. Indians were facing Pakistanis in Bengaluru for the third and final test of the series. The hosts were 1-0 up in the series, and a draw would have ensured a series win. For the visitors it was a must-win game in order to level the series.
Legendary Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni were not playing the test. However, the man who came in his place was none other than Yuvraj Singh [Dinesh Karthik was keeping before the wickets in place of MS Dhoni]. So it was still a strong Indian side. Indian Captain Anil Kumble won the toss and decided to bat first on what looked like a batting paradise. However, debutant Yasir Arafat came out strong, and the Indian top order crumbled before him. The scorecard read 61/4 when Yuvraj Singh joined Sourav Ganguly in the center. The match was on a knife-edge. A couple more wickets and the game would be over for us.
This is when Sourav Ganguly (DADA) took charge and led a counter-attack which would be remembered for ages. The duo of Yuvraj and Dada shared a partnership of 300 runs and brought the hosts back into the game. The pair batted for around 65 overs and took the sting out of the Pakistani bowling attack.
Yuvraj Singh, who was making a comeback to the Test side, made a quickfire 169 off 203 deliveries and made a mess of the visitor's bowling line-up. In an innings which lasted for around 4 hours, Yuvraj smashed a total of 28 boundaries and 1 six. Eventually when he was dismissed for 169, there was a delight on the Pakistani faces. But the carnage didn't stop with Yuvraj's dismissal.
Irfan Pathan scored a gritty 102 and stitched another important partnership with Dada. However, it was Sourav Ganguly who played the innings of his life and got all the attention of the audience. Dada scored a monumental 239 off 361 deliveries, which helped India to post a massive total of 626 in the first innings. The knock was a masterclass. An art of genius. The innings, which lasted for 518 minutes, saw Ganguly hit 28 boundaries and 2 sixes. Apart from the boundaries he scored, there were also singles and doubles which constituted a large chunk of runs in the innings. The audience ran out of superlatives while talking about this innings. For the visitors, debutant Yasir Arafat was the leading wicket taker, as he picked up 5 wickets in the first innings.
In response, the visitors scored 537 in their first innings. Misbah-ul-Haq scored an unbeaten 133 as Indians too struggled to pick wickets. Ishant Sharma was the leading wicket taker for the hosts, as he too picked up 5 wickets in the first innings. It appeared that the match would end in an easy draw, but the hosts tried their best to get a result out of the game.
Firstly, they batted at a good pace in the second innings and declared at a total of 284/6. Ganguly once again took the lead as he scored a solid 91. It was quite unfortunate that he missed his hundred. Apart from him, Dinesh Karthik and Rahul Dravid also made some valuable contributions with the bat, as the visitors were now required to chase 374 runs to win the test.
But the Indian bowling attack this time looked inspired and motivated. Captain Kumble led from the front and made a mess of the Pakistani batting line-up. Had it not been for bad lights, the hosts would have registered yet another win upon their arch-rivals.
Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
The match eventually ended in a draw, and the Indians won the series 1-0. Sourav Ganguly was awarded both the man of the match and the man of the series awards for his remarkable contribution. Lastly, it turned out to be the last when India and Pakistan faced each other in a test match.
Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
To watch the highlights of the test match, Click Here.
To watch the innings of Sourav Ganguly, Click Here.
To watch the innings of Yuvraj Singh, Click Here.
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