Top 10 India’s Memorable Cricketing Moments of the Decade
After India made its debut as a test cricket playing nation in 1932, cricket in India has come a long way to winning world cups in both formats of the game in 1983 under Kapil Dev, in 2011 under M. S. Dhoni and the T20 world cup in 2007 under M. S. Dhoni. Cricket rather than just a game is a religion in India. Over the last decade many records were made and broken, many achievements accomplished and many a great players retired. Here is a compilation of Top 10 India’s Memorable Cricketing Moments of the Decade.
10. India vs Pakistan 2003 World Cup Qualifier Match (Centurion)
After a gap of nearly 3 years, India and Pakistan were back together on the cricket grounds on March 1, 2003 to play the qualifier rounds of the world cup. It was one of the most talked about matches of the tournament. In front of the crammed stadium and TV viewers of both nations glued to their television sets, it was one of the most memorable India vs Pakistan encounters. Pakistan batted first scoring 273 guided by Saeed Anwar’s century. India truly lived up to the hype with Sachin Tendulkar emerging as the top scorer on Indian side falling just short of 2 runs to his century to Shoaib Akhtar’s bouncer. The main focus of the game was the initial fireworks brought on by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in India’s innings followed by 102 runs partnership by Mohammad Kaif and Sachin Tendulkar. India won the match comfortably with more than 4 overs and 6 wickets remaining.
9. Irfan Pathan’s Hat Trick Against Pakistan (Karachi)
On January 30, 2006, the third test match of the test series was played between India and Pakistan. The first two matches were a draw, so this was a crucial match for both the teams. India won the toss and chose to field. What Pathan lacked in pace was compensated by the movement of the ball in the air and from the surface. Bowling a good line and length with the swinging ball, Pathan grabbed a hat trick in the last three deliveries of his first over and thescorecard read 0-3 at the end of the first over. His first victim was Salman Butt, who was caught at slip by Dravid. Younis Khan was the next to go by LBW and finally Mohammad Yousuf was spun through his stumps. All in all, he took 5 wickets in the first inning and 6 totally in the match. Unfortunately, though India lost the match by 341 runs.
8. Virender Sehwag’s 319 Against South Africa (Chepauk)
South Africa played against India in the first match of the test series on March 26, 2008 and set a formidable first innings score of 540. Then walked in Virender Sehwag, who scored his and India’s second triple century joining the elite club of Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara. He reached the third fastest test double-hundred in 194 balls and the fastest triple century from 278 balls. His partners Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid were barely noticed and Sehwag’s 268-run stand with Dravid was all wicket highest against South Africa. Finally, on the fourth day of the match with his march towards Lara’s 400 runs, Ntini did the magic for South Africa and Sehwag was caught at slips by McKenzie. The match ended in a draw.
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7. Final Match of Natwest Series 2002 (London)
The final of 2002 Natwest series is one of the most memorable chases by India. It was triangular series between India, Sri Lanka, and England. India and England reached the finals. England batted first and set a mammoth target of 326 for. The highest scorer on the English team was Nasser Hussain with his 115, this being his only one day international century. Though India had a good start with first wicket falling at 106, there was a flurry of wickets and India was reduced to 146-5. Then Yuvraj Singh was joined by Mohammad Kaif and both built a healthy partnership of 121 runs. Mohammad Kaif guided India to a historic win with 2 wickets and 3 balls remaining. This was India’s highest chase up until that point in history. In an echo of Flintoff’s antics in Mumbai five months’ earlier, Ganguly whiffed off his shirt and whirled it round his head to celebrate India’s victory.
6. Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th Century (Mirpur)
Sachin Tendulkar and India had to wait perhaps 33 innings for the glorious moment of celebrating his 100th century in all formats of the game combined. Finally, the moment came during the Asia Cup ODI against Bangladesh. He reached the milestone off 138 deliveries and made a total of 114 runs giving Bangladesh an impressive target of 289. He became the first batsman to make 100 international centuries. This came after a yearlong wait for one of the most discussed landmarks in the cricket’s history. This was his first ODI century against Bangladesh, completing his record of a century against every full member country in both formats of the game. The match was won by Bangladesh by 5 wickets.
5. Yuvraj Singh’s 6 Sixes in an Over Against England (Durban)
On September 2007, India met England in the qualifiers of the inaugural World T20. The match remains imprinted in every cricket fan’s memory mainly for the 6 sixes that came off the bat of Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj Singh was in his prime form throughout the tournament. After being spurred off by Andrew Flintoff’s comments, Yuvraj was more charged than ever during the bestover of his life. Every single delivery of the over by Stuart Broad landed directly over the fence all around the park. With the savage assault brought on by Yuvraj, the cheering crowd and impeccable commentary by Ravi Shastri, viewers back home could not have asked for anything more. Yuvraj Singh made the fastest half century in T20 cricket coming off just 12 deliveries. India scored 218 runs off 20 overs and won the match by 18 runs.
4. Sachin Tendulkar’s Double Century (Gwalior)
The record for the highest score in an ODI international was previously held by Saeed Anwar of Pakistan and Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry of 194 runs. This record was broken by Sachin Tendulkar on 24th February 2010 against South Africa in the 2nd ODI of the series. Sachin produced a display of top-class storkeplay to become the first man to become a double centurion in ODI cricket. Sachin looked fluent from the beginning and on track to something special. His first century came off 90 balls and his next century came off just 57 deliveries. Dhoni set the late fireworks in the innings setting a huge total of 401 losing just 3 wickets with just 9 extras. India won the match comfortably by 153 runs. Sachin Tendulkar was awarded man of the match.
3. Virender Sehwag’s 219 Against West Indies (Indore)
Just a year-and-a-half had passed since Sachin made his double century. There had always been a speculation that it would be Virender Sehwag, who will achieve this milestone first, but Sachin had other plans. Sehwag did not lag behind long. He achieved this feat on December 8, 2011 against West Indies in Indore. He totally demolished West Indian bowling line up and struck a total of 219 runs off 149 balls. His second and fourth fifty came off just 28 deliveries. He hit a total of seven sixes. He hit a record 25 fours, the highest for any ODI batsmen and arecord shared only by Sachin. Thanks to Sehwag’s blitz, India finished with their highest total of 418. It was also the 10th 400 plus total in ODIs, of which India have contribute four, the highest for any team. India won the match by 153 runs.
2. 2007 Twenty20 world Cup Win (Johannesburg)
The first T20 World Cup was inaugurated in September of 2007. India never looked good on paper due to inexperience in this format of the game. Twelve teams took part in the tournament. India was in Group D with Pakistan and Scotland. India’s first match with Scotland was a washout with no result. The second match was against India’s archrival Pakistan. This match ended in a tie leading to the tournament’s first bowl out, which India won 3-0. Progressing on to Super 8s, India played New Zealand first and lost by 10 runs. India’s second match of the Super 8s was against England. With Yuvraj’s heroic 6 sixes in an over, India set an excellent target of 218, the highest against any test playing nation. India won the match by 18 runs. The third match of the Super 8s for India was against the host South Africa, which India won by 37 runs. India faced Aussies in semi-finals. India batted first and set at target of 189. India won this match by 15 runs. The stage was set for the finals on September24, 2007 for the archrivals of the subcontinent, India and Pakistan, who met second time during the tournament. India batting first set a target of 158. India looked good until a 21-run over by Sreesanth that turned the tables. With Misbah hitting several sixes at crucial last overs of the games, Pakistani team needed reasonable 13 of the last over. With a wide and a six of the second ball, Pakistan just needed 6 runs of the last 4 deliveries. . Misbah attempted to hit the next ball with a paddle-scoop over fine leg, but he only managed to sky the ball, and it was caught at short fine-leg by Sreesanth, leaving Pakistan all out for 152 runs. India won the match by 5 runs.
1. 2011 World Cup Win (Mumbai)
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 10th cricket world cup. It was held in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. A total of 14 teams qualified for the tournament. India was a strong contender for the cup with a very good line up with home turf advantage. India played its first match against Bangladesh on February 19, 2011 in Mirpur setting a target of 371 for Bangladesh. India won this match by 87 runs. The second match against England was a tie with both teams scoring 338 runs. In the next matches against Ireland and Netherlands, India won by 5 wickets each. In India’s fifth match of the tournament, batting first India scored 296, which South Africa chased successfully and won it by 3 wickets. In India’s sixth match against West Indies, India won by 80 runs. Having qualified for knockout stage of the quater finals, India played against Australia. With a target of 261 runs to chase, India did so comfortably with 14 deliveries and 5 wickets remaining. India played against Pakistan in the semi-finals and India won the match by a comfortable margin of 29 runs. India’s final acid test was against Sri Lanka to achieve a dream after 28 years. Batting first, Sri Lanka scored a reasonable score of 274 losing 6 wickets. Batting second India successfully chased the target of 275. By crossing the target of 274, India had set a record for the highest successful run-chase in a World Cup final.
