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| That six will remain etched in Indian cricketing folklore |
My favourite moment in T20
internationals came this very year in the month of March, to be precise on the
18th of March, 2018. My board examinations were going on, and the tension was
mounting in the air.
But, cricket is always
there to light up our lives. The Nidahas Trophy was not followed very closely;
but that victory holds a close place in my heart for many reasons:-
1. No Dhoni and Kohli:- After a long time, India was playing a series without their best
players Dhoni and Kohli. It was time for others to step on the gas, and boy
didn’t they do that! Washington Sundar had an outstanding
series, picking up wickets at an economy rate of under 6 runs an over. Vijay
Shankar had a decent series with the ball. Shikhar Dhawan was
absolutely outstanding with the bat. It was a complete team performance.
2. Coming back after loss:- After an embarrassing loss to Sri Lanka in the
first match, the Indian team came back ever stronger against Bangladesh, and
then won three games on the trot before playing Bangladesh in the final.
3. That amazing final:- Chasing a total of 167, the Indian team 36 needed of 3 overs. On
most days, that would be a cakewalk for any team. But, Vijay Shankar simply could
not get bat on ball in that 18th over bowled by Mustafizur Rahman. Manish
Pandey was dismissed off the final ball. It was down to 35 runs of two overs.
Dinesh Karthik entered the ground fuming, as he had been demoted by skipper
Rohit Sharma. He is usually known to be a player who scores slowly and takes
some time to get going. But, he changed all those perceptions within five or
ten minutes. The next over was the game changer. The sequence of balls in the
19th over bowled by Rubel Hossain was- 6,4,6,0,2,6. Dinesh Karthik was already
making everyone sit up and watch him bat. It was down to 14 off the last over.
Vijay Shankar was the man on strike. He was once again finding it difficult to
score, and get bat on ball. It looked like the only batsman who could do so at
that moment was Dinesh Karthik. Even though Shankar did manage to eke out a
boundary, he holed out to Mehidy Hasan the very next ball. The catch was an
amazing one, taking on the rebound. So, it was now all down to Dinesh Karthik
to score 5 runs off the last ball. All results were possible at that stage. I
was having the feeling that it might well go into the super over. But, Soumya
Sarkar bowled a loose delivery outside off-stump, and Karthik hit a drive high
in the air. I remember sitting in front of the television with my hands in my
mouth. The ball just bounced a few inches ahead off the ropes, and the whole
team was into the ground in jubilation. It was a memorable victory for India.
Dinesh Karthik had done what MS Dhoni had accomplished so many times in his
illustrious career.
That moment was a sort of
a comeback for Dinesh Karthik, as he was back in contention for a
spot in the World Cup. Recently, in the first T20I in Australia, he nearly took
India through to the finish. He is indeed proving himself as an able finisher,
and as captain of KKR, one can only expect him to get better at that.
But, that moment, when he
hit Soumya Sarkar for a lofted drive over mid-wicket will always remain etched
in my heart, and I am sure in the hearts of many!!!
(This was an answer given by me to a question asked on Quora- https://www.quora.com/What-is-your-favourite-moment-of-a-T20-international/answer/Anirudh-Naveen-Author-Anirudh)
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