India Vs South Africa - A Cricket One Day Series to Remember

The first one was a cliffhanger. The second one wasaccompany such shots.
history. And the third one was a pride restoringThe dream of 200 was reached in the last over and
exercise.history made. With 47 test centuries and 46 ODI
The three match One Day International (ODI) Cricketcenturies Tendulkar now became the first one to hit
series between India and South Africa concluded at200 in the entire history of one day cricket. Adulation
Ahmedabad, India on February 27, 2010. It had beencame from all quarters-from the national and
a series to remember for cricketing and for manyinternational cricket experts and players, the cricket
other reasons.lovers and the political leaders too-crowning him as
The first ODI at Jaipur had all the suspensethe greatest cricketer of all time. Nasser Hussein
fluctuation of fortunes and twists. For reasonsfrom England decided to put him above even the
unknown South Africa chose to field first aftergreatest Sir Donald Bradman.
winning the toss and decided to drop Hashim Amla,Political leaders of all hues and colors showered praise
the batsman in devastating form fresh after the teston the master blaster proving once again that cricket
series. With typical uncertainty and jerks Indiacontinues to be the unifying force in a country
managed to score a big 298/9 after 50 overs anddivided on cultural and linguistic lines. A strong regional
looked like clinching the match midway in the Africanpolitical party of Maharashtra who recently created
innings. But the uncanny twist in the form of ahavoc claiming proprietary rights over Mumbai for
Parnell-Steyn ninth wicket partnership nearly won theonly sons of soil and even criticized Tendulkar for
match for South Africa. India ultimately won by 1 rundaring to call Mumbai a city for all Indians and
and took 1-0 lead.vouching for his Indian identity now turned turtle
The second ODI at Gwalior was a blast. Despite theclamoring for conferring the Bharat Ratna(the Pearl
early loss of Sehwag there was no respite for theof India)-the highest civil award of the country-on
African bowlers as Indian batsmen blazed away.Sachin Tendulkar (Tendualkar is a son of soil and his
Sachin Tendulkar was at his aggressive best frommother tongue is Marathi-the official state language
the word go and played mighty shots all around theof Maharashtra).
park rekindling memories of his prowess in theThe South African chase of 402 runs was nothing
nineties.much to write about finally losing the match by 153
Tendulkar crossed the fifty mark, the century mark,runs. India won the series taking an invincible lead of
the one hundred fifty mark and things started2-0.
happening in the minds of millions all around the globe.In the third match South Africa won emphatically and
Hysteria engulfed the stadium as he surpassed therestored some of its lost pride. India without four
previous individual score records in ODIs of 194 heldkey players from the onset of the series still went
jointly by Saeed Anwar of Pakistan (1997) andahead with the inevitable experimentation resting
Charles Coventry of Zimbabwe (2009).more players including Tendulkar. As if win or defeat
At that moment just two overs were left and Indianno longer mattered. Why not then take the
skipper Dhoni was into his lustiest of hits dispatchingAustralian standard of best of three or five that
the balls like bullets over the boundaries. As singlesdoes not play matches of academic interest once the
were not taken Tendulkar watched from the otherseries is decided?
end needing just one run with crowds howling withThree cheers for cricket!
impatience instead of the usual revelry that normally