da bet7： Thirty two wickets in the series alone was not enough for HarbhajanSingh
da wazamba： Anand Vasu22-Mar-2001Thirty two wickets in the series alone was not enough for HarbhajanSingh. With eight wickets down, the tension mounting and Australiadesperately trying to knock off the last two wickets, Harbhajan Singhsliced a ball past point and won for India the Pepsi Series by twomatches to one on Thursday. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is now in thesafe possession of Sourav Ganguly’s Indian team as a result of thepulsating finish to the third and final Test.If Harbhajan Singh hitting the winning runs saw that poetic justicewas served, Sameer Dighe with the steely look of a man possessed inhis eyes, played an innings that defied the Aussies. The last sessionwas so fraught with tension, the air at the ground could have been cutwith a bread knife. The religious prayed, the nervous smoked, scribestyped furiously as the players slugged it out in the middle. Therecould have been no better advertisement for Test cricket than the gamethat just concluded at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk. SteveWaugh’s Australians lost, but the look on the captain’s face at theend of the day said it all. It was a battle to the death, one team hadto lose and in this case it was the touring side.The day began however, with the Australians at 241/7 and looking toadd runs. The man they turned to, Steven Rodger Waugh was back in thecool confines of the pavilion. Beaten by the turn and bounce of aHarbhajan Singh offspinner, the Australian captain edged the ball ontopad and to forward short leg. At 246/8 the Indians looked to close infor the kill. Steve Waugh’s 47 gave Australia a glimmer of hope, butproved to be a little short at the end of the day. Australia managed264, a lead of 155.Harbhajan Singh with 8/84 in the second innings ended with matchfigures of 15/217 set up the platform for India’s victory charge.And what a charge it was. India began their effort to chase 155 in asmooth manner. Sadagoppan Ramesh timed the ball sweetly through theoffside even as Das played second fiddle. This opening pair complementeach other ideally. While Ramesh was fire and brimstone, Das was calmat one end. Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie steamed in, doing theirbest to dislodge the opening partnership. Bowling a good line andlength, the Aussie fast bowling pair managed to keep things quiet andDas committed a blunder.Attempting to hook a rising delivery from McGrath when he was 9, Daswas a touch late on the ball. Even as the ball ballooned into the airfor McGrath to catch himself, Das (35m, 17b, 2×4) walked back to thepavilion. VVS Laxman joined Ramesh out in the middle and the pair tookIndia through to lunch without further damage.Soon after lunch, the run of play began to fluctuate. While Laxmanbatted with aplomb, driving, cutting and pulling well, a spate ofwickets falling cheaply at the other end set back India. A needlessmix up between Laxman and Ramesh saw the Tamil Nadu southpaw strandedmidpitch. Ramesh made 25. Sachin Tendulkar played a couple of crackingshots against Warne, first pulling and then cutting him to the fenceoff consecutive balls. When Tendulkar got comfortable against thespinners, Waugh brought Jason Gillespie into the attack. Bowling withintensity, Gillespie let rip a menacing delivery from around thewicket. Before Tendulkar could sway out of the way, the ball flew offthe glove to Mark Waugh at slip. Much more was expected of Tendulkarthan his eventual 17.Sourav Ganguly needed to play a sensible knock, batting around Laxman.Instead, the Indian captain slashed hard at Gillespie and was given areprieve when the ball flew through the slip cordon. Off the nextball, Ganguly tried that again and the result was different. MarkWaugh pouched the catch and Ganguly was gone. Rahul Dravid, coming inwith the score on 117/4 departed just five runs later, trying to driveMiller through the on side. The resultant leading edge was well caughtby a diving Steve Waugh at mid off.Then came the innings that made the difference between victory anddefeat. Sameer Dighe, making his Test debut silenced all his criticsby wielding the willow with maturity. Playing with a dead straight batDighe kept out both Gillespie and McGrath. When there was a bit ofwidth, Dighe was up for the shot, cutting hard, often even slashingthe ball to the fence. With VVS Laxman (66 runs, 136 mins, 82 balls,12 fours) being brilliantly caught by Mark Waugh off Miller with thescore on 135, the burden of India’s expectations fell on Dighe’sshoulders.Undaunted even by the loss of Sairaj Bahutule and Zaheer Khan, Digheremained unbeaten on 22 as India scored the requisite runs. A veryrelieved Dighe made a telling comment a bit after the game. Tendulkaronce told Dighe that playing Test cricket was not simply about talentor ability. It was heart and the courage to fight that shaped successsaid Tendulkar.Today, Dighe did Tendulkar proud, showing precisely those qualities inabundance.
