Yes, I was there! I saw cricketing history being made today! A record that is unlikely to get broken for many many years to come! Like VJ said, both my wishes for today's game came true! Thanks Sorav, for getting the tickets!
Following is my match report - if you are not a cricket fan, not much of it will make sense. :)
We reached Ferozshah Kotla just a litte before 10. Surprisingly, there wasn't a long queue and we got in easily. I bought a flag on my way in. We already knew that India had won the toss and elected to bat, so we were excited and did not want to miss the first ball. The facilities at the stadium have improved a lot since April. The weather was warm and sunny and just perfect for a day of cricket. We had seats in the second row from the front somewhere between point and cover.We had perfect side view of the pitch. The dressing room was above us and we could see Dhoni sitting there. A section of the crowd behind us was shouting "Dhoni! Dhoni!". Even though the stadium was not full, there was lot of noise.
The match started at 10 AM. The first thing we realized was that sitting at cover, it is impossible to spot the ball as it is bowled. Vaas came running in and when the bowl left his hands, it was completely invisible until it hit the bat. Only Murali's bowls were visible. Fortunately the stadium now has a large screen as well where replays were being shown. The match started at a bad note since our own Sehwag could not play as he was not well. Then the other Delhiite in the team, Gambhir got out in the very first over. Oh oh. Bad memories from April were starting to creep in. But then Dravid and Laxman steadied the innings and were scoring at almost 4 an over. The TV camera focussed on us many times and we dutifully waved the tri-color. I don't know if we actually showed up on TV or not. But the kids sitting in the row behind us spent more time waving to the camera than watching the game.
Dravid got out to Murali and Sachin walked out. The crowd was on its feet and cheered the little master in. Sachin jogged in and turned around to look up to the sun in his characterstic fashion. He started very shakily and miscued a few shots. Inexplicably, the lunch break was declared just 18 overs into the game. Post lunch, Laxman continued in a fine nick and overshadowed Tendulkar. Sachin made it a point to not touch anything outside the off stump. This was rather frustrating for the crowd since he was scoring very slowly. Laxman, played some beautiful cut shots and I think he hardly scored any run square of the wicket. So in the whole day, the ball hardly came towards where we were sitting. Laxman was looking good for a century when Murali got him. At that point India was 133/3 and looked somewhat in trouble. Next, Dada walked out! The crowd gave him a very warm welcome which must have done good to his confidence. It was quite a contrast to how Dravid was treated by the Calcutta crowd! Dilliwalas have big dils! Ganguly also started off nervously. This was the most boring part of the day. Sachin and Ganguly were scoring at barely 2 runs per over. Sachin continued to leave most deliveries untouched while Ganguly kept finding the fielders. According to Dravid, Sachin does this to make bowlers bowl to him where he wants them to. It must take lot of patience to play like this. Ganguly, trying to break the shackles, stepped out the crease and completely missed the ball. Luckily the wicket keeper messed up a very easy stumping. There was a collective sigh of relief from the crowd! Around this time, a message flashed on the large screen asking the crowd to start a mexican wave. The raucous crowd duly obliged and soon there was a mexican wave running through the stadium. There was so much noise in the stadium, I wonder how the batsmen maintain their concentration.
Post tea, Sachin needed 40 odd runs to get to his hundered. Going by the rate at which he was scoring, it seemed unlikely. But the Indian cricket fan survives on hope! Slowly, Ganguly started to settle down and hit a couple of lovely cover drives off the spinners. Then, out of nowhere, Sachin scored three consecutive boundaries on Murali's bowling. The crowd went completely berserk and everybody was off their seats! Sachin also hit Bandara for a six. Suddenly Sachin was in the 80s. At this point, the shadows were getting longer, and the umpires brought out the light meter. Were we going to be denied? We had tickets just for today and it would have been a shame if the game had to be called off on account of poor light. Fortunately, umpires decided that there was enough light. Sachin got into top gear and played aggressive cricket from there on. He hit Vaas for two fours in an over and soon he was on 97. The atmosphere was electric by now. Everybody was shouting Sachin! Sachin! Sachin! It is beyond me how he manages to keep his cool under so much pressure. At 99, the umpires again offered the batsmen option to end the day due to low light. Obviously, Sachin was not ready to spend a sleepless light. At last, he scored a single and the crowd broke into a huge applause. Sachin pumped his hands in air, raised his bat and looked upto the sky. He looked quite emotional as he took off his helmet. That was the end of thd day. History had been made. And I was there!
