Playing It My Way: My Autobiography (30 page)

Once the partnership had started to blossom I had a feeling that something dramatic might happen. I can’t explain why, but I was convinced it was not all over for us yet. The rest of the team sensed the opportunity too and soon each run was cheered in the dressing room. I was sitting on a table in the middle of the room and was eating one energy bar after another. I was not particularly hungry but in the intensity of the moment kept polishing off the bars. Before long the atmosphere had changed dramatically and everyone was engrossed in the game. Cricketers are a superstitious lot and no one was allowed to shift position. If someone wanted to go to the toilet, he wasn’t allowed to do so in the middle of an over; he could only go at the end of an over and had to come back before the start of the next.

By the fortieth over, Yuvraj and Kaif had got the measure of the English bowling and we realized we had a real chance of winning the title. The next few batsmen were all charged up and even when Yuvraj got out for 69 there was no dip in intensity. Kaif was still out there and we knew that the target was within reach. Finally, when Zaheer and Kaif ran the winning runs in the last over of the match, the dressing room leaped in delight. We could not stop smiling and hugging each other – and Sourav did the unthinkable of taking off his shirt and waving it above his head as he stood bare-chested on the Lord’s balcony. It is an iconic image now but for some reason Sourav is always much too embarrassed to talk about it whenever I ask him!

We stayed in the dressing room for hours, picking over the finer points of the victory. We’d heard that the England team had ordered champagne by the middle of our innings and had put a number of bottles on ice. With India at 146–5, an English win was deemed a mere formality. I don’t know if this story is true, but a number of our players suggested to the England team at the end of the game that it was time to pass the champagne over to us. We would be happy to take care of it. A number of bottles did make their way to our dressing room and we finished them off before we left Lord’s.

There were Indian supporters everywhere and the stretch from the WG Grace Gate to St John’s Wood Tube station was packed with fans waving the tricolour and celebrating. The traffic had come to a standstill, with people playing music on the road and enjoying the moment. The police were extremely patient and realized it was a special occasion. A large crowd had waited for us to leave and were all waving at the team bus and taking pictures as we finally left Lord’s with the trophy. It was a day few of us would forget.

The victory, which had seen youngsters like Yuvraj and Kaif come to the fore, suggested that the core of India’s team for the 2003 World Cup was gradually coming together. It also proved that we had a side capable of doing well in overseas conditions. In Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh we had a more than competent bowling line-up, and with Sehwag, Sourav, Rahul, Yuvraj, Kaif and myself, we were capable of out-batting any opposition. Now it was important to sustain the momentum and peak at the right time to have a crack at the world title that had eluded us for so long.

1st Test. Mohali. 3–6 December 2001

England 238 (N Hussain 85, ME Trescothick 66; H Singh 5–51) and 235 (GP Thorpe 62, ME Trescothick 46; A Kumble 6–81)

India 469 (D Dasgupta 100,
SR Tendulkar 88
, R Dravid 86, SC Ganguly 47; RKJ Dawson 4–134, M Hoggard 3–98) and 5–0

India won by 10 wickets

2nd Test. Ahmedabad. 11–15 December 2001

England 407 (C White 121, ME Trescothick 99, MA Butcher 51; A Kumble 7–115,
SR Tendulkar 1–27
) and 257 (MA Butcher 92, N Hussain 50; H Singh 5–71, A Kumble 3–118)

India 291 (
SR Tendulkar 103
, VVS Laxman 75; AF Giles 5–67) and 198–3 (D Dasgupta 60, SS Das 58,
SR Tendulkar 26
; RKJ Dawson 2–72)

Match drawn

3rd Test. Bangalore. 19–23 December 2001

England 336 (MP Vaughan 64, MR Ramprakash 58, JS Foster 48; J Srinath 4–73, S Singh 3–54) and 33–0

India 238 (
SR Tendulkar 90
, V Sehwag 66; A Flintoff 4–50, MJ Hoggard 4–80)

Match drawn

India won the series 1–0

1st Test. Lord’s. 25–29 July 2002

England 487 (N Hussain 155, JP Crawley 64, A Flintoff 59; Z Khan 3–90, A Kumble 3–128) and 301–6 dec (JP Crawley 100*, MP Vaughan 100; A Kumble 3–84)

India 221 (V Sehwag 84, R Dravid 46,
SR Tendulkar 16
; MJ Hoggard 3–33, A Flintoff 2–22) and 397 (AB Agarkar 109*, VVS Laxman 74, R Dravid 63, W Jaffer 53,
SR Tendulkar 12
; MJ Hoggard 4–87)

England won by 170 runs

2nd Test. Nottingham. 8–12 August 2002

India 357 (V Sehwag 106, SC Ganguly 68, H Singh 54,
SR Tendulkar 34
; MJ Hoggard 4–105, SJ Harmison 3–57) and 424–8 dec (R Dravid 115, SC Ganguly 99,
SR Tendulkar 92
; DC Cork 2–54, SJ Harmison 2–63, MP Vaughan 2–71)

England 617 (MP Vaughan 197, C White 94*, AJ Stewart 87, MA Butcher 53; Z Khan 3–110, H Singh 3–175)

Match drawn

3rd Test. Leeds. 22–26 August 2002

India 628–8 dec (
SR Tendulkar 193
, R Dravid 148, SC Ganguly 128, SB Bangar 68; AR Caddick 3–150)

England 273 (AJ Stewart 78*, MP Vaughan 61; H Singh 3–40, A Kumble 3–93) and 309 (f/o) (N Hussain 110, AJ Stewart 47; A Kumble 4–66, SB Bangar 2–54)

India won by an innings and 46 runs

4th Test. The Oval. 5–9 Sep 2002

England 515 (MP Vaughan 195, ME Trescothick 57, MA Butcher 54; H Singh 5–115, SB Bangar 2–48, Z Khan 2–83) and 114–0 (ME Trescothick 58*, MP Vaughan 47*)

India 508 (R Dravid 217,
SR Tendulkar 54
, SC Ganguly 51; AR Caddick 4–114)

Match drawn

Series drawn 1–1

India’s preparation for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe really started during the tour to New Zealand in December 2002. We lost to the Kiwis in both formats of the game and while those defeats were demoralizing, as defeats always are, they helped the team to focus with just a month to go before the World Cup.

We played two Test matches in New Zealand and lost both. In the first Test at Wellington, which started on 12 December, we were beaten by ten wickets, with the match finishing in just three days. The pitch offered a lot of assistance to the fast bowlers and even Parthiv Patel, our wicketkeeper, was getting the ball to swing prodigiously in the nets.

I played the first Test with an injured finger, which I had hurt during practice. On the first morning, when the rest of the team were on the ground preparing to play, I was in hospital with Andrew Leipus getting my finger checked. The pain was getting severe and I was finding it impossible to catch the ball. Even when a fielder gently tossed the ball to me to pass on to the bowler I was having difficulty catching it. Batting was not so much of a problem, as I could grip the bat as normal, but fielding was a real issue. I asked the doctor to numb my finger, but he refused, saying I would have no idea where my finger was and might break it if I didn’t catch the ball properly. All I could do was put up with the pain.

When I got back to the ground, I went up to captain Sourav Ganguly and suggested I should field at short leg. In that position, the ball would either lob to me or, if it was a firm hit, I would receive the blow on my body instead of attempting to catch it. Both of these possibilities were fine by me. At short leg no one expects you to stop a full-blooded shot with your hands. It was one of the few times I stood in that position in the second half of my career.

Although the second Test match at Hamilton the following week was a low-scoring game, in the end it turned out to be a competitive one. On reaching Hamilton, we were shocked to see the track had been watered so much that the pitch was incredibly damp two days before the Test match. Then a lot of rain fell and the covers couldn’t be removed to allow it to dry properly. John Wright, our coach, tried inserting a key into the pitch the day before the match and the whole key went in without any effort. It was anything but a good Test wicket.

The dampness delayed the start by four hours on the first day, despite it being bright and sunny in Hamilton. The umpires did the right thing by waiting, as there was no way Test cricket could be played in such conditions. The crowd was getting restless but there was nothing the umpires or players could do. When the match finally started we lost the toss and were sent in to bat first in nigh-on impossible batting conditions. We were bowled out for 99, with no one managing to get in.

I was sitting next to John Wright when Harbhajan was going out to bat, with India six wickets down. John, a New Zealander, had tried telling us that we needed to stay at the wicket and that batting was expected to become easier with time. I told John not to say anything to Harbhajan about digging in. Far better that he should just go out and swing his bat. Time wasn’t a factor, as the match was not likely to last the full five days anyway, and whatever runs he managed to score would be valuable. Harbhajan went on to make a quick 20, all in boundaries, and got out trying to defend the ninth ball he faced. His innings gave John a good laugh amidst all the disappointment of the low score. While Bhajji had scored 20 in no time, all the batsmen who had tried to stick around struggled to reach double figures.

New Zealand didn’t do any better; in fact, we managed to get a first-innings lead of five runs, which just goes to show the nature of the wicket. In the second innings Rahul and I had a pretty good partnership but neither of us managed to kick on for a big score. After the partnership was broken, wickets fell in a heap and we finally set New Zealand a target of 160.

I must mention the unique feat of Ashish Nehra in this game. He was the first man to bat twice and bowl in two innings on the same day in Test cricket. We had scored 92–8 by the end of the first day’s play and Ashish was one of the not-out batsmen. He resumed his innings on the second day but we were soon all out for 99. He was then part of our attack as we bowled New Zealand out for 94 in their first innings, before we ourselves were bowled out in our second innings for 154. Finally, when New Zealand came out to bat in the fourth innings of the match, Ashish had another bowl at them in the final moments of the day.

We discussed his feat in the dressing room and wondered if anything of the sort had happened before. A total of twenty-two wickets had fallen in a day and there wasn’t much that the batsmen on either side could do in such conditions. It was disappointing for the crowd, who had come to watch a five-day game. Their only consolation was that the match was very close in the end and the home team won by four wickets.

With both Test matches over early, I decided to spend a lot of time in the gym working on my fitness ahead of the World Cup. Sehwag was my training partner and we used to award marks. We worked on specific body parts each day and rated each other for the effort put in. We even joked that we were perhaps scoring more marks in the gym than the total runs we had scored in the series. But both Sehwag and I were confident that the effort put in would pay off sooner or later.

After the Test series was wrapped up we played a seven-match one-day series, losing 2–5. Again, most of the wickets weren’t really suitable for international cricket. I did not feature in the first four matches because of an ankle injury, which I sustained in practice on the eve of the first one-dayer at Auckland. It was one of the few freakish injuries I have had in my career. I had just finished bowling a long spell to each of our batsmen when Srinath called out, ‘Last ball, with four runs to win.’ I picked up the ball again to bowl one final delivery at him. I had not noticed a big hole in the corner of the practice pitch and, unluckily for me, as I ran to stop Srinath’s shot, my foot landed in the hole and I slumped to the ground in agony. After a frustrating couple of weeks, I eventually made a comeback in the fifth match of the series, at Wellington, and was promptly out for a duck. In fact I scored just one run in each of the next two matches and Anjali and I joked about my scores – which read 0, 1, 1 – being the dialling code for an Indian city!

The New Zealand experience was best summed up by the home captain Stephen Fleming. At the end of the tour Fleming stated that the tour had done enough to breed a sense of false complacency among the bowlers, while the batsmen were now worrying about flaws in technique that weren’t really there. The conditions were simply not good enough for international cricket and the series was not the best advertisement for the game.

There was no doubt I was not in the best physical shape when the team left for the World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe in February 2003. I was recovering from three injuries: the finger, the ankle and a strained hamstring. As a result, at our training camp in Paarl, in the Western Cape, I was not able to run with the team and spent my time cycling to keep up my cardio exercises. It was frustrating, but I knew I had to push myself to get back to fitness before the first match of the tournament against the Netherlands on 12 February.

The injury that bothered me most was the ankle. It had not fully healed and I had to strap it before every practice session and match. Strapping the ankle all the time became an ordeal and it started to frustrate me. So much so that one day I was careless when removing the strapping after training and suddenly felt a strange sensation in my hand. I was holding the strapping, which had a thick layer of my skin on it, which had come out of my heel. The skin was stuck to the tape and I ended up putting it back because otherwise there would have to be a hole in a sensitive area of the foot. I know it sounds gruesome, but there was little else I could do in the circumstances. After that it was particularly painful when I had to go into the sea with the rest of the team as part of our recovery routine and the salty water would really sting. The incident at least taught me to be more careful about handling my injuries, however frustrating they might be.