Playing It My Way: My Autobiography (32 page)

This innings must rank as one of the best I have played because of the immense pressure it was played under. Each boundary brought me an ovation from the raucous crowd. Wearing the tricolour on my helmet on sport’s biggest stage against the nation’s premier opposition while being watched by close to a billion fans – what more could I have asked for? I just had to bat Pakistan out of the game.

It was in my seventies that I started cramping up. I received some treatment but refused to have a runner as I have always been uncomfortable with someone else running for me. My concentration was affected and much as I would have liked to power on, it wasn’t possible. I eventually got out to a short ball from Shoaib Akhtar for 98. In that physical state I found it difficult to get up on my toes to keep the rising ball down. I walked back to a standing ovation.

Importantly, we still had a deficit of 96 runs and my innings would have little value if we lost a couple of quick wickets. There was no need to fear, as Rahul and Yuvraj took control and finished the match with almost five overs to spare. They both made half-centuries and India had won a famous contest, continuing our run of success against Pakistan in World Cups.

I felt very proud when I went out to receive the Man of the Match award, a watch. It was one for all our passionate fans back home. I called a number of my friends in India and was told that the country had erupted in celebrations. We were glad we could give our people such a moment to cherish.

Nobody wanted to call a halt to the celebrations in the dressing room, until finally the team decided to go out for something to eat, as we were all starving. It was close to midnight and we ended up going to a roadside stall for Chinese food. My friends Sunil Harshe and Sanjay Narang, there to cheer on the Indian team, also came along, and it was over our dinner of noodles that I decided to give Sanjay my Man of the Match watch to take back to Mumbai.

Some time later, after we had finished dinner and were on our way back to the hotel, Sanjay panicked. He told me that he had left the watch at the Chinese food stall. At first I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t and he said he would never joke about something as precious as a World Cup Man of the Match award. He immediately called the stall and told them he had left his Adidas bag behind, saying that it contained his shoes rather than a gold watch. Then we rushed back and, to our enormous relief, an elderly lady handed over the bag with a smile.

Our next three matches were against Kenya, Sri Lanka and New Zealand and we won them all convincingly. India were playing fantastic cricket and we had started to believe that we could give Australia a run if we made the final. Here I am a bit embarrassed to reveal a very personal secret relating to the Sri Lanka match. On the eve of the match I had a bad stomach and was feeling dehydrated. This happened because I had not yet fully recovered from the cramp I had suffered while playing Pakistan and as a result had had a lot of isotonic drinks. I also added a teaspoon of salt to the energy drinks, thinking it would help the recovery, and that caused a tummy upset. In fact, the situation was so bad that I had to bat with tissues inside my underwear. I even had to go back to the dressing room during one of the drinks breaks and was feeling extremely uncomfortable in the middle. I somehow scored 97, but batting with stomach cramps wasn’t a pleasant experience. I was pushing myself to the limits of endurance and in the end I was glad that the effort paid off.

India were now in the semi-final and we were drawn to play Kenya, who had caused a stir by beating a few of the top-ranked teams. In fact, during the match between Kenya and Sri Lanka, which we watched in the games room in our hotel, a rather odd thing happened. Every time we said something good about a Sri Lankan player, the player got out. It was strange and in no time Kenya had caused a huge upset.

We played our semi-final against Kenya at Durban and managed to win the match comfortably. Sourav and I had a very good partnership and the team managed 270 in our fifty overs before bowling the Kenyans out for 179. We were in the World Cup final, with eight straight wins behind us. The defeat to Australia in the qualifying rounds seemed a lifetime away. Now we were playing them in the final and we were convinced we had the team to stop them from winning back-to-back world titles.

Up till then, all of the players in the team had only watched others take part in a World Cup final. Now it was our turn. The excitement back home was extraordinary and a huge number of people had come to South Africa to cheer on the team. We had peaked at the right time and were playing some really good cricket. Naturally we were all determined to give our best in the final but perhaps we got ourselves too wound up. The evening before the final the team decided to spend some time in the pool. To our surprise, the water was freezing but that did not stop us from jumping in together. I didn’t sleep well that night.

When we got to the ground the next morning, we immediately went over to take a look at the surface. It was apparent to us all that there was moisture in the pitch and, given it was a day game, the fast bowlers were sure to get some early assistance. It would not be a bad idea to field first if we won the toss. That’s what we did, but the decision turned out to be a disaster, with Ricky Ponting playing one of the best one-day innings of all time, making 140. Australia scored a mammoth 359 in their fifty overs and had almost batted us out of the game.

In hindsight, I would still have opted to field. It was because we could not keep a lid on our excitement that we lost the plot early on. Zaheer conceded 15 runs in the first over and though we still felt we could make a comeback after that one bad over, it just didn’t happen. Towards the concluding stages of their innings, every big shot that Ponting played made our task that much more difficult. In a final, every run scored after the total passes 300 is worth double and 358 was an intimidating target against a fantastic Australian bowling attack. In the team discussion at the interval we reckoned that we needed to hit one boundary every over and then score the remaining 160 runs in 250 balls. It was an attempt to be positive, as there was no other option left to us at that point.

I took first strike again and managed to score a four with a mistimed pull off McGrath. When I attempted a second pull shot I got a top edge and felt utterly dejected to see McGrath settle down under the ball to take the catch. In situations like those you can only pray that the ball falls in no man’s land or that the fielder makes a mistake. It was not to be and I was on my way to the pavilion. While walking back, I kept asking myself why on earth I had played that shot. Maybe I should have given myself two or three overs to settle down, but the pressure of the chase was such that attack seemed the only option.

In the middle of the innings there was some light drizzle and it turned really dark. My thoughts went back to the South Africa series in January 1997 when rain had denied us victory. This time I was praying for rain and hoping that the match would be washed out, forcing a re-match the next day. We were not so lucky and were eventually all out for 234.

At the presentation it was difficult to watch the Australians celebrate while our own camp was feeling the pain of defeat. When my name was called to collect the Man of the Tournament award for the 673 runs I had scored, it didn’t give me much excitement. I am not suggesting that I did not feel honoured or proud, but the feeling was overshadowed by the loss. Now we would have to wait four years before we could have another crack at the World Cup.

In my disappointment, I had not even noticed that the bat I was presented with as the Man of the Tournament was made of gold and I just stuffed it in my kitbag and checked it in as luggage on the way back. Only when people asked to see the bat after we landed in Mumbai did I realize it was gold and had been specially crafted. All I did on the flight back was sleep. Most of the players were still upset and were in no mood to talk. It would take a long time to get over the disappointment.

Looking back, the 2003 World Cup remains a bitter-sweet memory. We played some excellent cricket as a team and I contributed well in almost all of the matches – but not in the final. Beating England and Pakistan were unforgettable high points, but the World Cup trophy was still eluding me.

7th match. India v Netherlands at Paarl. 12 February 2003

India 204 (48.5/50 ov); Netherlands 136 (48.1/50 ov)

India won by 68 runs

11th match. Australia v India at Centurion. 15 February 2003

India 125 (41.4/50 ov); Australia 128–1 (22.2/50 ov)

Australia won by 9 wickets (with 166 balls remaining)

17th match. Zimbabwe v India at Harare. 19 February 2003

India 255–7 (50/50 ov); Zimbabwe 172 (44.4/50 ov)

India won by 83 runs

25th match. India v Namibia at Pietermaritzburg. 23 February 2003

India 311–2 (50/50 ov); Namibia 130 (42.3/50 ov)

India won by 181 runs

30th match. England v India at Durban. 26 February 2003

India 250–9 (50/50 ov); England 168 (45.3/50 ov)

India won by 82 runs

36th match. India v Pakistan at Centurion. 1 March 2003

Pakistan 273–7 (50/50 ov); India 276–4 (45.4/50 ov)

India won by 6 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)

2nd super. India v Kenya at Cape Town. 7 March 2003

Kenya 225–6 (50/50 ov); India 226–4 (47.5/50 ov)

India won by 6 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)

4th super. India v Sri Lanka at Johannesburg. 10 March 2003

India 292–6 (50/50 ov); Sri Lanka 109 (23/50 ov)

India won by 183 runs

7th super. India v New Zealand at Centurion. 14 March 2003

New Zealand 146 (45.1/50 ov); India 150–3 (40.4/50 ov)

India won by 7 wickets (with 56 balls remaining)

2nd semi-final. India v Kenya at Durban. 20 March 2003

India 270–4 (50/50 ov); Kenya 179 (46.2/50 ov)

India won by 91 runs

Final. Australia v India at Johannesburg. 23 March 2003

Australia 359–2 (50/50 ov); India 234 (39.2/50 ov)

Australia won by 125 runs

As soon as the World Cup was over I consulted a series of specialists and was advised to have an operation on the ring finger of my left hand because of calcification. There was no other option and in April 2003 I travelled to Baltimore, USA, with my family to get the surgery done. Dr Anant Joshi, as on many occasions in the past, was with me, and his reassuring presence, together with that of my friends Vini Desai and Paresh Bhakta, was always a great source of strength in moments like these.

The surgical process turned out to be slightly out of the ordinary because I was not the best patient. I was extremely worried that the doctors would cut open my palm. Cutting the palm would mean substantially altering my grip, which I really didn’t want to do. I explained to both my surgeons the nuances of cricket and urged them to cut open the back of the hand. I was so obsessed with this issue that I woke up during the surgery and asked them to show me where they had made the incision. Dr Joshi later told me that they were all surprised to see me awake despite the anaesthesia. The doctors showed me that my palm had been left untouched and told me to calm down and allow them to carry on. Satisfied, I instantly drifted back to sleep.

The surgery kept me off the field for close to four months. There was not much cricket scheduled then and I missed only one tour, of Bangladesh, in the period I was out. The recovery was painful and, as often happens, I jarred the hand on a number of occasions during the period of convalescence. The one time I hurt it really badly was when I was holidaying in London in June 2003. Anjali and I went out for dinner and then took a taxi back to the hotel. While paying the taxi driver my finger got stuck in the glass of the window and I fell to the ground in severe pain. The taxi driver was alarmed but Anjali assured him that it was not his fault and told him to carry on. After a few painful minutes I finally managed to walk back to the hotel.

So far, 2003 had turned out to be a good year for Indian cricket. Making the World Cup final was something to be proud of, but there were still plenty of challenges ahead. We were due to play a Test series against the world champions in Australia at the end of the year and that tour was to be followed by one to Pakistan in early 2004.

Before leaving for Australia we played a one-day tri-series at home against Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2003. I was in good form and scored a couple of hundreds on the way to the final. Though we lost to Australia at Eden Gardens, I came away from it feeling confident of doing well in front of big Australian crowds.

Unfortunately my series Down Under started in the worst possible fashion at the Gabba on 4 December 2003. I lasted just three balls and was given out lbw to Jason Gillespie when the ball struck the top flap of my pad. I thought it would have gone over the stumps by six inches or more and I was disappointed to see the umpire raise his finger. Sourav and VVS Laxman managed to steady the ship, and Sourav, captaining India for the first time in Australia, duly played one of his finest Test innings. His 144 at Brisbane helped to set the tone for the series. At the end of the day’s play he was ecstatic and had every reason to be so.

The first Test was drawn and we moved to Adelaide for the second Test on 12 December. The Adelaide wicket was good for batting and the Australians made the most of their opportunity. When they scored 400 runs on the first day, I clearly remember the Australian team standing up on the dressing-room balcony and cheering the batsmen off the field. Day two started better for us and, with Anil bowling beautifully, we managed to restrict Australia to 556 in their first innings. With the good batting conditions and a lot of time still left in the match, there was every chance we could make a contest of it if we batted well enough.