World Cup gets the kiss of life

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Two superb centuries, 676 runs scored in a day, a ding-dong battle in which fortunes swung one way then the other violently, and finally a tie: could there have been a better script to this match? If this does not give the World Cup the kiss of life, nothing else can.

It’s not often you see Sachin Tendulkar being upstaged after scoring a century. Since he’s scored a whopping 98 of them (including the one yesterday), there might be a few occasions, but memory fails when this could have been done with the majestic authority that Andrew Strauss displayed.

Indeed, even the master-blaster would have doffed his hat in acknowledgement of the England captain’s superb effort.

Tendulkar’s innings was marked by supreme control and sublime strokeplay. The manner in which he extinguished the threat from England’s two best-regarded bowlers — Anderson and Swann — was remarkable in its intent and execution as he grabbed psychological hold over the proceedings.

But the value of Strauss’s rises a couple of notches higher than Tendulkar’s because of the greater `difficulty quotient’. Even on a dead-as-dodo pitch chasing 339 is a massive task. Add to this the fact that his team had huffed and puffed to victory even against lowly Netherlands — plus crowd pressure — and even the most optimistic England fan would have said that this was a lost cause.

That it wasn’t became evident from the manner in which Strauss went on the offence from the word go. Chasing a huge score entails taking huge risks, but runs seemed to explode from his bat with such assurance and regularity that India’s attack — pace and spin alike — was soon in disarray.

Pindrop silence descended on the ground as the crowd sensed an upset, broken only by the sound of ball hitting Strauss’s magnum willow and speeding to the fence (and over) from thumping drives, powerful cuts and pulls. The fast bowlers were banished quickly by Dhoni and thereafter even the close-in fielders he employed with his spinners to hustle the batsmen as Strauss became even more belligerent.

Following the Ashes victory, it had appeared that England had gone off the boil, their motivation had slumped. After climbing Everest, as it were, lesser peaks become less interesting. Beaten 1-6 by Australia in the ODI series, England looked jaded — mentally and physically — coming into this tournament.

They needed a wake-up call to tell them this is the World Cup, no less. This perhaps came in the struggle against the Dutch. They also needed somebody to take the lead in reviving motivation and energy levels to a level that makes them believe they can win the title.

This couldn’t have been done more tellingly than the captain taking charge.

Sadly, Strauss fell just when it appeared victory was there for the asking, an inspired last spell from Zaheer Khan bringing his team back from the dead, as it were.

After more twists and turns, the verdict finally was a tie, but cricket was clearly the winner.