Like I said not much of a cricket fan but I did love that 6 sixers in six balls a few years ago in SA.

Yuvraj's cameo in a 20/20 right?

i was there....i have yet to witness an atmosphere like that in any other sporting event....

Yep thats the one.

Good lord, you are making me jealous. I am yet to watch any match in a stadium. The closest I came is peeping through the door at the MCG when there was no match just to see what a cricket stadium looked like.

Can you really see the players and the ball properly? I mean there is the crowd factor, but apart from that would you watch a game in a stadium or TV?

I loved watching Azharrudin play (apart from Tendulkar, etc).
He was incredible with that wrist flick, and got out a lot flicking to the leg side.

Also, loved to watch Viv Richards.

Interestingly, i Saw Azhar leading the Independence Day parade in Chicago a few years ago. Weird...considering his match-fixing history.


Anyways..finished work! I am going to Philly Flyers game tonight (my first ice-hockey game!).

It was actually the neighbors cheering that made me switch on the TV and just when it came on, Jadeja got out. I missed the entire thing live.

Fond memories of the 1996 World Cup. I was at University in Atlanta and the members of the India Club and Pakistan Student Association pooled our resources to rent a theatre and subscribe to the satellite TV feed for every single game. I had the "Gold" season pass which included a guest ticket to each of the league games and took a bunch of my American friends to their first cricket experience. :)

The India vs Pakistan game was a bit of a circus. We had all the "season ticket" holders show up obviously, plus about 300 others who wanted to buy "day tickets". Fire code be damned, every available inch of floor space was taken up. A few fights broke out as well (we paid for 2 police officers to pull overtime to monitor the crowds) but at the end of the day (well it started in the middle of the night in Atlanta!!!) the Indians took our vanquished Pakistani friends out to breakfast at Waffle House!

More than Jadeja's innings, the most memorable moment for me was Venkatesh Prasad dismissing Aamer Sohail. There was a moment of pure silence followed by the Indians going bonkers and the Pakistanis sinking back into their seats. We even had some of our American friends chanting "Jeetega bhai jeetaga, India jeetega"!!!!

Ah, the good old days....

A cricket match live in India is a whole other experience. I've been to major sporting events all over the world including NBA playoffs, MLB World Series, NFL playoffs, African Cup of Nations Football Finals, etc.. but you really can't beat cricket in India.

Back in my school days in the 80s, I used to skip classes to go to the Wankhede Stadium to watch really dodgy domestic fixtures (Ranji Trophy West Zone League matches) where a good day found 50 people in the stadium!!! One day in 1988 when Bombay was playing Gujarat, I was lucky enough to watch the First Class debut of a 15-year old lad named Sachin Tendulkar. I can still remember his cover drive for four to bring up his century on debut that crashed against the temporary scoreboard in front of the empty Vijay Merchant stand. All 122 of us (yes, big crowd that day) in the stadium knew it was a moment of history and sure enough....

I remember my first ODI fondly. India vs Sri Lanka in 1986. It was the first game that Gavaskar let Srikkanth take first strike when opening the batting. I remember Vengsarkar hitting a huge six into the North Stand that landed just a few rows in front of me. I remember Azharuddin's quickfire century that lasted for years as the fastest 100 by an Indian in ODIs and was subsequently beaten by Azhar himself in the mid-90s. India made 299 in a rain-reduced 40 overs and I was devastated we missed the 300. In response, Sri Lanka managed 289 with Roshan Mahanama scoring 98. This remained a record for the highest losing score by a team batting second for the next decade and more.

I remember the 1987 Reliance Cup. I went to the India vs Zimbabwe league game and managed to get Ian Butchart's autograph. This was just a few days after Dave Houghton's magnificent 140-odd against New Zealand almost won the game for Zimbabwe in support with Butchart so I was very pleased with myself. I remember the semi-final between India and England and the stunned silence in the stadium as Sunil Gavaskar's off stump was sent cartwheeling by Phil DeFreitas -- what turned out to be Gavaskar's last innings for India.

I remember the 1993 India vs England Test Series and more specifically the Third Test in Bombay that India won by an innings and 15 runs. I was working as a runner for TWI Television (Sky Sports) back then (I got the job by writing a poem about Henry Blofeld of all people but thats a long story for another day!!!!) and after the game ended early on Day 5, we started an informal game of tennis-ball cricket on the outfield with the commentators, cameramen and some groundsmen playing. I was the wicket keeper for our team and Michael Holding was bowling off a 3-step runup. The ball was in the corridor outside off-stump to the left handed batsman, who like he had done so many times before wafted lazily at it and got the outside edge that came flying between me and Geoff Boycott at first slip. I stretched my hand out and the ball stuck stuck. As long as I live, my claim to cricketing fame will be that I once had David Gower caught behind off the bowling of Michael Holding. :D

I remember an often forgotten tournament - the 1993 Hero Cup. Due to a television dispute between Doordarshan and STAR Sports, no live telecast was being permitted of the early league games. South Africa played West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium in one of those games. I was lucky to see Jonty Rhodes engage in what I still consider the greatest ever fielding display in cricket history with FIVE catches, each more miraculous than the next. I also remember that day fondly as I managed to get Curtly Ambrose and Allan Donald to sign the same miniature cricket bat for me - still a prized possesion.

More recently, and a completely different experience, I went to a One Day International earlier this year in Toronto of all places between two minnows of the ODI world -- Canada and Ireland. There were no more than 30 of us at the ground when the game started and absolutely no fences or barriers between the spectators and the players. It was incredible contrast to watch an ODI while chatting with the fielders between overs, especially with the mega security that now surrounds cricket in India. A superb experience, especially with the home team Canada winning by Duckworth-Lewis method in the fading light! I took a Polish friend who had never even watched cricket before with me to that game and he is now officially a major fan!!!

Oh dear, I could write about cricket for ever....

B747-437B ....I am totally jealous!!

More memories.

1990 Australia vs Pakistan - Australasia Cup final in Sharjah. This was back in the day when Sharjah was a solid day trip through the desert from Dubai and not the 20 minutes on a highway it is today! Memorable for Wasim Akram's hattrick to end the game -- Merv Hughes, Carl Rackemann and Terry Alderman all clean bowled.

1991 Ranji Trophy Finals - Bombay vs Haryana. Both teams in transition with the older generation of Dilip Vengsarkar, Lalchand Rajput, Raju Kulkarni, etc.. for Bombay and Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma, etc.. for Haryana making their last few appearances. Youngsters like Tendulkar, Kambli, Jadeja, etc.. were just making their mark as well. Haryana took the first innings lead of around 100 runs which meant Bombay had to play for an outright win if they wanted to win the trophy. Haryana was dismissed for around 250 just before lunch on Day 5 giving Bombay around 2 sessions to score 350-ish to win the game at a run a ball. Kapil and Chetan Sharma ripped through the top order and Vengsarkar injured his leg and retired hurt, leaving Bombay effectively 4 down for peanuts. Sachin and Kambli then came together and put on 100+ in quick time before Ajay Jadeja fooled Kambli with a slower ball and enduced a caught-and-bowled. Sachin kept going with Vengsarkar (now with a runner) and was eventually out for just short of his hundred. The limping Vengsarkar now had to shepherd the tail and did a superlative effort of that, standing in his crease and lofting the Haryana bowlers into the North Stand time after time. With about 5 overs to go and still 50 runs to get, the 9th wicket fell bringing a young Abey Kuruvilla (on his first class debut) to the wicket to partner Vengsarkar. The next few overs was Vengsarkar at his absolute best, dispatching Kapil and Chetan for almost 10 runs an over and farming the strike. The last of the "mandatory overs" began with Chetan bowling and a handful left to get. With 3 balls to go though, Kuruvilla goes for a suicidal single and in the confusion with the runners is short of his crease. Run out and Bombay lose the best domestic game I've ever seen by just 2 runs with 2 balls left in the game.

1995 Ranji Trophy Finals - Bombay vs Punjab. Bombay had without a doubt one of the best ever domestic teams of any era. Sanjay Manjrekar, Vinod Kambli, Jatin Paranjpe, Amol Muzumdar, Sameer Dighe, Sairaj Bahutule, Salil Ankola, Paras Mhambrey, Abey Kuruvilla, Nilesh Kulkarni and of course Sachin. It was the scene of the greatest Tendulkar innings I've ever witnessed, and I have seen quite a few in my time. Bombay had already run up a 300+ run lead in the first innings with Tendulkar scoring a relatively sedate 150-ish. That brought us to day 5 morning. With the game already settled, Tendulkar and Bombay had nothing to lose and gave a spectacular display against a Punjab attack that featured some decent bowlers in Bhupinder Singh Sr, Bharti Vij, Ashish Kapoor and Sanjeev Sharma. With 3 overs to go before lunch, Sachin had scored around 20-ish. Suddenly he went beserk against Ashish Kapoor. Took him for 28 runs in that over - 4 fours and 2 sixes. Next over I don't recall the bowler, but Tendulkar got 2 fours and a six, plus a single to keep the strike off the last ball. Ashish Kapoor's last over before lunch went for 30 more runs with 3 fours and 3 sixes and Sachin finished the session unbeaten in his 90s. It was an absolutely breathtaking display. He eventually finished with about 140, which included hammering Punjab captain Navjot Singh Sidhu for 20 off an over a little later in the day - a rare treat to watch Sidhu bowl! Sairaj Bahutule then came in and scored another hundred in about an hour and Bombay finished with something like 500 for 6 declared in less than 80 overs. A truly ferocious display by a really special team that year.

Lots of other special performances by players nobody remembers. Utpal Chatterjee's brilliant 7 for 71 in the 1993 Ranji Finals for Bengal against Bombay. Rajindra Dhanraj of the West Indies (talk about a forgotten name!) being swatted for a mega six out of the stadium by Javagal Srinath in 1994. Srikkanth scoring 57 out of a 60 run opening partnership with Arun Lal against the Windies in 1987.

Jeez, you guys have me rattling on like an old grandfather about the days gone past. I'm even more surprised I can remember all of these games 20+ years on!!!

Wow!! Thanks for the memories!

Excellent stuff B747. Some of my special matches:

1999 World Cup - Ind vs. Sri Lanka. Oh what sweet revenge. Ever since Calcutta '96, I was pained at seeing the pesky Lankans screw us time and time again. Finally Ganguly absolutely murdered Murali. I forgave India for that dark night in Calcutta. How dare they mess with masters of spin??

1999 Ind vs. Pak. The most shocking defeat, I ever saw. Talk about pulling onself from a pit and then snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I still find it difficult to forgive Sachin for the silly shot that got him out.

2001. Ind vs Aus 2nd Test. I think that this match ranks as my best ever. I was so sure the Aussies were going to buldoze us, again and then VVS and the Wall come up with a blinder of innings. I think Waugh made every player bowl that day. And Bhajji's heroics with the ball made the Aussies look like school players. I stood shell shocked watching the Australia collapse and finally even lose the series.

Yup, that really was Azhar's trademark. His student - VVS has a little bit of that as well.

Azhar when on song was a sight to behold. I remember that century against South Africa in CCU, I think he walloped Kluesner for 5 fours in one over.

http://enjoy-cricket-videos.blogspot...s-cricket.html

True, my former Pak colleague jokes that if Pak defeats Ind in cricket, a billion people go to bed hungry that night.

And like many Indians, I will forgive Ind for losing the World Cup if they win against Pak. Haven't we won every single WC match against them? Looks like we win the big ones, lets toss the small stuff to them. :D