MUMBAI: The very 2nd that the ball left Nuwan Kulasekara‘s hand, pitched at complete length, to strike the middle of MS Dhoni‘s bat and fly for a six over long on, everything ended up being a blur for around a billion Indians.
The ball disappearing into the smog-filled sky, Ravi Shastri‘s words echoing in everyone’s ears, Sachin Tendulkar being rollovered the shoulders by his teammates and a young Virat Kohli speaking words well beyond his age then are memories that have actually gotten etched in our memories forever.
Yet, the video game itself, once it started at 2. 30 pm IST on April 2 after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first, wasn’t such a blur. It was one that the world watched with bated breath till they might notice it was over and a success accomplished. With memories getting reignited the other day when Indians commemorated the ninth anniversary of that long-awaited World Cup win, the match itself once again ended up being the talking point.
Was MS Dhoni’s 91, particularly the last ball six, any bit more respected than Gautam Gambhir‘s 97? Why was sending out Dhoni ahead of Yuvraj a masterstroke and how did it occur? What worked for Group India that evening?
TOI asked batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, and his prolific opening partner Virender Sehwag, to relive those minutes when again. Here are excerpts from a cherished, special conversation.
Sachin: Once the eleven was decided, something made certain– more or less, the batting order wou