By Badri - 15 July, '02
July 15 2002

From his vantage point as a spectator in the Lord's cricket ground, Badri describes the sights and sounds of one of the greatest ODI games ever! The crowd waits to get in

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St.John's wood to Finchley Road, they were coming in their thousands even at 9 in the morning.. lots of anticipation, but there was also a sense of tension, worry perhaps, after our recent record in the finals.

No flags, no whistles were allowed in Lords - who knows how so many flags were smuggled in to be waved around in ecstasy later on in the game? Bags were checked as we went in.

The Ground

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Lord's the mecca of cricket - bah!

Durham, even Edgbaston, looks better - the KSCA in Bangalore is much prettier. The best part of the ground seemed to be the well-designed loos. And the food in the stalls was good too.

The Selection

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I know a lot of people favoured Agarkar for this game, but I think he would have gone for about 80 off 10 overs on this pitch. Let's face it - Kumble and Harbhajan went for about 55 in their 10 overs, and Harbhajan batted well. Knowing Agarkar's batting as we all do, I think the selection of Harbhajan was an inspired fluke.

The English batting

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Trescothick was simply very, very good. Hussain was lucky to get to 40, let alone 100. How he managed to edge the ball all around the ground without getting out was beyond belief. The crowd was getting quieter by the minute, but the support remained unconditional - I personally thought the game was well and truly gone by the time Trescothick got out, but the crowd cheered as if England were 20 for 2, rather than 260 for 2. And when Hussain went at about 300, you would thought we had won the game.

The Indian elements in the crowd were so diverse - lots of men in their 20s and 30s, obviously second-generation immigrants, loads of families, and perhaps most surprisingly, at least 100s of people who were easily 50, if not 60 plus. Talk about passion and commitment.

There was lots of banter and exchanges, all in good humour,with the English supporters too.

The Indian Batting

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I have always wanted to see Ganguly score runs live, and he was disappointing in Durham (0) and Edgbaston. Here, he was on fire. After a disastrous first over, where Sehwag seemed to nonsensically flail at every ball, Ganguly quietened the English supporters by taking on Tudor. Bad first shot - he was lucky not to be caught and bowled, but absolutely majestic after that.

The best shots were reserved for Flintoff - I know television gives great coverage, but to actually see Ganguly carve the ball over point, cover and let it rip through in the gaps on the offside is fantastic to watch live.

I continue to be critical of his captaincy in the Tests, but he is simply a great oneday player.

Sehwag batted as only he can - sublime one ball and crazy swishing outside the off stump the next.

And then, the collapse - the less said the better, except that I feel that I can almost predict what type of innings sachin is going to play. He either middles from ball one, and scores at least 50 - as he did in the last game; or he is scratchy, tense and gets only 10-20. Here, he was the latter. Trying to do too much, and missing a simple ball, which he could have probably hit to midwicket for 4 instead of trying to cut.

I really really hope Giles gets slaughtered in the Tests - he seems so innocuous and boring, but always does well against india.

I, along with thousands of other Indians, left the ground briefly at 147-5. About a 1000 or more actually went home. Luckily, we decided to stay on, and watched Yuvraj and Kaif make it look so simple.

That was what was stunning - the required rate was always around 7-8, but never more. Yuvraj was simply contemptuous in hitting Collingwood and Irani. One pull that he played off Irani will stand in mind.

Mohammed Kaif - phew! What temperament. He seemed so calm, it was almost spooky to watch. Yuvraj was all aggro and big hitting and this guy was just nudging and running - until Yuvraj got out.

In walks Harbhajan, eyes on fire. And scores a MAGNIFICENT six off Flintoff. I think it was in this over that the English team realised that India were coming dangerously close to the target, and panic crept in to their minds.

Kaif meanwhile decided it was time to join the party. The pull shots he played were awesome and clever - he pulled and hooked fine in the Oval against Sri Lanka when they had a deep midwicket and square leg; here, he pulled to midwicket and over midwicket where the field was empty.

A few hiccups when Harbhajan and Kumble got out, but you could sense the match already belonged to India. And Kaif and Zaheer made it look simple, really.

Kaif let his emotions show only when the match was won - he ran AWAY from the pavilion for about 50 yards - whether he got the direction wrong in his confusion, or whether he was celebrating, no one will ever know!!!

Ganguly has always let his passion show, and his t-shirt waving must have been planned for the past half-an-hour!!!

Tendulkar being the quieter and more sober personality joined the team in a run around the ground - he has never been a man to show too much joy and reveal too much passion, has he?

The Scenes Outside

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A lot of MCC members must have felt gutted watching the Bhangra dances around the ground! I know that a few coachfuls of tourists did - they were simply gawking thro the windows at the scenes around the ground. The crowds stayed on around the ground for more than an hour after the game finished.

All in all, worth the £45..........