And most alarmingly for the partisan home crowd, also in Strauss' nerveless, unhurried pursuit of the total. There was an inevitability about Tendulkar's calibrated takedown of England's bowlers, particularly leading lights James Anderson and Graeme Swann. The two centuries - Tendulkar's 47th in ODIs, Strauss' sixth - formed the core of each innings.
India vs England, Bangalore, 2011 had everything for everyone - the classicists, the one-eyed fans, big-hit junkies and drama gourmands. But what balanced the contest and cranked up temperatures was how the bowlers on both sides responded to onslaughts with late-spell comebacks.
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The craftsmen that Boycott was referring to were, of course, batters, and Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Strauss provided a two-for-one batting masterclass in how to construct ODI hundreds. The white-ball form that Geoff Boycott declared, "helps craftsmen play". It was the kind of match that six weeks later MS Dhoni talked about as the reason he was in love with the 50-over stoush - because it was Test match cricket compressed into 100 overs. And most alarmingly for the partisan home crowd, also in Strauss' nerveless, unhurried pursuit of the total There was an inevitability about Tendulkar's calibrated takedown of England's bowlers. And for every other team watching from out of the corner of their eye. And for England, who had started weak against Ireland but left the Chinnaswamy baring teeth and muscle. "It made us humble," the team's mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton was to say later. Not least for hosts India, who received a shakedown after their confident decimation of Bangladesh. Just over a week into the tournament, over the course of eight hours, the tie sounded a warning bell. Its dead-heat finish after a lavish spread of quality with the bat and fightback by ball burnished the contest to a point of lustre that still lasts.
There was much that was karmic about this game for it to merely tick an early-fixture box in India's first home World Cup after 15 years. Months later in September, they tied a second time - on Duckworth-Lewis - but since 2011, never again. Which, however, would have not elevated this fixture to where it is today, on this fine list.īefore Bangalore 2011, India and England had never tied an ODI. But for a desperate non-striker's teeny-margin error, it would have spelt victory for India instead. Which shouldn't actually have been a tie. Which three balls later was not victory for either side but only the fourth tied match across more than nine editions of the men's World Cup. That one stroke puts England within a shot of victory. Front leg out of the way, stance open for havoc, he whacked Munaf Patel straight down the ground, over long-on, right of the press box, where we sat watching. India's first match at home in the 2011 World Cup, following a pulping of Bangladesh in Mirpur, it was going to come down to this - defeat to England - after scoring 338?Ījmal Shahzad produced a bazooka strike off the first ball he faced. It doesn't show the emphatic arc of the ball in the air, sharp against Chinnaswamy's indigo sky, hundreds of Indian faces looking upwards in dismay and anguish because of where it was going to land and what that meant.
Watching that shot on a highlights video today, even with RJ Shastri commentating, does not recreate even a smidgen of what it felt like on the night. The shot came with 11 required off four balls with two wickets left after England's tailenders launched an unexpected charge that left the crowd screaming - over what they had seen, over having emotional torrents poured onto them ball after ball, not knowing where the match would go. It didn't really seal it, but what it did was ensure that defeat wouldn't break down his team's door or victory come swaggering through for the hosts. Who went on to face only four more balls in his international career after he hit that six - which could be called the shot that sealed the match. 10? Who wasn't even a star, past, present or future. In a match that produced 676 runs, the bulk of them on either side from two batters of gleaming pedigree, to still remember a six by a No. It is like that six happened 15 minutes ago. India vs England, World Cup, Bangalore, 2011
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