2011
All About the World Cup
This was the year of the World Cup. It was to be followed by Test and ODI series in West Indies, England and Australia. India attained the status of No. 1 in Test cricket but it was the victory at the 2011 World Cup that nearly brought the nation to a standstill.
Sachin Tendulkar scored two centuries, one each against England and South Africa, to pilot India through a great tournament that was capped by a win over Pakistan in the semi-final and over Sri Lanka in the final.
Earlier in the year, Tendulkar had got Test century No. 51 against South Africa. He made 554 runs in seven Tests, as compared to nearly three times that in 14 Tests the previous year. In 2011, he played 11 matches, nine of them in the World Cup, for 515 runs. Overall, he had three centuries and five fifties in both formats put together.
A Tendulkar Century at Newlands After Exactly 14 Years
‘Sachin is such a good player that is there is no point wasting your energy on him. You tend to save your energy and bowl at the other guys - Dale Steyn after the match
THE SITUATION
A three-Test series between South Africa and India was a contest that the whole cricketing world wanted to see. South Africa won the first Test by an innings, despite a Tendulkar century, but the Indians hit back in the next though Tendulkar himself failed. In the final Test, the South Africans made the most of their knowledge of home conditions and tried to turn the tables at the picturesque Newlands ground, but the match ended in a draw, as did the series.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
The pitch at Newlands was a little on the slow side compared to the other tracks in South Africa. M.S. Dhoni won the toss and elected to field The wily Zaheer Khan removed Graeme Smith for five while Ishant Sharma had Alviro Petersen caught for 21, leaving the South Africans in a tight spot at 34 for two. However, the reliable Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis put on a hefly partnership and with individual scores of 59 and 161, propelled their team to a first-innings total of 362. S. Sreesanth was the star for the Indians with a five-wicket haul.
The Indians began shakily with Virender Sehwag falling to Dale Steyn for only 13 with the team’s score at 19. When Rahul Dravid was run out for five, India looked in trouble at 28 for two. Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar steadied the boat with a 176-run partnership. Gambhir was the first to get to fifty, in the 27th over, with a flick of Tsotsobe for four through mid-wicket. There were anxious moments in the 45th over when Gambhir was dropped by A.B. de Villers at second slip and then Sachin survived a leg-before appeal from Tsotsobe. The Indians managed to get to the end of day two with Gambhir batting on 65 and Sachin on 45. The total was poised at 142 for two.
The following day, when Sachin was batting on 49, there was a shout for caught behind of Steyn, but only keeper Mark Boucher went up in appeal, and it was disallowed. He brought up his fifty with an ungainly edge through gully of Steyn but the effort was laudable – of 109 deliveries with five fours. The duo battled on, taking the score to 204 for two before Gambhir fell, caught behind of Paul Harris for 93, agonizingly close to a hundred. It was a monumental effort of 222 balls that lasted 318 minutes.
Laxman joined Sachin but was run out for only 15 with the total at 235. Sachin, in the company of Cheteshwar Pujara, marched into the 90s but Pujara fell leg before to Steyn for only two runs. On the fourth ball of the 84th over from Morne Morkel, there was a huge appeal for caught behind, but the ball had only clipped Sachin’s pad on its way to Boucher. The next two balls were dispatched for a six over the keeper’s head and a four to square leg. The master had notched up his 51st Test century.
As Dale Steyn bowled one of the finest spells of his young career, the watchful Tendulkar batted patiently, cutting loose when the other bowlers came on. He shielded Harbhajan Singh from Steyn and encouraged him to go after the other bowlers as they put on 76 runs, of which Harbhajan made 40.
Sachin continued to hammer the South African attack till he was finally bowled by Morkel for 146. India finished two runs ahead of the South Africans with a total of 364. Steyn returned a five-wicket haul for the home team.
The South African second-innings score of 341 was propelled by a magnificent unbeaten 109 from Kallis and 55 from keeper Mark Boucher. Harbhajan Singh returned the best figures for the Indians with a seven-wicket haul. In reply, India put together a total of 166 before the match petered out into a tame draw. Kallis was chosen as Man of the Match as well as Man of the Series.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar’s second century at Newlands, Cape Town, came exactly 14 years after his first in 1996 and on the same date – 4 January. Both times, the hundred was made on the third day of the Test.
No. 98 in a Thrilling World Cup Tie Full of Runs
‘We got to the line but did not cross it. I guess Sachin Tendulkar [120], Tim Bresnan [5 for 48], Zaheer Khan [3 for 64] and I did not deserve to lose the match’ - Andrew Strauss after the match
THE SITUATION
India and England had won their opening matches against Bangladesh and the Netherlands respectively. Both now needed a good contest to get going. Playing in front of a packed home crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Indians saw their favourite star blazing away but the game ended in a thrilling tie.
REEIVING THE CENTURY
On a typical Bangalore wicket full of runs, any captain winning the toss would have elected to bat. M.S. Dhoni was no exception.
There was action of the very first ball, with Virender Sehwag edging one of James Anderson to Graeme Swann at second slip. Swann dived to his right but the ball bounced of his palm. A tough chance, but an expensive miss. One ball later, Sehwag’s leading edge ballooned in the air and flew tantalizingly over Ian Bell, missing his outstretched hand by inches. Sachin Tendulkar, who opened with Sehwag, remained steady.
Sehwag’s charmed but belligerent existence came to an end in the eighth over, when Tim Bresnan had him caught behind for 35. Gautam Gambhir joined Sachin and the two began to shape the Indian innings. After the first 15 overs, India were a respectable 84 for one with Sachin on 24 and Gambhir on 23.
In the 22nd over, of the third ball of gentle medium pacer Paul Collingwood, Sachin lofted a six over mid-wicket to bring up his fifty in style. It came of 66 balls with three fours and two sixes.
At the end of the 26th over, India were 144 for one and the score was moving along when suddenly Sachin launched into Graeme Swann, hitting him for an enormous six over wide long on and following it up with another six, this time slog swept over deep mid-wicket. In the 29th over, he attacked Anderson, of -driving and square-driving him for consecutive boundaries. That same over saw Gambhir get to fifty with a four. However, he was castled by Swann in the next over for 51. Sachin was batting on 88 at this stage.
Joined by Yuvraj Singh, Tendulkar cruised into the 90s. A flick for four of Yardy of the first ball of the 32nd over took him to within striking distance of his second ODI ton against England. The 47th ODI hundred finally came with a flick of the hips of a Bresnan delivery. It took 103 balls, with seven hits to the fence and four over it. In the very next over, Sachin swatted Swann for a flat six over long on. But he then fell victim to Anderson when he was on 120. The previous delivery had seen him whip the bowler for four to fine-leg. This time round, he top-edged the ball, and it landed in the hands of Michael Yardy at cover for an easy catch. India finished at 338 in 49.5 overs, with Bresnan bagging five for 48.
In reply, Andrew Strauss cracked a brilliant 158 and Ian Bell made 69 to keep England on track. In the final stages, it came down to England requiring 14 runs of the last over with Swann and Shahzad in the middle. Aided by a six from Shahzad of Munaf Patel, the match was tantalizingly poised with two required of the last ball. Swann managed a single to mid-of and the game ended in a tie. Strauss was named Man of the Match.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar, with his fifth hundred at the World Cup, became the highest century maker in the tournament. It took him past the four each scored by Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting and Mark Waugh.
» This was only the fourth tied game in World Cup history and the total number of runs scored, 676, was the highest ever in a World Cup match.
Blitzkrieg Followed by a Collapse As Tendulkar Ton Goes in Vain
‘After being taken to the cleaners in the first 15 overs by Sachin and Viru, we showed a lot of intensity and composure to come back strongly. It was good to get Sachin and Gambhir out during the Powerplay - Graeme Smith after the match
THE SITUATION
The crucial Group B match of the ICC World Cup 2011 required both India and South Africa to win if they had to top the pool. India was playing their fifth match; they had won three and tied one in their four previous games. Their last game was against the West Indies. South Africa had won two of their three previous games, and after India they still had matches against Ireland and Bangladesh, which they were expected to win. In the end, South Africa did top the pool and India were second, with England and West Indies behind them in that order.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
M.S. Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat on a flat Nagpur wicket, which had always been productive for Sachin Tendulkar. The explosive pair of Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar opened the batting for the Indians. Sehwag made his intentions clear early on, lofting Steyn over long on for a first-ball four. While Sehwag took the attack to the enemy camp, taking 13 runs of Morkel in the sixth over, Sachin steadily played himself in.
In the eighth over, Tendulkar upped the ante and brought a touch of aggression to his game. As a result of this, India was sitting pretty at 87 for no loss after ten overs, with Tendulkar batting on 35 and Sehwag on 46. In the 12th over, Sehwag moved outside leg and lofted Robin Petersen over cover for four to bring up his fifty of only 44 deliveries. Tendulkar got to his fifty with a nudge to square leg of the same bowler, two overs later, of 33 deliveries, aided by five hits to the boundary and one over it. The two continued to plunder the South African attack before du Plessis castled Sehwag for 73, made of 66 balls.
Tendulkar continued in the company of Gautam Gambhir and by the 30th over had reached a personal score of 83 with India comfortably placed at 197 for one at 6.56 runs per over. In the 36th over, Tendulkar drove Morkel to cover for a single to bring up his 48th ODI hundred and 99th international hundred.
Sachin’s effort came of 92 balls, with seven fours and three sixes. The very next ball saw Gambhir reach his fifty with a dab to square leg. Tendulkar was finally dismissed, caught at point by Duminy of Morkel for 111, which come of 101 balls with eight fours and three sixes. Gambhir fell in the very next over to Steyn for 69. The Indian innings closed at 296 in 48.4 overs. Steyn finished with five wickets.
Tendulkar’s was a great knock. He hooked Steyn over backward square leg and responded to Jacques Kallis’ slower deliveries with lovely glides. India was 267 for one after 39.3 overs when Tendulkar got out, caught at point while trying to smash the ball into the fence. Once he was gone, the batting collapsed yet again and India were all out for 296 in the 49th over.
The South Africans didn’t let the target slip from their sight, with one or the other batsman keeping the scoreboard ticking. Hashim Amla (61), Jacques Kallis (69) and A.B. de Villiers (52) contributed to the South Africans reaching the target with two balls to spare. For the Indians Harbhajan was the most successful, with three wickets. Steyn was declared Man of the Match.
Did you know…
» This was Sachin Tendulkar’s sixth century in World Cup matches, extending his own record set earlier in the tournament.
» Sachin Tendulkar’s 19th fifty-plus score in World Cups is also a record. He also became the first player to score 2,000 ODI runs against South Africa.
PARALLEL LIVES
Viswanathan Anand: Anand opened the year with an unbeaten stint at the Tata Steel Chess, formerly known as the Corus Chess Tournament, but still finished second to American Hikaru Nakamura. Later, he failed to win either the Rapid or the Blindfold in the 20th and last edition ever of the Amber Chess Tournament in Monaco.
Though Anand did not have great outings at the Bilbao Masters or the Amber Chess Tournament or, later, at the Mikhail Tal Memorial or the London Classic, he did have three wins in the year. At Leon he beat Alexei Shirov 4.5-1.5 in a one-sided match. He added a second title at Botvinnik Memorial Rapid tournament ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, Lev Aronian and Magnus Carlsen and also took the Corsica Masters, beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the final.
Leander Paes: A year before the London Olympics, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi decided to give themselves a chance to make a final charge at an Olympic medal in the men’s doubles. They came together at the start of the year and immediately won the Chennai Open, a title they had won four times between 1997 and 2001. They added two more titles from the ATP Masters series at Miami in April and at Cincinnati in August. In January they reached the final of the Australian Open, the only men’s doubles title Paes had never won. Once again, he faltered at the final step. Paes and Bhupathi also lost in the semi-finals at the year-ending Masters Championship.
Sadly, before the year ended, they announced that they would once again be separating. Paes would partner Radek Stepanek and Bhupathi would team up with Rohan Bopanna.
THIS ALSO HAPPENED IN 2011
On 25 January, in a heinous incident, the Indian oil mafia allegedly burnt alive Yashwant Sonawane, the additional district collector of Malegaon, near Nasik.
The Karnataka Governor sanctioned the prosecution of Chief Minister B. S. Yeddiyurappa in January and Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, was sacked and later arrested along with many of his colleagues.
On 2 February, former Telecom Minister A. Raja was sent to jail in the 2G Spectrum scam. In April, five top managers from various corporates were arrested in the same controversy.
Corruption continued to hold centrestage in March when the DGCA revoked the fake licenses of 14 pilots whose flying had endangered the lives of thousands.
Crime once again came back onto the front page when senior journalist J. Dey was shot dead in Mumbai on 11 June.
Tragedy hit the Shabarimala temple when 102 people lost their lives in a stampede on 14 January.
More than 50 people perished in the AMRI Hospital fire in Kolkata on 9 December, and less than a week later, more than 150 people died in a hooch tragedy in the state. As the year ended, a cyclone hit Pondicherry and claimed about 33 lives.
An earthquake measuring 6.8 struck on 18 September, killing almost 120 people across Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Justice seemed to have been done when the Bombay High Court in February upheld the death penalty against Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. And the Ahmedabad court convicted 31 but acquitted 63 in the infamous Godhra train burning case in the third week of February.
A series of bomb blasts killed 26 people in Mumbai on 13 July.
In the sporting arena, on 20 March, Saina Nehwal won her first major badminton title of the year, claiming the Swiss Open Grand Prix. Also, Formula 1 made its debut in India on 30 October.
A few days after India won the World Cup in April, the nation seemed to unite once again as social activist Anna Hazare undertook a fast at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, to demand a Jan Lokpal Bill. During the rest of the year, the movement gained momentum but also generated a lot of controversy. Anna went on a fast again in mid-August. He was arrested at first and then allowed to fast for 15 days. The government assured the nation that they would bring in the Lokpal Bill and Anna, whose health was failing, broke his fast on 28 August.
As the year drew to a close, the Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal Bill, and Anna Hazare, despite being unhappy with the draft, had to cancel his fast on 27 December because the response to it in Mumbai was lukewarm.
The census of 2011 released in March showed that India’s population was 1.21 billion. On 31 October, Nargis, a baby born in Uttar Pradesh, was designated the seven billionth baby in the world.
On 20 May, Mamata Banerjee became the first woman chief minister of West Bengal.
On 9 June, India’s best-known painter, M.F. Hussain, passed away in London. He had spent the last few years of his life in exile in Dubai and London, fearing arrest because of the controversy around some of his paintings which had ‘of ended’ the sentiments of certain Hindu groups.
In a landmark decision in June 2011, the Supreme Court appointed a committee to examine the secret chambers of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala. Over the next few weeks, its six chambers revealed money, gold, diamonds and valuables worth approximately 1.2 trillion rupees.
In another landmark decision, a trial court on 22 December ordered social networking sites to take of all of ensive content.