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GREAT COMEBACK
The English showed plenty of spunk to whip the Indians in the final Test at Mumbai and square the series. The man who lived up to his reputation as a dangerous match-winner was England skipper Freddie Flintoff
Sayantan Chakravarty
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| Once in a while cricket will throw up a hero who will battle till the last ounce of energy is left in his veins, fight against all odds, and pull his own team out of peril. Not every one, though, is gifted enough to not just pull a team out of trouble, but lift his performance to win a match for his country almost single-handedly.
But England’s make-shift captain in the Test series against India in March, Andrew Flintoff, stand-by skipper in place of the indisposed Michael Vaughan, is no ordinary cricketer. Last year he was voted the world’s best alongside South African allrounder Jacques Kallis by the I.C.C., and we know for good reason. |
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GIANT STEP FORWARD:
Flintoff’s sterling show in India has infused fresh enthusiasm among lovers of cricket
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| Flintoff, with England 0-1 down in the three Test series against India, and with a Test to go at
Mumbai, rose to the occasion, like a hero.
England had not won a Test in India in two decades, but Flintoff’s man of the match performance raised the bar, and at the same time decimated the Indians. Rahul Dravid’s 100th Test and Sachin Tendulkar’s 131st Test—the highest by an Indian—are something that the two giants of Indian cricket would like to forget in a hurry.
India lost the final Test at Mumbai by 212 runs, and the series was squared. The 6’4” Flintoff had risen to the occasion once again, like he had done last year to take the battle away from arch-rivals Australia. No two guesses as to who was declared the Man of the Series against India.
Earlier, England had crashed to a nine-wicket loss in the second Test in Mohali after forcing a gritty draw in the first game in
Nagpur. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble had triggered a batting collapse to claim nine wickets and had set up the victory. at
Mohali.
The rest, thanks to Flintoff’s boys, is history.
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The Greatest Match
When you score 434/4, you take a long shower, leaving the bowlers to finish the job, but as the Aussies discovered at the Wanderers, it ain’t over till it’s over
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April 2006
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