Date: March 24, 2011
Venue: Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Match: Quarter-Final 2, ICC Cricket World Cup
Opponent: Australia
Target: 250 runs
The sun had dipped below the horizon, but the heat in Motera refused to dissipate. It hung heavy and humid, trapped by the high concrete stands and the seething mass of humanity packed within them. A target of 250 was deceptive.
On a flat deck, it was a walk in the park. But this was a World Cup Quarter-Final. The pressure alone added 30 runs to the total. And facing India were not just any bowlers—it was the Australian pace battery, wounded, angry, and desperate for revenge.
Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar walked out to the middle. Sehwag, nursing a strapped finger, looked determined. Sachin, the local deity, looked serene.
Brett Lee took the new ball. His eyes were red-rimmed with intensity. He had watched his captain's stumps shattered by a 20-year-old upstart in the first innings. Now, he wanted to return the favor.
---
Lee and Shaun Tait bowled with venom. The speed gun regularly flashed past 150 kmph. Sehwag, usually the butcher of fast bowling, struggled to find his rhythm. The injury seemed to hamper his bottom-hand dominance. He slashed at a few, missing the line.
In the 9th over (8.1), Shane Watson came into the attack. He bowled a cutter that stopped on the surface. Sehwag tried to check his drive, but the bat turned in his hand. The ball looped gently to mid-off, where Cameron White took a simple catch.
Wicket: V Sehwag c White b Watson 15
Score: India 44/1
A groan echoed around the stadium. 44 for 1 was a decent start, but losing the aggressor early was a blow.
NEXT BATSMAN: SIDDANTH DEVA
As Deva marked his guard, Brett Lee stood at the top of his mark, glaring. There were no pleasantries. The Australians knew that this kid was the heartbeat of the Indian resistance.
"Here he comes," Ian Chappell growled on commentary. "The man who broke the speed gun earlier today. Now he has to do it with the bat. Australia will target him. Expect chin music."
Sachin Tendulkar walked down the pitch to meet Deva.
"Take your time," the Master said, his voice calm amidst the storm. " The ball is coming on well, but Lee is swinging a bit more."
Deva nodded. He tapped his bat on the crease.
Deva's first boundary was a statement. Mitchell Johnson banged one in short. Deva didn't duck. He stood tall, rolled his wrists, and pulled it along the carpet through mid-wicket.
"Shot!" Ravi Shastri exclaimed. "That is authority! He's telling Johnson, 'I can bowl it, and I can play it!'"
At the other end, Sachin was playing a different game. He was the artist. He caressed balls through the covers, used the pace of Tait to guide the ball to third man. It was a masterclass in risk-free accumulation.
---
The partnership flourished. They rotated the strike beautifully, frustrating the Australian fielders. Ponting moved his field constantly, but the gaps were pierced with surgical precision.
In the 20th over, Sachin tapped a single to deep square leg.
50 for Sachin Tendulkar (61 balls).
The stadium rose to applaud. It was a crucial, stabilizing knock.
Deva decided to up the ante. He was on 35. He faced Jason Krejza, the off-spinner. He danced down the track, meeting the pitch of the ball, and lofted it straight over the sight screen.
Six.
Two overs later, he cut Watson for a sharp four past point.
50 for Siddanth Deva (42 balls).
He raised his bat towards the dressing room. He was playing at a strike rate of over 110, completely nullifying the pressure of the chase.
"He is making it look easy," Sunil Gavaskar noted. "While Sachin is anchoring, Deva is deflating the Australian spirit. They simply don't know where to bowl to him."
---
The score reached 140. India was cruising. But Australia doesn't die easily.
In the 28th over, Shaun Tait returned for a burst. He bowled a searing yorker to Sachin. The Master dug it out, but the next ball was a slower one—a knuckleball.
Sachin, expecting pace, was through his shot early. He chipped it to mid-on.
Wicket: S Tendulkar c Haddin b Tait 53 (68b)
Score: India 143/2
The silence returned. Sachin was gone. The job was only half done. 107 runs still needed.
---
Virat Kohli walked out. The atmosphere was tense. Two youngsters at the crease against the World Champions.
"Just bat," Deva told Kohli as they punched gloves. "Don't let them settle. We run hard."
Kohli, brash and energetic, followed the instruction. They ran like hares, turning comfortable singles into risky doubles. The Australian fielders, tired from the heat, started to fumble.
Deva and Kohli added 54 runs in quick time. Deva moved into the 70s.
But just as Kohli looked set to dominate, he made an error. Facing David Hussey's part-time spin, he tried to cut a ball that was too close to him. The edge flew to the keeper.
Wicket: V Kohli c Haddin b D Hussey 24
Score: India 197/3
53 runs needed. 3 wickets down.
It was the danger zone. One more wicket, and the panic would set in.
---
Yuvraj Singh, the designated finisher, strode out. He looked at the scoreboard. He looked at Deva.
Deva was on 73 off 59 balls. He was in the zone.
It was the 40th over. India needed 35 runs. The Batting Powerplay was taken.
Ricky Ponting threw the ball to his strike weapon: Brett Lee.
Ponting gathered his team. "This is it, boys. We get Deva now, we win. Bouncers. Bodyline. Hurt him."
Lee marked his long run-up. He looked at Deva. Deva looked back, adjusting his helmet.
The crowd sensed the violence in the air.
Ball 1: Lee steamed in. 151 kmph. A vicious bouncer directed at the throat.
Deva swayed out of the way at the last second. The ball whistled past his grille.
Lee followed through, staring him down. "Too fast for you, mate?" he seemed to say.
Deva didn't respond. He just tapped the pitch.
Ball 2: Lee decided to go fuller, aiming for the stumps to beat him for pace. 148 kmph.
Deva cleared his front leg. He didn't play a technical drive. He swiped across the line, using the pace of the ball.
The connection was sweet. The ball flew over deep mid-wicket.
SIX.
The crowd roared. Lee scowled, walking back to his mark aggressively.
Ball 3: Lee was furious. He reverted to the short ball. He banged it in halfway down the pitch.
Deva was waiting. He transferred his weight to the back foot, got inside the line, and hooked it.
He didn't keep it down. He hit it high and handsome over fine leg. It sailed into the second tier.
SIX.
"Oh my word!" Tony Greig screamed. "He's taken on the fastest bowler in the world and deposited him into the crowd! Back-to-back sixes! This is arrogance! This is brilliance!"
Ponting ran to Lee. "Calm down, Binga. Yorkers. Don't feed his strength."
Ball 4: Lee tried. He really tried. He aimed for the blockhole.
But the execution was off by a few inches. It ended up being a low full toss.
Deva didn't just block it. He stepped out—to a bowler bowling 145 kmph—and lofted it straight back over the bowler's head.
The ball soared into the night sky, dissecting the sight screen perfectly.
SIX.
"THREE IN A ROW!" Ravi Shastri bellowed, his voice losing all composure. "He is destroying Brett Lee! He is dismantling the Australian attack! Motera has gone absolutely bonkers! The Devil is running riot!"
Deva stood in his pose for a second, watching the ball disappear. 18 runs off 3 balls. The game was effectively broken.
---
After that explosion, the rest was a formality. Yuvraj Singh, feeding off Deva's energy, started finding boundaries at the other end.
Deva moved to 96.
In the 44th over, facing Mitchell Johnson, Deva drove a length ball through the covers for four.
HUNDRED FOR SIDDANTH DEVA!
100 off 77 balls.
The helmet came off. The bat went up. Deva looked at the sky, then bowed to the crowd. Even Ricky Ponting, standing at mid-off, looked defeated. He knew he had witnessed something special. The torch wasn't just being passed; it was being snatched.
"Take a bow, young man," Ian Chappell said, his voice filled with genuine admiration. "To bowl out the Australian captain with a 162 kmph thunderbolt, and then score a century in a chase... this is the greatest individual performance I have seen in a World Cup game. Period."
---
India needed just 8 runs.
Yuvraj Singh, wanting to finish it in style, smashed Watson for a four. He reached his own 50.
50 for Yuvraj Singh.
Then, fittingly, Deva finished it.
He faced Shaun Tait. A wide half-volley. Deva drove it through extra cover. The ball raced across the turf.
INDIA WINS!
The stadium erupted in a frenzy of noise and color. Fireworks lit up the Ahmedabad sky. The Indian players sprinted onto the field. Yuvraj hugged Deva, lifting him into the air.
Final Scorecard:
Australia: 249/8
India: 253/3 (46.2 overs)
S Deva: 104* (84b)
Yuvraj Singh: 51*
S Tendulkar: 53
V Kohli: 24
V Sehwag: 15
---
Ravi Shastri: "I am standing here with a man who has had the day of his life. Sidanth Deva. Man of the Match. Sid, where do I even begin? 162 kmph. A century. Three sixes off Brett Lee. Are you real?"
Deva: (Laughing, sweat dripping from his face) "I think so, Ravi bhai. It was just one of those days. Everything I tried came off. When I bowled to Pointing, I just wanted to bowl fast. And with the bat... well, after Viru pa got out, I knew I had to stay till the end. Yuvi pa helped me calm down in the end."
Shastri: "Those sixes off Lee. What was going through your mind?"
Deva: "He bowled a bouncer first up and gave me a look. I took that personally. (Grins). I decided if he bowls short again, I'm not swaying."
Shastri: "You've knocked out the World Champions. Next up, Pakistan in Mohali. A semi-final against the arch-rivals."
Deva: "It's going to be a big one. But we are ready. We are playing for the Cup."
---
Date: March 25, 2011 (Friday)
The sun that rose over India on Friday morning didn't just bring light; it brought a collective, nation-wide exhale. For eight long years, since that scars-deep afternoon in Johannesburg in 2003, Indian cricket fans had lived with a specific, gnawing anxiety: The Australians. They were the bullies, the insurmountable wall, the gold-standard machine that chewed up dreams and spat out trophies.
But today? Today, the bully was bloody. Today, the machine lay in ruins in Ahmedabad, dismantled not by luck, but by a 20-year-old boy who decided he simply refused to lose.
The newspapers had sold out by 7:00 AM. In Delhi, vendors were selling photocopies of the front pages.
The Times of India: "GAME OVER, PONTER! Deva's Thunderbolt Ends Australian Dynasty." (The front page featured a split image: Ponting looking back at his shattered stumps, and Deva roaring with veins popping in his neck).
Hindustan Times: "162.4 KMPH. REMEMBER THE NUMBER."
The Telegraph (Kolkata): "The Devil Wears Blue: India into Semis, Aussies sent packing."
Mumbai Mirror: "3 BALLS, 3 SIXES, SAME OLD DEVA"
It wasn't just sports news; it was national news. The editorial pages, usually reserved for politics and corruption scandals, were filled with op-eds about "New India's Aggression" and "The Psychological Shift."
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Location: A Local Train, Mumbai (Churchgate to Virar). 8:45 AM.
The 8:45 AM fast local was usually a place of misery—crushed bodies, sweat, and silence. Today, it was a debating society. Strangers who had commuted together for years without speaking were suddenly best friends.
"Did you see Ponting's face?" a bank teller laughed, hanging off the overhead rail with one hand. "He looked like he saw a ghost. He was late! Ricky Ponting was late for a shot! That never happens!"
"It was 162, boss," a college student squeezed next to him replied, eyes wide. "My uncle called from Dubai; he said on Sky Sports they were saying the speed gun might be broken. But it wasn't. You saw the stump? It didn't fall; it exploded."
"And the batting?" an older man in a safari suit chimed in. "We talk about the bowling, but the batting! Hitting Brett Lee for three sixes? That is not cricket. That is dadagiri (bullying). Deva treated Lee like a club bowler. I felt bad for Lee!"
Laughter rippled through the compartment. For the first time in a decade, they were laughing at Australia, not fearing them.
---
Channel: Star Sports
Show: World Cup Center
Time: 11:00 AM
Host: Mayanti Langer
Panel: Kapil Dev (India's 1983 World Cup Winning Captain), Sunil Gavaskar (The Little Master), and joining via satellite from Sydney, Allan Border (Former Australian Captain).
The studio was bathed in blue light. The mood was electric, bordering on euphoric, but the presence of the legends kept it grounded in analysis.
Mayanti Langer: "Gentlemen, we have slept on it, but it still feels like a dream. India 253 for 3. A seven-wicket win that felt like a ten-wicket thrashing. Allan, let's start with you. Is this the official end of the Australian era?"
Allan Border (On Screen): (Sighs, offering a wry smile) "Look, it's hard to argue against it. We've had a golden run—1999, 2003, 2007. But last night... last night felt different. We were beaten at our own game. Usually, we are the ones bullying the opposition with pace and aggression. Yesterday, we got bullied. That ball to Ricky... that was the moment. When your captain, your best player of the short ball, gets cleaned up by pure pace, it sends a shockwave through the dressing room. The aura is gone."
Mayanti: "Kapil Paaji, you know a thing or two about fast bowling. Let's talk about that delivery. 162.4 kmph. Where did that come from?"
Kapil Dev: "It came from here," Kapil pointed to his heart. "Technique is one thing. Fitness is one thing. But to bowl that fast, you need jigra (guts). You need anger. Deva saw Ponting destroying the spinners, and he took it personally. That action... it was beautiful. He ran in smooth, but the explosion at the crease? It reminded me of a young Waqar Younis. Just raw power. And to do it in a Quarter-Final? That is special."
Sunil Gavaskar: "What impressed me, Mayanti, was the setup. We focus on the speed, but look at the two balls before it. Wide outside off. Wide outside off. He made Ponting shuffle across. He opened up the stumps. It was a cerebral plan executed with brute force. Brains and brawn. That is a deadly combination."
Mayanti: "Let's move to the batting. Siddanth Deva. Man of the Match. A century in a chase. And those three sixes off Brett Lee. Allan, how does a bowler recover from that?"
Allan Border: "It's tough. Binga (Lee) is a proud man. He bowled a serious bouncer—151 clicks. And the kid just hooked it. Then to step out and hit a low full toss over the sight screen? That's not just skill; that's arrogance. And I mean that as a compliment. Australian cricket respects arrogance. We saw a bit of ourselves in that kid last night. He played like an Aussie."
Kapil Dev: (Laughing) "No, Allan. He played like a New Indian! This generation, they don't respect reputations. They respect the ball, not the bowler. Deva didn't see 'Brett Lee, the legend.' He saw a white ball coming at him and decided it needed to go into the stands. It changes the whole dynamic for the Semi-Final."
Mayanti: "The media is calling him the 'Devil of Cricket' to Sachin's 'God'. Is that a fair comparison, Sunny?"
Sunil Gavaskar: "It's poetic. Sachin represents the classical, the pure, the technically perfect. He is the light. Deva represents the chaos, the fire, the destruction. Every great team needs both. You need the calmness of Sachin to anchor, and you need the fury of Deva to finish. Look at the partnership yesterday—Sachin was driving along the ground, Deva was clearing the ropes. It's the perfect yin and yang."
Kapil Dev: "I like the name. 'Devil'. It scares the opposition. When he walks out to bat now, or when he takes the ball, the opposition is already thinking, 'What will he do today?' That psychological fear is worth 20 runs or 2 wickets before a ball is bowled."
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The graphic on the screen changed. The celebratory blue background shifted to a split screen: The Indian Tricolour vs The Green Crescent of Pakistan.
NEXT MATCH: SEMI-FINAL
INDIA vs PAKISTAN
VENUE: MOHALI
DATE: MARCH 30
The mood in the studio shifted instantly. The smiles remained, but they became tighter. The euphoria of beating Australia was replaced by the colossal gravity of what was coming next.
Mayanti: "So, we have done it. We have reached the Semi-Finals. And waiting for us... is Pakistan. It's happening. The Mother of All Battles."
Sunil Gavaskar: "If yesterday was a Quarter-Final, Mohali is the Final. Forget the actual Final in Mumbai. This is it. India vs Pakistan in a World Cup knockout on Indian soil. It doesn't get bigger. The pressure will be ten times what it was yesterday."
Allan Border: "I'll be watching that one with popcorn! Good luck to you guys. Pakistan has Afridi, who is the highest wicket-taker. You have Deva, the third highest. It's going to be Afridi vs Deva. Spin vs Pace. Finisher vs Finisher."
Kapil Dev: "Pakistan is dangerous. They are unpredictable. But India... we are a machine right now. My only worry is the hype. The players need to switch off the TVs. The country will go mad in the next four days."