Cricket Magic Moments: The Persistence of Memory

As we consign 2012 to the vault of memory let us look back on the cricket moments that made it the year it was. From Tendulkar's 100th hundred to Gayle Gangnam magic, it's all here in pictures.

Kohli burns Lanka down: The Delhi lad had a defining season, the cap on which was provided by his hair-raising 86-ball 133 against Sri Lanka in the CB Series down under. Kohli had made a habit of seeing chase through, and this one was no exception. India needed 321 in 40 overs to stay alive in the tri-series and the relentless pace at which he gathered his runs helped his side overhaul the requirement with ease. He smashed 16 fours and 4 sixes as India gunned down the target in just 36.4 overs. Kohli was especially severe on the Lankan spearhead Lasith Malinga, who was carted for 96 runs in 7.4 overs, the worst ever figures for a bowler in ODIs. 

 

Rehman floors England: It's not often that Saeed Ajmal gets overshadowed in the spin department. But left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman managed precisely that at Abu Dhabi. Generally considered to be a tight, economical foil to the wicket-taking guile of Ajmal, Rehman came into his own in the second Test against England. The 'visitors' were set 144 to win when the left-armer ripped through their top order, curtailing the innings on 72. Rehman generated sharp turn and bounce to claim 6/25 and went on to take 19 in the series as Pakistan completed a 3-0 whitewash. 

 

Sachin's 100th hundred: Even for a country obsessed with records, rarely has such anticipation preceded a landmark. The possibility of his hundredth international ton sat on Tendulkar’s shoulders like Betaal on Vikram, shackling the great man under its burden for an inordinately long period. Several ‘suitable’ opportunities were missed, chances strewn and the knock finally arrived at Mirpur against Bangladesh, on March 16, 2012 in the Asia Cup. Tendulkar’s reaction was strange: “It's been a tough phase for me ... I was not thinking about the milestone, the media started all this, wherever I went, the restaurant, room service, everyone was talking about the 100th hundred. Nobody talked about my 99 hundreds. It became mentally tough for me because nobody talked about my 99 hundreds." Oh yes, and India lost that match to Bangladesh. 

 

KKR corner glory: Gautam Gambhir finally turned it around for Shah Rukh Khan’s beleaguered franchise, gaining them their first IPL crown in 2012. A consistent league phase was followed by assertive performances in the knock outs. Kolkata defeated the perennially strong Chennai Super Kings in the final at Chepauk, chasing down a big total in a pressure situation, and allowing their superstar owner to cartwheel his way on to the playing arena. It was a similar display of jubilation that had cost SRK dear at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium. A policeman objected to the actor’s presence on the field of play after the match with Mumbai Indians. Allegedly inebriated and with his ego piqued, SRK rained a torrent of abuses on the cop, threatening grave physical action, before he had to be removed from the spot. The fracas resulted in a five-year ban for the actor from the Wankhede. 

 

Indian colts shine: More than the victory itself, cricket buffs were pleased to watch the future of Indian cricket coming to the fore in the tournament. Unmukt Chand, Harmeet Singh and Baba Aparajith presented a solid picture of themselves, to ensure that India placed their hands around the silverware. But the youngsters didn’t start on a winning note. Despite losing their opening game to the West Indies, India won their next two matches over Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea to qualify for the quarters against Pakistan. Chasing 136, India were reduced to 127/9, before Harmeet Singh and Sandeep Sharma held their nerve to take their side into the semis against New Zealand. Prashant Chopra’s half-century helped India rake up 209/9, and then the bowlers took over to quell the Kiwi response. The colts were now just one step away from bringing home the country’s third U-19 World Cup title, with Australia in the way. In the final, a four-wicket haul from Sandeep Sharma saw the hosts being restricted to 225/8, with their skipper William Bosisto (87*) leading from the front. Unmukt Chand followed the example set by his counterpart, scoring 111* to take India home, with a captain’s knock that had flair written all over it. It was time to celebrate in the present, and for the future. 

 

South Africa No.1: Graeme Smith placed his hands on the mace, after South Africa defeated England by 51 runs in the third and final Test at Lord’s. By winning the series 2-0, the Proteas went to 120 points, to become the No.1 side in the ICC Test Rankings. England, thoroughly distracted by the controversy involving Kevin Pietersen, failed to give Andrew Strauss a win for playing in his 100th test. South Africa were bowled out for 309 after they won the toss and elected to bat. In reply, England took a six-run lead, with Jonny Bairstow top-scoring with 95. Hashim Amla’s knock of 121 then powered South Africa to 351 all out, to give the three lions a 346-run target for victory. Graeme Swann and Matt Prior’s late order heroics were enough to induce fright, but not good enough to help England open their account in the series. Andrew Strauss soon announced his retirement from the game. 

 

Windies rule the World: Powered by a group of Twenty20 mercenaries, the West Indies captured their first tournament of significance in a long time, in a format suited perfectly to their explosive talents. Such was the six-hitting prowess of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels that it helped the team tide over extended spells of inactivity in the middle. Sunil Narine was brilliant, especially in the final against hosts Sri Lanka, and Darren Sammy was exemplary in his leadership. The win sparked wild celebrations in the West Indies camp, with Gayle leading the brigade on his Gangnam style horse. But will this be the shot in the arm that Caribbean cricket has long been waiting for? 

 

Samuels comes good: Chris Gayle is usually central to West Indian plans. Imagine then their state of mind when they lost the talismanic opener in the first over of the World Twenty20 final against Sri Lanka at Colombo. The calypso kings were struggling to get a move on when Marlon Samuels came up with a masterly effort under pressure in the big game. The Carribeans were 32/2 in 10 overs when Samuels exploded. He clobbered 78 off 56 balls, including six sixes, lending a degree of respectability to the total. The 137 proved too much for the home team, as Samuels turned in another good performance, this time with the ball, conceding just 15 in four overs and picking up a wicket. 

 

Yuvraj Singh: Those who'd assumed Yuvraj's return to Indian colours was a decision based on sentimentality were silenced emphatically by the southpaw. He scored a dashing 34 with two sixes on comeback against New Zealand at Chennai and followed it up with a bits and pieces all-round show at India's dismal World Twenty20 campaign in Sri Lanka. More than the runs scored and wickets taken it was Yuvraj's fielding that signalled he had truly returned to his lair. Despite the tell tale physical signs of a long and potentially fatal lay off, Yuvraj hit the stumps several times from close in and attacked the ball. So intense was the wave of emotion that swept through cricket's corridors following his recovery from a rare cancer that the selectors were impelled to include him in the Test squad. This move, however, did prove to be laden with sentiment, and little else. 

 

Ranji revamp: India’s premier domestic competition was subjected to a rigorous revamping, led by Sourav Ganguly of the BCCI’s technical committee. The major changes recommended were the formation of three groups with nine teams each, with every team getting to play eight matches in the league stage. The top three teams from groups A and B and the top two from group C would qualify for the knockout phase. The committee also proposed that the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final should be five-day matches. The previous format allowed only the final to be played over five days. The points system was also modified. An outright win was granted six points, plus a bonus point for a win by an innings or by 10 wickets, among other changes. One aspect that Ganguly and his motley crew conveniently overlooked, however, was the lifelessness of domestic pitches. With the season barely four rounds old, a spate of triple-centuries and big hundreds already indicate that some things never really change.

 

Patil takes over: Former Indian batsman Sandeep Patil replaced Krishnamachari Srikkanth as the chairman of the selection committee. The other members on the new-look panel included Roger Binny (South), Vikram Rathore (North), Saba Karim (East) and Rajinder Singh Hans (Central). Mohinder Amarnath was dropped who was eligible for a longer run, amidst reports that he was shown the door, after asking for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s removal as Indian captain. Patil’s inclusion came as a surprise to most, as it was widely believed that Abey Kuruvilla would be brought in as the West Zone selector. The right-handed batsman who was part of the 1983 World Cup-winning side, was the coach of the Indian cricket team at one point, and was serving as the director of the National Cricket Academy. 

 

Azhar acquitted: India's former and tainted captain was handed a bottle of erasex by Andhra Pradesh High Court with which to wash away his past sins. Implicated and named in Hansie-gate and banned for life by the BCCI for allegedly confessing to doctor three ODIS, the Board banned him in 2000, only to lift the ban in 2006. The ICC then claimed that it alone had the right to revoke the ban. There matters stood until November 2012, when a two-member bench of the Andhra High Court lifted the ban, calling it 'unsustainable'. “It was a long drawn out legal case and it was painful,” said the now Lok Sabha MP from Moradabad, “We fought in court for 11 years. There were lots of adjournments, changes in the case. But finally the verdict has come and I am happy that the ban has been lifted by the court.” The BCCI, however, is still mulling over what action to take on the decision. 

 

India sink further: At the start of the year, right after losing the Test series to Australia 0-4, India traded their whites for colours, by winning one T20 international, and losing the other to Australia. In the CB Series that followed, their torrid time overseas continued after they failed to make it to the final, which featured Sri Lanka and hosts Australia. The Asia Cup in March wasn’t a great outing either for the Men-in-Blue, with India being pipped to the final post by Bangladesh and Pakistan. India also suffered the ignominy of losing by five wickets to hosts Bangladesh, in a match that saw Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 100th international hundred. A solitary T20 organised between India and South Africa in Johannesburg, just before the IPL, ended with the hosts enforcing a farcical win, riding on help from the elements. After a break, MS Dhoni’s men travelled to Sri Lanka in July for a five-match ODI series, which they won 4-1. They also won the lone T20 by 39 runs. In September, India’s solitary loss to Australia in the 2012 World T20 hurt them badly, for their survival in the tournament came down to fulfilling a condition - restricting South Africa to 121 in their final Super 8 game, which they failed to implement. That a team could win 4/5 matches in the tournament, and still not qualify for the semi-finals, left a lot of people fuming. But some argued, that the team knew what they were getting into. The 1-2 loss to England in the home Test series was the final

 

du Plessis' dogged debut: The 28-year-old South African debutant defied Australia with an unbeaten 110 in the second Test against at Adelaide. du Plessis walked in to bat in the fourth innings with his country placed on a dodgy 134/5, staring at certain defeat and the possible loss of the No.1 Test ranking. The angel-eyed all-rounder battled for 466 minutes and 376 balls to ensure a draw, as pace bowlers Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle failed to dislodge him from the crease. du Plessis had also scored an equally invaluable 78 in the first innings, making it a truly a memorable debut for the youngster. 

 

Captain courageous: Alastair Cook can do no wrong as skipper. He scored a century in his first four Tests as captain, led the team to an epochal series win in India - the first in 28 years - and showed no signs of getting out unless sitting on a massive pile of runs. Cook's century in the lost Ahmedabad Test proved to be the mental and emotional turnaround his team were seeking as they went on to complete a 2-1 series win against a lackadaisical India. The only two occasions he lost his wicket cheaply in the competition can both be attibuted to bad umpiring calls. Captain Cook finished with 1,249 runs for the year and presided over the reintegration of Kevin Pietersen back into the English set up. And yes, he also became the youngest cricketer to complete 7000 Test runs. 

 

Hashim Amla: The bearded one's stupendous run continues. He was instrumental in South Africa winning pivotal series in England and Australia. Up above, Amla made his presence felt with a unbeaten 311 at the Oval, and contributed down under with hundreds at Brisbane and Perth. Little wonder then South Africa refused to relent its hold on the No.1 Test ranking. With 1,064 runs, the 29-year-old was third behind Michael Clarke and Alastair Cook in the runs table, and just above Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott - who also crossed 1,000 for the year. 

 

The prolific Michael Clarke: Took to captaincy in quite the same manner as his England counterpart. Clarke amassed a triple hundred - against India - and three double centuries in the last season, taking the short cut from the good to the great. His captaincy too was bold and innovative and he thought nothing of premature declarations to enforce results - a case in point, the win over Sri Lanka at Hobart. Clarke piled up close to 1,500 runs in the year, beating even stalwarts such as Cook and Hashim Amla to the top of the runs tally. Truly, a worthy successor of Ricky Ponting.