Congratulations to Team India for winning the series 3-0 with a stunning victory in the Ranchi Test. This is a Diwali gift for the countrymen - Raghubar Das, Jharkhand CM
22nd October 2019, On Tuesday When Indian Team trounced South Africa led by F du Plessis by an innings and 202 runs registering a clean sweep by 3-0 in the ICC World Test Championship at JSCA stadium Ranchi, it continued the tradition of giving a ‘Diwali Gift’ to its Cricket Fans. This tradition is not new and has a long history of more than 40 years when a victory prompted a ‘Diwali Dhamaka’ for Indian cricket lovers. Let’s know a few occasions :
1987,Reliance World Cup : October 22, India Vs Australia
On Diwali day : This was the 15th match of the tournament and 2nd head to head between India and Australia, in the previous one which was the most exciting match of this World Cup Australia had defeated India by just one run. Batting 1st, India scored a respectable score of 289/6 in 50 overs at Firoz shah Kotla stadium, New Delhi with 4 half centuries from Indian side when Sunil Gavaskar scored 61 off 72 balls, Siddhu 51 off 70, Dilip Vengsarkar 63 off 60 and M Azharuddin 54 off 45 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. In reply to India’s 289 Australia started well and added 88 runs partnership for the 1st wicket before Geoff Marsh was stumped by Kiran More off the bowling of Maninder Singh who destroyed the Australian batting by a superb bowling figure of 3/34 in 10 overs. Though the opener DC Boon contributed by making a fifty , 62 off 59 balls but he could not resist Australia’s defeat and except Steve Waugh and DM jones who scored 42 and 36 respectively all other batsmen surrendered before the Indian balanced pace battery. The most surprising performance came from M Azharuddin who took 3 wickets by just conceding 19 runs in 3.5 overs and also scored 54 runs which rewarded him with player of the match. What would have been a better celebration for Indian fans than India’s victory in a World Cup and that’s how Indian team avenged their defeat against Australia and turned Diwali into a grand celebration .
October 31, 2005 ,India Vs Srilanka
On the eve of Chhoti Diwali Mahendra Singh Dhoni played an explosive inning scoring his ODI highest of 183 runs against Srlianka at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. With the help of perfect ton from Sangkara and a brisk 71 by Jayawardene Srlianka had put a total of 298/4 on the scoreboard.Chasing a mammoth target of 299 against an established bowling trio of Vaas, Murlitharan and Parvez Mahroof the opening of India was very poor when Sachin Tendulakar was out at 7 on the scoreboard. After fall of 1st wicket Dhoni came into bat at number 3 , he consolidated the inning with Sehwag by taking singles and doubles and in no time changing the gear he started thrashing the Srilankan bowlers one by one . He scored a hostile 183 not out off 145 balls with 15 fours and 10 massive sixes. The whole stadium was flooded with boundaries and India which was crawling at a time achieved the target in 46.1 overs with 6 wickets in hand. This was a great show by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, an inning that even critics of Dhoni will never forget.
Oct 29-Nov 3 , 1983, Kotla New Delhi
2nd Test match during West Indies tour of India was being played on Firoz Shah Kotla Cricket ground. This test match would have been remembered for so long in cricket history for the unprecedented record Sunil Gavaskar had achieved by equaling the 29 Test Hundreds named to Sir Don Bradman. By playing a magnificent knock of 121 runs consisted of 15 fours and 2 sixes Gavaskar had written a new story on the eve of Diwali and became the only Batsman in world to share the record with Bradman, taking India's name at the top of the list . The match ended in a Draw but Gavaskar's record continued to conquer the top for a long time in Cricket.
1994, Wills World Series, India Vs West Indies
A day after Diwali, the Final match of Wills World series was played at Eden Garden between India and West Indies. West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. India with the help of Ajay Jadesa's 58, Vinod Kambli's 58 and Tendulakar's 66 from 68 balls with 8 fences scored a fighting total of 274/6 in 50 overs .The target was not easy and the whole West Indies batting collapsed at 202 runs . The magical spell from Venkatpathy Raju sending 4 batsmen to the pavilion helped India get a comprehensive victory over West Indies and India finally won the series . Sachin Tendulakar was conferred upon man of the match and player of the series. The defeat of West Indian side adorned with great players like Brain Lara , CL Hooper, Walsh was no less than a miracle for India under captaincy of M Azharuddin .
October 25, 1992, India tour of Zimbabwe
On Diwali day 25th october, India took on Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Ground , the only ODI of the tour. After winning the toss Zimbabwe captain D L Houghton invited India to bat first. The start for India was disastrous and the opening pairs were down for 2 runs on the scoreboard. Ajay jadeja for a Duck and Ravi Shashtri for a single. A 74 runs partnership for the third wicket between skipper M Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulakar boosted India's inning and later on due to a sensible effort of 70 runs by Sanjay Manjrekar India managed to reach a total of 239. Indian batting was knocked down by GJ Crocker who took 4 wickets for 26 and prevented India from getting a safe score of 270-280 on the board. Chasing India's 239, Zimbabwe got a perfect start and Flower brothers a renowned pair of the time added 63 runs for the first wicket but a tight bowling attack by M Prabhakar and Srinath moaned Zimbabwe to a slow run rate and the mounting pressure costed 5 wickets down for 123 runs . The two batsmen Andy Flower and GJ Crocker struggling in the ground contributed 112 runs together making 50 for each but rest other batsmen hardly touched the double digit figure and Zimbabwe were all out for 209 runs in 49.1 overs. India led to a certain triumph over Zimbabwe under the strengthened captaincy of M Azharuddin making the Diwali Celebration a delectable one.
1987,Reliance World Cup : October 22, India Vs Australia
On Diwali day : This was the 15th match of the tournament and 2nd head to head between India and Australia, in the previous one which was the most exciting match of this World Cup Australia had defeated India by just one run. Batting 1st, India scored a respectable score of 289/6 in 50 overs at Firoz shah Kotla stadium, New Delhi with 4 half centuries from Indian side when Sunil Gavaskar scored 61 off 72 balls, Siddhu 51 off 70, Dilip Vengsarkar 63 off 60 and M Azharuddin 54 off 45 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. In reply to India’s 289 Australia started well and added 88 runs partnership for the 1st wicket before Geoff Marsh was stumped by Kiran More off the bowling of Maninder Singh who destroyed the Australian batting by a superb bowling figure of 3/34 in 10 overs. Though the opener DC Boon contributed by making a fifty , 62 off 59 balls but he could not resist Australia’s defeat and except Steve Waugh and DM jones who scored 42 and 36 respectively all other batsmen surrendered before the Indian balanced pace battery. The most surprising performance came from M Azharuddin who took 3 wickets by just conceding 19 runs in 3.5 overs and also scored 54 runs which rewarded him with player of the match. What would have been a better celebration for Indian fans than India’s victory in a World Cup and that’s how Indian team avenged their defeat against Australia and turned Diwali into a grand celebration .
October 31, 2005 ,India Vs Srilanka
On the eve of Chhoti Diwali Mahendra Singh Dhoni played an explosive inning scoring his ODI highest of 183 runs against Srlianka at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. With the help of perfect ton from Sangkara and a brisk 71 by Jayawardene Srlianka had put a total of 298/4 on the scoreboard.Chasing a mammoth target of 299 against an established bowling trio of Vaas, Murlitharan and Parvez Mahroof the opening of India was very poor when Sachin Tendulakar was out at 7 on the scoreboard. After fall of 1st wicket Dhoni came into bat at number 3 , he consolidated the inning with Sehwag by taking singles and doubles and in no time changing the gear he started thrashing the Srilankan bowlers one by one . He scored a hostile 183 not out off 145 balls with 15 fours and 10 massive sixes. The whole stadium was flooded with boundaries and India which was crawling at a time achieved the target in 46.1 overs with 6 wickets in hand. This was a great show by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, an inning that even critics of Dhoni will never forget.
Oct 29-Nov 3 , 1983, Kotla New Delhi
1994, Wills World Series, India Vs West Indies
A day after Diwali, the Final match of Wills World series was played at Eden Garden between India and West Indies. West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. India with the help of Ajay Jadesa's 58, Vinod Kambli's 58 and Tendulakar's 66 from 68 balls with 8 fences scored a fighting total of 274/6 in 50 overs .The target was not easy and the whole West Indies batting collapsed at 202 runs . The magical spell from Venkatpathy Raju sending 4 batsmen to the pavilion helped India get a comprehensive victory over West Indies and India finally won the series . Sachin Tendulakar was conferred upon man of the match and player of the series. The defeat of West Indian side adorned with great players like Brain Lara , CL Hooper, Walsh was no less than a miracle for India under captaincy of M Azharuddin .
October 25, 1992, India tour of Zimbabwe
On Diwali day 25th october, India took on Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Ground , the only ODI of the tour. After winning the toss Zimbabwe captain D L Houghton invited India to bat first. The start for India was disastrous and the opening pairs were down for 2 runs on the scoreboard. Ajay jadeja for a Duck and Ravi Shashtri for a single. A 74 runs partnership for the third wicket between skipper M Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulakar boosted India's inning and later on due to a sensible effort of 70 runs by Sanjay Manjrekar India managed to reach a total of 239. Indian batting was knocked down by GJ Crocker who took 4 wickets for 26 and prevented India from getting a safe score of 270-280 on the board. Chasing India's 239, Zimbabwe got a perfect start and Flower brothers a renowned pair of the time added 63 runs for the first wicket but a tight bowling attack by M Prabhakar and Srinath moaned Zimbabwe to a slow run rate and the mounting pressure costed 5 wickets down for 123 runs . The two batsmen Andy Flower and GJ Crocker struggling in the ground contributed 112 runs together making 50 for each but rest other batsmen hardly touched the double digit figure and Zimbabwe were all out for 209 runs in 49.1 overs. India led to a certain triumph over Zimbabwe under the strengthened captaincy of M Azharuddin making the Diwali Celebration a delectable one.
That's how Indian Cricket team helped its fans making Diwali more mirthful .
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