Video: Sachin Tendulkar’s Winning Shot and 41st Century – India Vs England, India beat England by 6 Wickets

Watch Video of  Sachin Tendulkar’s Winning Shot and 41st Century – India Vs England, India beat England by 6 Wickets

Video: Sachin's Winning Shot - India Vs England, India beat England by 6 Wickets

98.3 Swann to Tendulkar, FOUR, there it is! What. An. Effort. That is a historic win and Tendulkar’s 41st Test century, paddles around the corner ever so emphatically and India have clinched a superb run chase by six wickets

Tendulkar pumps his arms and Yuvraj embraces him in a massive bear hug. Chennai rises and what a win. A great Test match in fact, from start to finish. This will mean so, so much to Tendulkar and India.

Really stunning scenes in Chennai. Tendulkar scores a most brilliant hundred and India India have achieved their target of 387, which is now the fourth-highest run-chase in Tests.

Let’s run some statistics for you all of you. Prior to this successful chase, the highest score chased in the fourth innings to win a match in India is 276, by the West Indies in Delhi in 1987. In Chennai, India’s 155 for 8 in the third Test against Australia in 2001 was the previous highest.

Yuvraj played an excellent hand in an unbeaten 163-run stand with 85 on Test comeback. He is all smiles. The party will go on in Chennai all night. Do not forget Sehwag’s stunning assault last evening which gave India an awesome platform.

“This is a very, very special hundred,” says Tendulkar. “To score 387 on a track where the ball was bouncing and jumping awkwardly was great. Cricket is a lesser thing compared to what happened in Mumbai and we are with those who lost their dear ones.”

Yuvraj thanks his senior partner: “Talking to him was special. My dream has come true. I have won a Test for India with Tendulkar.”

Put this up there with Adelaide, Headingley, Perth, Johannesburg, and Galle. England set India 387 and they chased it down with six wickets in hand. Where did England lose this Test after dominating so much of it? When they scored some 57 runs in a session yesterday.

Listen to this – Tendulkar’s unbeaten 103 is his first fourth-innings hundred in an Indian win. And Dhoni has now won four matches out of four.

Time for the post-match ceremony. First up is Pietersen: “A very, very bitter pill to swallow. To start Test cricket two weeks after what happened in Mumbai is terrific. I think Sehwag started the innings terrificly and we tried our hearts out. We didn’t come here to lose. The pitch was very good. There are player positives to take back for us. A fantastic performance against India.”

Now its Dhoni’s turn: “The toughest win. We were not present for the first three days of this Test, not batting well. But we won this match over the last two days. Sehwag was the play maker and without him we would have been defending this match. Sachin was brilliant and Yuvraj was amazing. It was tough on days four and five. Batting with Bhajji in the first innings was key as we reduced the lead.”

And finally its time for the Man of the Match, and it is indeed Sehwag for his 68-ball 83 on day four. “This is Sachin’s best innings I have seen,” he says. “I remember the Test loss against Pakistan here [in 1999] but today he finished the job. I always back myself to play only a few shots. If the ball is in my area I hit it. The ball was turning and bouncing but Sachin and Yuvraj batted brilliantly. I’ve played for eight years and the atmosphere in the dressing room now is brilliant. We believe we can do anything.”

Video: India historical win – Sachin Tendulkar hit his 41st Test century

Watch Video of India’s historical win – Sachin Tendulkar hit his 41st Test century

Video: India historical win - Sachin Tendulkar hit his 41st Test century

Sachin Tendulkar hit his 41st Test century and along with Yuvraj Singh took India to a historic victory in the first Test against England  at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.

Tendulkar (103) and Yuvraj (85) took India to victory by an unbeaten partnership of 163 runs for the fifth wicket to achieve the victory target of 387 runs.

The pivot around which the Indian batting revolved around today was Tendulkar who hit 9 fours in his match-winning knock and hit the winning shot for India with a paddle sweep to fine leg for four off Graeme Swann.

When he reached 56, Tendulkar reached 1000 Test runs in the calendar year – a feat that he has achieved for the fifth time in his glittering career.

Tendulkar’s knock is a fitting answer to all those who said that Tendulkar has not led India to a victory in a Test by his batting in the fourth innings.

Yuvraj too played brilliantly to hit his 4th Test fifty off 76 balls on his way to 85 with the help of 8 fours and a six and to his credit didn’t flinch inspite of constant banter from the English specially from Andrew Flintoff.

Tendulkar and Yuvraj upset England plans who were looking for some quick wickets after the dismissal of VVS Laxman.

Tendulkar and Yuvraj hit spinners Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann out of the attack with some big hits and when the England fielders went back to the boundaries started accumulating singles with regular ease.

India lost Laxman soon after lunch with Graeme Swann giving England the breakthrough with a bouncy delivery that turned in from outside off as Laxman failed to keep it down and edged it to forward short leg for Ian Bell to take the catch.

Laxman hit four fours in his knock of 26 and added 41 with Tendulkar for the fourth wicket.

Tendulkar and Laxman took India to lunch at 213/ after India lost Gautam Gambhir (66) and Rahul Dravid (4).

James Anderson dismissed Gambhir by having him caught at gully by Paul Collingwood who dived to his right to take a good catch.

Gambhir hit seven fours in his knock and added 42 runs with Tendulkar for the third wicket.

Earlier, Dravid’s miserable run with the bat continued as he was dismissed in the first ten minutes of the day’s play by Andrew Flintoff who bowled a beauty of a leg-cutter and the length of the delivery forced Dravid (4) to the front foot and edge it to keeper Matt Prior for the catch.

Dravid has now been dismissed for single digit scores in his last four Test innings and ever since he quit captaincy last year, he has scored 881 runs at an average of 28.41.

The day’s play started with India resuming their second innings on 131/1 with Gambhir and Dravid. The Indian run chase has been set up fantastically by Virender Sehwag who hit a blitzkrieg knock on day four.

Sehwag sent the English on a leather hunt by blazing his way to a 68-ball 83 after smashing to a half-century off just 32 balls.

Sehwag’s fascinating innings, that was studded with four sixes and eleven fours, came to an end when he fell leg before wicket to Graeme Swann to put India at 117/1.

Sehwag tried to paddle sweep a delivery across the line but was trapped plumb in front giving England a huge sigh of relief.

Video: Highlights of 4th ODI India vs England Bangalore, Nov 23, 2008

Watch the Video of Highlights of 4th ODI India vs England Bangalore, Nov 23, 2008

Video: Highlights of 4th ODI India v England Bangalore, Nov 23, 2008 - Part 1

Video: Hightlights of 4th ODI India v England Bangalore, Nov 23, 2008 - Part 2

Video: India Vs England 2008 – 2nd ODI – Highlights & Yuvraj 118 & 4-28

Watch Video of India Vs England 2008 – 2nd ODI – Highlights & Yuvraj 118 & 4-28

Video: India Vs England 2008 - 2nd ODI - Highlights & Yuvraj 118 & 4-28

Few would have expected Yuvraj Singh to improve on a 78-ball 138 but he went one better in Indore, following up his second consecutive century – this time rescuing India from a top-order collapse – by dismissing four of England’s top five batsmen. The contest was effectively ended when he got rid of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen in the same over, ensuring India won by 54 runs.

Just when England’s bowlers seemed to exercise control over India’s powerful batting line-up, they were once again attacked by Yuvraj, who showed no traces of the back injury that troubled him in Rajkot. England were on top early in the game, having reduced India to 29 for 3, but the hosts recovered through a brisk partnership of 134 for the fourth wicket between Yuvraj and Gautam Gambhir. Yuvraj went on to score 118 off 122 balls and led India to 292 for 9.

The target was always going to challenge England and they seemed out of the contest when the asking rate soared towards nine around the 32th over. However, Pietersen decided to take the batting Powerplay and gave Flintoff the licence to break free. He obliged and smashed Harbhajan for three sixes – two over deep midwicket and one straight – in the 33rd over. Flintoff continued his awesome assault and England scored 59 off the final Powerplay, reducing the equation to 110 off 13 overs.

Enter Yuvraj and, with the field spread, he trapped Flintoff lbw with a faster one and bowled Pietersen through the bat-pad gap in the space of four balls. Those two blows virtually secured India’s 2-0 lead in the series.

Yuvraj’s spell was the second time he had to fire-fight in the match – India’s situation bordered on the dire when he began his innings. This pitch, unlike the batting paradise in Rajkot, was two-paced and had variable bounce. Driving and hitting through the line – a feature of several innings in the first match – was hard, for the speed at which ball came on to bat was slower than the batsmen expected. Stuart Broad used the conditions cleverly, holding his length back and moving the ball into the right-hander, and was rewarded with three wickets in his first spell: Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma were dismissed while playing their shots too early.

Yuvraj hit his stride quickly, glancing a no-ball from Andrew Flintoff off his pads four four and pulling the free-hit into the stands at midwicket in the ninth over. Those couple of balls seemed to settle him down and thereafter he placed a flurry of pulls and drives into gaps in the outfield to give the innings direction.

Partnering Yuvraj was Gambhir, who grasped the nature of the pitch early and played accordingly. He rarely went hard at the ball and did not play away from the body. His off-side options were restricted because of a strong field but he did not get bogged down, instead nudging and pushing for runs while waiting for the boundary opportunity. England, and Anderson in particular, bowled several deliveries on leg stump which Gambhir flicked to find the boundary either side of the fielder at long leg.

India scored only 57 off the first 14 overs but Yuvraj and Gambhir took 106 off the next 16. Gambhir reached his half-century off 56 balls, brought up 1000 runs in 2008, and left England ruing a missed run-out opportunity off the very first ball off the match. Yuvraj took longer to reach his fifty – 61 balls – but his next 61 balls produced 66 runs as he attacked England’s weaker bowlers and peppered the leg-side with 12 out of his 17 boundaries.

England tried to salvage the situation towards the end of the innings by dismissing Dhoni and Yuvraj just as India were beginning to go for broke. They conceded only 37 off India’s Powerplay, taken between the 43rd and 48th over, but were assaulted by Yusuf Pathan, whose late surge included four brutal hits over the long-on and midwicket boundaries. Pathan reached 50 off 29 balls, his maiden ODI half-century, and scored 18 off the final over. India ended with 292 for 9, leaving England with a tough task to win their 500th ODI.

Chasing a daunting target England were jolted early by the run-out of Ian Bell. He pushed the ball towards cover, took on India’s swiftest fielder – Suresh Raina – but was caught short by Raina’s full-length dive and direct hit. India had two other chances to dismiss Prior, on 19 and 28, but first Rohit Sharma failed to hit the stumps at the bowlers’ end, and then Yuvraj failed to latch on to a difficult chance at point.

The Prior-Shah partnership had an unsure start for the batsmen made the mistake of trying to hit the ball too hard. Shah, in particular, used a lot of bottom hand in his shots on the slow pitch and mistimed several as a result. They improved, though, and added 96 for the second wicket but the run-rate was considerably below what was required. They were dismissed in quick succession, on either side of the 25th over, and the task left for Flintoff and Pietersen to complete was simply beyond them.

India Vs Australia: Winning Moments

Dhoni pumps his fist and signals to the dressing room. Stumps have been uprooted for souvenirs. Harbhajan wants to lift Ganguly, Laxman and Ishant join in and the they lift him up in the air. Indian flags are waving out there. The Indians shake the hands of the Aussies. Kumble is there too, hugging every Indian player as he walks up the stairs. And now shakes Dhoni’s hand and hugs him. Gary Kirsten is there some where too, celebrating with the team.

On the other side, Ponting shakes every Australian’s hand. Critics all round the world will look at this series and wonder whether it’s the time when Australia lost their aura. Critics have said this is the most unAustralian team in recent memory. Can they regroup and reclaim their halo? Will Dhoni and his boys be the new leaders or will it be some other team? The upcoming season of cricket will provide the answer.

Some 2000 mails have poured in from you lot in the last few minutes! I don’t know what to do! So will just type in Chappelli’s comment instead.

Ian Chappell on Ponting the captain: “If they just lost the series I don’t think there would be any problems. But the fact that they had the chance to level the series at tea-time yesterday.. that might cause a few questions. I believe Sutherland, CEO, is going to ask Ponting about that. The good thing for Ponting that he comes up against New Zealand in Australia very soon and they can win those two and I suspect things might die out after that.”

Ceremony is about to begin. Hang on.

Ponting: “It has been a fair result to tell the truth. We played good cricket in Bangalore but from there we have been chasing our tails. India played good cricket. India’s tactics slowed us down dramatically on that third day. Looking back that was the turning point. We weren’t good enough; probably not patient enough.

“The partnership between DHoni and Harbhajan was vital. Being nine overs behind doesn’t help you. There was a similar partnership in Bangalore (harbhajan and zaheer) .. we didn’t take our chances. We weren’t good enough here and weren’t good enough in Mohali and hence the two results. I am still learning about the game, some of the guys will learn. Jason Krejza has had a very good debut. Other guys too would have learnt. We have a Test series in Australia. This has been as a brilliant tour. We have been here seven weeks and the time has flown quickly.”

Man of the Match: Jason Krejza : “It has been an experience I will never forget. To take 12 wickets on your debut is unbelievable. What a wonderful game. I was a bit nervous, I tried to keep it inside. glad it has turned out well. My team backed me up, Ricky was a great captain for me and I really appreciate that. I had more confidence going in to the second innings. What I have learnt is .. Test cricket is a tough tough game and you have to be patient. I can come next game and pick none.”

Man of the series: Ishant Sharma : “I think in Indian wickets, you have to be patient and bowl in the right areas. All the senior players supported me; that’s why I bowled well. I know how your body recovers and I know quite a lot about my body [fitness] now. Zaheer has quite bit of experience and he has constantly adviced me about two things: be patient and bowl in the right areas. My best wicket was taking Ponting in the second innings at Mohali. ”

Dhoni: We didn’t start off well, it was worrying but we knew once we got a few wickets ….

On the series : This is more important than the India Pakistan rivalry. We had our plans and executed it well.

On Gambhir: The starts were very important. Gautam and Sehwag run well and helped put a big score on the board.

On Kumble and Dada:” They are marvelous cricketers. They have done everything, they led India. When we grew up we saw them playing cricket; we didnt think we would be in the same dressing room. The youngsters will have a tough task filling their shoes. They just need to concentrate on doing their best.”

Dhoni moves away from the interview and gives the trophy to Kumble and the entire team celebrate and pose with the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

The Indians get board on the man-of-the-series car and drive around the ground. All the players are sitting all over the car! Scenes reminiscent of Benson & Hedges series in 1985 when Ravi Shaz won the Audi car.