Story Mid90s Flashback - Indian Team's Diary, Tour 1[Ind,WI,Pak,Aus]

[surendar]

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A Brief Backgound :

Arguably one of the best eras in cricket - mid/late 90s where there was neither T20s or mini leagues encouraging the aggression among players. It was purely the skills and strategy that made a team to survive under healthy competition atmosphere. Be it a 200+ score or 300+ plus score, it was never easy. This diary would be focused exclusively on TEAM INDIA where they compete with other teams on Home & Overseas conditions in several tours. First tour would be one of the famous ODI series - World Series(India, Australia, WI, Pakistan). With poor overseas records haunting team's morale, we would see how India survive or give-up on these tough challenges.
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Match 1 - India Vs West Indies

After loosing the toss, it was tough situation for Indian skipper for the first match as overall confidence stayed low among the players to chase on foreign conditions. Srinath, Zaheer and Prasad started off well with quick wickets but Jacob, Hooper & Chanderpaul dominated with control. To be specific, Hooper took over the situation with complete dominance. Struggles in bowling department seemed obvious when team India lacked that 5th bowler. Fortunately, little master had some charm in favor of him for the bowling options. He(Sachin Tendulkar) and Anil Kumble tried to bring the match in favor of India but Thanks to Arthurton and Ambrose who did a severe lower order damage taking West Indies to 284/9 in 50 Overs.

Coming to chase 280+ on foreign soil never worked out for team India, and they only hoped that past history can be overwritten. Unfortunately, none of the batters stayed long & crowd went to stunning silence when the master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar threw his wicket away by a silly run-out. There were no resistance provided by indian batsmen except Jadeja & Kambli but it became too much for them to handle. Arthurton, who had a big role with bat, also ripped apart the lower order of Indian batting. He finished with a quick 5-fer that led to a major collapse. Yes, Indian team was ALL OUT for 128 runs with Arthurton taking the obvious MOTM award. An excellent start for West Indies.
Result : West Indies won by 156 Runs
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Match 2 - Pakistan Vs Australia

In the other match between Australia & Pakistan, visitors shocked the home crowd with a dominating performance. Yet another display of batting first & winning the game with dominance. At end of the day, it was Pakistan that dominated both sessions right from ball 1 till the last delivery. Game, Set & Match - Pakistan with Razzaq taking away the MOTM award for his all-round show.

Result : Pakistan won by 55 Runs
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Match 3 - West Indies Vs Pakistan

In Match 3 between West Indies and Pakistan, WI team looked very promising in session 1 with majestic century from Campbell which was the first one in series. Everyone leaned towards WI after they put up a mammoth total of 276 which was similar to their first match. However, Pakistan batting display stole the show in session 2 & they(Pakistan) looked so confident & fluent in Aussie conditions. After all, they already have a great record of winning a world cup here. Razzaq, for the second time, dominated the bowlers of WI and took his team to victory in the end. With this turning out to be a high scoring game, Mustaq Ahmed, who took 4 wickets was awarded the MOTM. Overall, Pakistan is currently staying strong at the top of this league table with back to back victories.

Result : Pakistan won by 5 Wickets
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Next Match - India Vs Australia, Stay Tuned.

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[surendar]

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Match 4 - India Vs Australia :

With Australia and India suffering from their loss in first match, this turned out to be an important match to both the teams. There was no luck once again for India during the toss, & was asked to bowl first again. Team India made some interesting changes of including Manoj Prabhakar & V.Raju in team XI resting Ganguly and Zaheer. It was an interesting call to take for Azhar, but this would definitely address their problems with 5th bowling option. It wasn't the great start for pacers, Srinath and Prasad. Taylor/Waugh did start off well, however Azhar's quick bowling change of bringing Prabhakar as 3rd bowler seemed to turn tables for India.

Manoj Prabhakar's wise cutter deliveries hold the run-flow in check for Aussies, & things turned more interesting when Raju(slow left arm spin) started off in other end. These two shared 6 maiden overs and 6 wickets in 20 overs of their bowling spell. First half, after a promising start, fell apart to both Prabhakar and Raju. Steve Waugh's lazy dismissal of C&B to Prabhakar irritated many of the Aussie fans. Bevan, Healy, Warne & Kasprowiz did their job well that took Aussies to bat the full 50 overs after that collapse of 118/5. Final total was 222/9 which indeed looked promising on Aussie conditions.

With Tendulkar & Prabhakar opening the bat for India, little master took complete control right from the start of this chase. His confident & elegant looking strokes stole the show. However, Aussie bowlers bounced back right into the game putting India in similar situation of 126/6. In particular, Fleming getting rid of little master at 85 runs through a thick edge silenced most of the Indian spectators. This situation looked almost impossible for India with having to get close to 100 runs & Jadeja being the only recognized batsman left. However, Ajay Jadeja maintained his cool temper rotating singles & doubles & kept the scorecard ticking. His small partnerships with Raju & Kumble started to shatter Aussies confidence. He(Jadeja) received standing ovations when he reached his 50, & Aussies bounced back when they dismissed Jadeja on very right moment with needing to get around 10 runs & just one wicket left. Most of the Indian fans thought that its game over for India but they were brought to edge of their seats once again when Indian pacer, Srinath hit a VERY BIG six against Kasprowiz followed by a boundary which led to an unexpected victory against the home crowd. This turned out to be an epic thriller with both the teams ended up fighting till the very end. MOTM was awarded to Sachin Tendulkar, though Jadeja arguably deserves it for his coolest response to this chase from the horrible position of 126/6.

With Aussies loosing both their games in this round 1, India & WI are now in second of the league table with ONE win(each) & Pakistan comfortably placed at the top of this league table.

Result : India won by 1 Wicket
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Next Match - India Vs Pakistan, WI vs Australia. Stay Tuned.

 

[Prithvi]

Great to see you back brother. I was personally busy and finally got some time to pop into this.

Yes, one soul is waiting for further update.

 

[surendar]

Great to see you back brother. I was personally busy and finally got some time to pop into this.

Yes, one soul is waiting for further update.

Actually thought that this story forum was sadly a dead rubber but after seeing this, will definitely go for it.

 

[Prithvi]

Actually thought that this story forum was sadly a dead rubber but after seeing this, will definitely go for it.

Very unfortunate to see the stories section in this state. This is the precise section of the forum which gave major boost to my language. I wish I had free time to keep my stories running, but due to training at work and some personal life engagements, I am unable to do it. Hopefully I might adjust updating one story per week from the coming weekend.

 

[surendar]

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Match 5 - India Vs Pakistan:

With India and Pakistan games always being much anticipated competition, both the teams went to the pitch to give out everything & win their pride in middle of jam packed stadium. Under heavy overcast conditions, Indian skipper put Pakistan to bat first despite their poor history of chasing runs down in overseas. Saeed Anwar and Afridi took the momentum completely away from Indian bowlers with a huge 100+ partnership. Body language among the players on ground looked very poor & both the openers celebrated their 50s.

Though Manoj Prabakar finally got the break through by getting rid of Afridi, Anwar went on & on reaching his big milestone of a CENTURY!! Pakistan supporters went wild with excitement and Indian bowlers never had a chance to get back to this game. After the second wicket, Inzi and Anwar remained as consistent threat & rain interrupted the play.

With over reduced to 42, team India resumed their batting with lot of work left behind them to chase down this 242 runs in 42 overs. Due to bowling and fielding struggles during first half of the innings, body language continued to remain nervous when the openers started. The situation became worse when their biggest hope(Sachin Tendulkar) sacrificed his wicket with a poor run-out and team continued to collapse like pack of cards. Except for Nayan Mongia who really fought to an extent, the entire batting line up collapsed to 130+ score giving Pakistan a huge margin of victory.

Indian spectators left the ground with no interest & there was stunning silence in Indian dressing room even though Pakistan supporters celebrated this victory in style. Overseas record continues to be an embarrassing one for India and it remains the biggest nightmare on how this team India is going to survive the rest of this series on Aussie conditions.

Result : Pakistan won by 107 Runs
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[Samuels]

With the Calypsos in it, I am following it but have not got enough spare time to post my feedback. I like your stories and would love to see this one going a long way ahead too. Even if I am not posting, be rest assured, Suren that you have got at least one follower for your story(ies). A suggestion though, you need not to go with with the exact same teams that were in real life. You can add your flavor a bit. Some surprise selections would be great say a certain Pat Patterson, Franklin Rose, Ajay Sharma or a certain Matthew Hayden would be a good twist in the scheme of things.

BTW, is Suren Ram's story scrapped? It was prolly the longest running story simulated through various games. It would be a shame if it is not completed. That said, you may continue it only if you really feel interested because fun in what you do is the ultimate factor.

 

[surendar]

Awww thank you. It's glad to really know that there are still few people who read stories here. It gives something for writers to not to give up.

And for career story, it is put on hold as I have very very limited time to spend outside my regular day to day life activities. If time comes I will surely resume it. Thanks for checking on it.

 

[RPHKR]

Awww thank you. It's glad to really know that there are still few people who read stories here. It gives something for writers to not to give up.

And for career story, it is put on hold as I have very very limited time to spend outside my regular day to day life activities. If time comes I will surely resume it. Thanks for checking on it.

Suren's career diary is the best cricket story I've ever read. India gotta fight back. Waiting for the next update.