David Lloyd: Cricket has been a terrific healer

India v England, 1st Test, Chennai, 5th day

David Lloyd: Cricket has been a terrific healer

December 15, 2008

What a day of cricket it has been and I am absolutely privileged to have been here and witnessed a great player, a truly great of the game, play for his country.

At the start of the day, India were at 131 for 1 needing another 256 runs for victory. Who would have known which way the game would go? Andrew Flintoff, predictably, opened the bowling for England and quickly accounted for the wicket of the out-of-form Rahul Dravid. It is sad to see Dravid scratching around for runs: he just cannot seem to get a run, but he is another great player. After Dravid's dismissal, enter Sachin Tendulkar who was the key player in my opinion. All the talk before the Test - and I don't want to sound disrespectful here - was about the starry players like Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But the one who came under the radar was Tendulkar - the Mumbai man.

Gautam Gambhir played so well for his 66 before chopping James Anderson to Paul Collingwood at gully. VVS Laxman received rapturous applause as he entered the arena and what a formidable pair they are - Laxman and Tendulkar. India went in to lunch still needing another 174 to win with seven wickets intact. There was still no decisive winner at lunch, but England were desperate for another breakthrough.

Kevin Pietersen had to have semi-defensive fields because of the inability of his attack - apart from Flintoff - to bowl maidens and create pressure. I first heard this a long time ago from Shane Warne who said: Bowl maidens; take wickets. England were unable to put any pressure on India at any stage.

There was only one wicket that fell in the afternoon session and then Yuvraj played with the maturity seldom seen previously. I will say this: when he came in, I thought that England had got one end open because Yuvraj is temperamentally unsound. But he had a great ally in Tendulkar who literally talked him through every over in his innings. Tendulkar was imperious.

Tea was taken with India on 304 for 4 and 83 runs were still needed. If you were an England fan, you would still have given England an outside chance but it was imperative they picked up wickets. The game finally ended in a flurry and there were no more wickets.

It was an epic performance and Tendulkar, quite rightly, made a century. It was very fitting the Mumbai man tickled the ball down to leg side to bring up his century. He had been on 99 for what seemed like an eternity.

People say there is no need for Test cricket in India, but there were 35,000-40,000 people in the ground today. I am absolutely privileged that I was there too. Tendulkar got his hundred; Yuvraj got 85; the partnership was worth 163 runs and the game was won by India.

Romantics would say this was the right result, but I'm not done yet. Ravi Shastri interviewed Tendulkar and Yuvraj after the match was over and Shastri said Tendulkar's hair was standing when he said he did this for Mumbai. He felt that this was one of his best-ever innings - technically and emotionally. The crowds stood to him, to Yuvraj and to India.

I will say this again: It has been an absolute privilege to be here. Some people said the series shouldn't have been played but the truth is that we cannot bow down to the cowards who inflicted so much pain in Mumbai. Cricket has been a terrific healer - ask the 35,000 people who were in the ground today.