India shamed

Coming into the semi-final in 1996, India was the favourite and playing in front of a partisan crowd in Kolkata's Eden Gardens was expected to be a cakewalk for India. Winning the toss and putting Sri Lanka in was supposed to be a positive thing since it was well documented that they preferred to chase. But Azhar looked like he had a plan.

And when both their destructive openers went in the first over, it seemed like India would after all romp home. Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Roshan Mahanama, though, made sure that the Sri Lankans did not collapse and their efforts ensured a challenging total of 251.

252 was not a particularly tough target to achieve, but the pitch at the Eden Gardens was new (thanks to the fact that the opening ceremony had ruined the original strip) and unpredictable. The rate at which it crumbled left most wondering whether this really was the Eden Gardens pitch renowned for tons of runs!

India had started well and was at 98 for 1 when tragedy struck. Tendulkar was batting on 65 when he danced down the track to one ball too many and the crumbling pitch ensured that he missed it. He was stumped and this triggered a collapse that saw India lose 7 wickets for 21 runs.

The crowd could not understand how this had happened and when de Silva completed the catch of Ashish Kapoor, they let their anger show. And how! The stands were literally on fire and all players were in danger of being injured. Vinod Kambli, batting on 10 at the time, tried to tell the crowd (and the press, later) that he could have still taken India home. Doubtful as that claim was, considering there were still 132 runs needed in just 16 overs with only Kumble and Prasad for company, he was right in that the match should have been allowed to play out to its logical conclusion.

Match referee Clive Lloyd waited but after a point, had no option but to forfeit the match in favour of Sri Lanka. An embarrassed crowd apologised to the players and the world that was watching on TV, but Eden Gardens' reputation had been tarnished. It would be tarnished once more in the next two years, but this was on the world stage.

Azhar had to cop a lot of the blame for his decision to bowl first, but he defended his strategy. No one could have predicted the pitch or the crowd that day. It's a miracle no serious injuries to any player were reported. A shameful day in the history of Indian cricket and one that rankles the memory to this day.

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