Chennai. The South of India. Wonderful region. Wonderful people. Great places to visit. A place filled with passionate cricket fans. And - during the summer the Cricket Stadium transforms into a furnace. Despite the exhausting weather, the MA Chidambaram Stadium witnessed some of the iconic knocks in the history of cricket.
A cricket bat can be a weapon of destruction. It can be like the Great Wall of China. It can be a magic wand. It can be the brush of a painter. For a special batsman, it can be the combination of all.
There was a batsman known as Saeed Anwar from Pakistan, who, on a sweltering Chennai afternoon used a local bat the way he wished to go against India on May 21, 1997, during the Independence Cup.
On that day his bat was the combination of all.
Anwar came to India after recovering from an injury against the backdrop of a brilliant 1996. In the previous two matches, he was showing signs of a return but those eye-catching innings were short-lived.
Perhaps, the best was kept for the hapless Indian bowlers.
Shahid Afridi was dismissed earlier. India had had a bright start. But Anwar entered into a zone where he could do no wrong.
The jam-packed crowd at Chennai witnessed the effortless lofts over the on field, the flawless drives through the off-side, the calculated chips over mid-off and even delicate deflections that found their way to the fence.
The extreme heat dehydrated Anwar and, requested a runner. Afridi was his running partner. Anwar looked tired as fluid consistently drained off his body. But while playing the shots his intensity was top-notch.
118 runs came off boundaries - indicates how he reduced the idea of rotating strikes and adopted controlled aggression.
Whenever he limped his way from the square leg to take a strike, gaps seemed to widen, boundaries got closer and the time to play the strokes hovered on the infinite.
An Anil Kumble over went for 2, 2, 6, 6, 6, 4 left him frustrated and fuming.
The first six was smoked, and the next two flew into the distant tiers over wide mid-on.
And in the following over by Sachin Tendulkar, Anwar moved to the off-side and delicately glanced it away to the fine-leg fence - as if a masterful dancer was walking on the stage elegantly.
And - those flick off the wrists - as if poet Iqbal's poetry was wrapped all over those.
A superbly-placed sweep off Tendulkar took him past the 13-year-old record of 189 set by Sir Viv Richards. He followed it up with a square drive for four.
194 off 146 deliveries - that too at the home ground of the arch-rivals can only be essayed by a special player.
Saeed Anwar was special!
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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