Wow! What a match! India won after playing catch-up with England for the first 3 days. They chased down a total that was 100 more than the previous highest fourth-innings chase in India. And 200 more than the highest successful chase in Chennai. Sehwag again played an amazing innings and set the match up perfectly and Yuvraj might have cemented his place in the Test team. But these are not the reasons why I loved it. Yesterday, Sachin finally exorcised the ghosts of Chennai 1999.

I still have vivid memories of that fateful final day. It was a Sunday and I had Accountancy tuition in the morning. By the time I returned and switched on the TV, India were five down with less than 100 on the board and Mongia was giving company to Sachin. All seemed lost. Surely, even for Sachin this was too much. (And mind you, this was a time when Sachin was so important to the Indian team that he played the next test in Delhi inspite of back problems because the team management thought that his absence would give Pakistan the decisive edge.)

But Sachin didn’t think so. Slowly and steadily, he built a partnership with Mongia. It was fascinating to watch him take on the fantastic Pakistan attack, comprising the great Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq at the peak of his powers. I sat riveted to the TV, realizing that something special was on. Everything that Akram and Saqlain threw at him, Sachin had an answer. And then, the unthinkable happened. Sachin got out. He played a lofted shot to Saqlain and was caught. I just could not believe it. Sunil Gavaskar was on air and you could sense his anger as he spoke about Sachin leaving the job unfinished. But a tie was just 16 runs away and with 3 wickets in hand it wasn’t impossible. Still I was so nervous that I sat there just listening to the commentary and not daring to look at the TV, fearing that me looking would bring bad luck. I couldn’t look but I couldn’t go away either. But the agony didn’t last long. Saqlain and Akram cleaned up the tail in no time and I sat there with tears streaming down my face as the Pakistan players jumped with joy, kissed the pitch and did a victory lap. Call me a chauvinist, but it was agonizing to watch. That India had lost was bad enough but to lose after such a superhuman effort from Sachin was hard to accept. He did not deserve to lose. Someone had said that during the 1990s the Indian team consisted of Sachin and 10 jokers and it never sounded truer.

And yesterday, after almost a decade, Sachin erased the scars of that match. He couldn’t have done it without the outrageous start given by Sehwag (rightly chosen the MoM) and the mature innings played by Yuvraj and that just makes me wonder how much more he would have achieved for India if he had got similar support during the 1990s. Credit should also be given to Dhoni, under whose captaincy the team seems to be going from strength to strength. Sachin Tendulkar is an all time great and I am thankful that I have the privilege of watching him play for India.