When Sehwag, Sachin, Laxman And Dhoni Made Merry At Eden Gardens

February 14, 2010, was really a Happy Valentine's Day for Kolkata's cricket-loving public. The 2nd Test between India and South Africa would begin at Eden Gardens and India needed to win not just to draw the series but preserve their recently-acquired No. 1 Test ranking.

Yours truly was still over 6 months away from turning 24, single, in his final year as a journalism student in post-grad and of course, a cricket enthusiast. So when a friend said he had tickets for Day 3 of the Test, I had no hesitation in saying yes.

So yes, February 16 was the day set for me to watch Test cricket at Eden Gardens after nearly 8 years. My first and only experience till then was watching Day 3 of the 3rd Test between India and West Indies in 2002. I saw Shivnarine Chanderpaul score a 100, the game was eventually drawn and we won the series 2-0.

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But back to 2010. I keenly followed the game to see how things stood when I went to the ground. India bowled South Africa out for 296 and ended Day 2 at 342/5. The highlight of the 2nd day were scores of 165 from Virender Sehwag and 106 from Sachin Tendulkar. I felt a little down that I missed seeing it on the ground. Little was I aware that more was to come.

Come Day 3, my friend, his cousin and I made our way to our designated seats. It was still late winter so there was a slight chill in the air. We ensured we were at the ground an hour before play started to settle into our seats by the time the match started. Soon it was time for the 1st ball. What followed after that was a day to remember.

Amit Mishra had been promoted as nightwatchman and after taking India through the crucial 1st hour, he perished. VVS Laxman was already at the crease and he was joined by MS Dhoni. They were to orchestrate a long day for South Africa on the field.

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The Indian skipper was batting with a man who had made this ground his second home. Soon they negotiated whatever demons the pitch had, if it had any and began to accumulate runs and that too at a brisk pace.

As I watched from the stands, one of the best attacks in the world was systematically ripped apart by 2 different kinds of players. One was methodical in his approach and wore you down, the other just blasted from the word go. Both went past their 50s and 100s were on the cards.

When they got their centuries the crowd roared with joy. I remember jumping up and down with glee as I had never seen Indians score a century live. This was just amazing. It must be said that I did go to watch an IPL game in between my 2 Tests. That was in 2008 and KKR sadly lost to MI.

But back to the match at hand. South Africa ran out of ideas as Laxman and Dhoni put on 259 runs for the 7th wicket. Laxman made 143 not out while Dhoni was unbeaten on 132 when the innings was declared at 643/6, 347 runs ahead of South Africa. South Africa ended the day on 6/0 and we all went home a happy bunch.

A couple of days later, India won by an innings and 57 runs to draw the series and preserve the No. 1 Test spot. They would remain at the top until England dethroned them in the course of the 4-0 rout in 2011. But those are tales for another day.

13 years on, a lot has changed. All the 4 players who starred in this match have retired and yours truly is working as a sports journalist in a leading media organisation.