India's players celebrate their win against South Africa in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final in Barbados (Image source: AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
EVEN as India battled South Africa in a close encounter and ultimately lifted the T20 World Cup title second time in 17 years, cricket buffs and experts in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad remained on the edge of their seats, some even, till the last over, believing it would be another jinxed finale for the Men in Blue.
”Till that Axar Patel over in which Klassen smashed 24 runs, I thought we would win in a canter. However, after that over, I thought the match was out of our hands. 30 runs in five overs is not a big deal for any team in a T20 match. But South Africa messed up at the crucial juncture…” said Raju Kotwal, former cricket coach of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.
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Former Pune divisional commissioner Dilip Band, an avid cricket fan, also believed that India would lose. ”We batted well and I thought we had a decent total. But the way South Africans responded, I thought the match was gone. Until the last two overs… when things turned in our favour. Credit to both the teams for putting up a close fight,” Band said.
Rajendra Shelkhe, who represented PCMC in local matches, said, ”When Axar Patel was being smashed all over the park, I thought we had erred. The captain should have asked him to bowl outside of the stump. He was feeding the batsman and Klassen was launching into a fierce attack. The over would have cost us the match and we could have lost yet another final. Thank God, the South African ran out of patience and committed harakiri.”
Kiran Dhanawate, a hotelier from Pimple Gurav, said, ”I was expecting the team to win with ease given the way they played throughout the tournament both in the USA and West Indies. I thought it was going to be a one-sided final. But it became a close fight. Till the last over or penultimate ball, I was biting my nails. I was not confident of India winning because we had been losing crucial tournament matches in the past. Luckily, Pandya bowled a superb last over and we lifted the World Cup after 17 years.”
Ramesh Iyer, a Congress leader, said, ”I had no doubt India would win. But when I saw how South Africa was batting, my heart sank. But the catch Suryakumar Yadav took turned the match on its head. The catch reminded me of the 1983 final against West Indies when Kapil Dev took a similar one of Vivian Richards. That catch sealed West Indies’s fate and India got home the Prudential World Cup. And Yadav’s catch helped India this time lift the T20 World Cup. in 1983 when we won it was June, and this time too, it is June.”
Rohidas Rithe, a former cricketer, said,”I was tense when South Africa went on a rampage, but the David Miller catch by Suryakumar Yadav turned the tables around. It was a match where we didn’t leave our seats for a moment. After every over, fortunes seemed to be turning. The Indian team really held its nerves, and has made the country proud.”
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Anitha Kadam, a teacher, said she wasn’t confident of India’s win. “Because in the past too India has done well in initial matches but lost the crucial semi-final and final. But this time, they proved their mettle and made every India very happy indeed!”
Rutuja Marale, a cricketer herself, said, ”I really wanted India to win as we had been losing key matches. Luckily we won but it has more to do with South Africans shooting themselves in the foot. When Axar Patel gave away those 24 runs and the equation came to 30 runs in five overs, I went off for a walk thinking that the match was gone. When I returned, Indians had taken control and ultimately we won.’
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
