The three most scintillating passages of play

1) Television:

Watching Tendulkar and Sehwag dismantle the Pakistan opening attack in the 2003 world cup. The 15 minutes of play was the most exhilirating passage of play i have ever seen. Chasing 281 ..never an easy target, Sachin started off with a fantastic backfoot cover drive to a perfectly good ball from Akram..but that was nothing compared to what happened in the next over. After a few lazy deliveries from Shoaib in his first over (after a lot of thrash talking about targeting Sachin), the final three balls of his over were amazing. First a widish delivery slashed over point for a 6, the second one a classic wristy flick to square leg but the last one was just incredible. A VERY quick delivery short of a length which Sachin punched back. For a second it looked like a classic back foot defensive shot till you saw mid on chasing the ball to the boundary.. It was just unbelievable stuff.

2) Radio

India vs Zimbabwe in 1983 cup..Keep in mind Zimbabwe then was like Bermuda today and i'm listening to commentary on the radio..and before we know it we are 17 for 5.. yes 17 for 5 batting first and Kapil Dev walks in. Hearing his feats that day (i think something like 178 not out) was just unbelievable..it wasnt a plodded/defensive knock..it was a counter attack that must have been glorious to watch but was great to hear.

3) Print

An inning i would pay lots of money to have watched. GR Vishwanath (my favorite player growing up) ..whom i never had the pleasure of watching in his hey days..scoring 97 no against the west indies and Andy Roberts on a wicket pitch. I only read about this in a brilliant piece of writing by Partab Ramchand. Like the Zimbabwe game, India had lost 3-4 wickets for minimal runs when Partab describes three shots by GRV. The first a hook, the second an on drive that had reached the boundary before Roberts could follow through and the third a square cut that hit the fence before Lloyd could turn from Gully and the fact that at that point 'lloyd and richards decided that they might as well forget getting him out and focused on the rest of the batsmen'. He was supposedly on 22 when the 7th wicket fell and then proceeded to add 100+ runs with *gasp* bedi and chandrashekar for company. The final comment on the innings 'the fact that he missed a century by just 3 did not in anyway diminish the quality of the performance..it infact gave it heroic stature'.. It was a brilliant piece of writing of probably one of the most brilliant innings noone ever saw.