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Now as he returned to the venue, and stakes could not have been higher. The erstwhile darling of Eden had become a hated man. The crowd had vented their fury by hurling bottles, and barracking and hooting at Azhar. The match had been abandoned in a disgraceful display of public dissatisfaction, with India on a hopeless 120 for 8. India had stayed afloat with the genius of Sachin Tendulkar and had sunk as soon as the great man had departed. But then Aravinda de Silva had taken the game away with a polished gem of an innings. Indeed, it had almost come off, with Sri Lanka losing both their openers in the first over. And it seemed that the team had thought out a plan to check the rampant Jayasuriya early in the game. Letting the Lankans post a score might have looked a safer option. At Delhi, India had set a staggering - for those days - 271, and that had been chased down with plenty to spare. To be fair, Sanath Jayasuriya’s murderous starts had made a mockery of almost any total set for the Lankans. On an Eden wicket which was prone to breaking in the fierce heat. Azhar had won the toss and elected to field. The 182 sublime runs had seen a rebirth of the man and the start of the story of India’s decade long dominance at home.īut then there had been the 1996 World Cup semi-final. By the time Test cricket had returned to Eden after a long hiatus, Azhar had been on the verge of being sacked as captain. The first three innings had been played while he had deftly sketched the graph of his career as a young man.
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His Test scores on the ground read 110, 141, 60, 182. Yes, Mohammad Azharuddin had stepped into the Eden Gardens for the first time on the last day of 1984 and had quickly converted it into his paradise. This was a different man, one who had been turned into a villain the last time he had appeared at the ground. It was not the favourite of the Calcutta crowd who was being welcomed now, those were not thecheers for someone who had unfailingly set the billiard top outfield on fire with his batting brushstrokes of artistry. It should have been all too familiar, given his feats in that grand venue, but there was a difference.
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There was applause too that greeted the man as he walked out. The white helmet, the black medallion swinging from his neck.The top two buttons of the shirt undone, the collar worn up.The almost anachronistically light willow held with nonchalance in a casual grip. The bounce in the step which hinted at springs attached to the soles. The hunched shoulders, with a distinct tilt of the head. Yes, the familiar form was emerging from the pavilion.
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READ: Mohammad Azharuddin’s 182 in Calcutta: Authoritative, dazzling and impactful Arunabha Sengupta recalls the 74-ball century that saw the erstwhile touch artist in a brutal manifestation. And he essayed one of the most incredible knocks of all time. Mohammad Azharuddin walked into Eden Gardens with his career and reputation on the line, with India fighting an impossible battle with their backs to the wall. Cometh the hour, cometh the ground, cometh the man: Mohammad Azharuddin © Getty Images (file photo)