NEWS » on got the game-winner moments later

India go full circle in Melbourne: from forfeit to victory, 1981We had lost the first Test, drawn the second, and this was a crucial match. Somehow or the other we wanted to do well and leave good memories behind in Australia because we were losing one-day games also. In the first innings, [Sunil] Gavaskar and myself got out early, and going into the second innings, we were 162 [182] runs behind. But both of us wiped out the lead on the fourth day.The Australians take their cricket very seriously and they are absolutely merciless. They were [sledging us a lot]. I had this habit of leaving the ball and saying to myself: Leave it, leave it. So, they would make fun of me: Oh, you left it, you left it. The next one will be on the stumps.I played all the shots, but because they bowled short [I played] the square cut [a lot]. Australia never bowled up at you, and they had genuine fast bowlers -- they had Len Pascoe, Rodney Hogg and Dennis Lillee. Id say Pascoe and Hogg were quite fast.Here, the Melbourne wicket was slightly difficult. One had to watch the ball longer, especially short balls you had to watch longer because some would get up and some would not. It was not easy to tackle, especially for players like Gavaskar and myself who didnt hook, so we had to see the ball longer because we used to either sway away or duck. We used to rotate strike: all that we decided was neither of us should play six balls off a fast bowler [in an over], allowing him to get on top of us.Then the incident when Gavaskar was given out [off Lillee] happened. I stayed on and I did not ... because he pushed me I took a few steps. But as we were walking I slowed down and he was walking faster towards the pavilion. I was only thinking that nearly two days were remaining and we had wiped out the lead. The later batsmen -- Dilip Vengsarkar, Sandeep Patil, Gundappa Viswanath, who had got a hundred in the first innings -- were in form and there were nearly two days, so I was not very keen to walk off.Also, I overheard the umpire who said, If you are walking out, you are taking the risk of forfeiting the match. Considering this, I walked slowly but he went very quickly towards the dressing room and near the boundary line he didnt tell me to walk out. It was only in the heat of the moment he told me that. I saw the manager then telling me to stay on, and I saw Dilip Vengsarkar, the number three, walking down the steps. Everybody was shocked, even the Australians.Of course, we were expecting it [to become a controversy]. The Australian press was very nasty towards us, especially towards Gavaskar because he was not scoring runs in that series. He was a very frustrated man, and that was his first half-century in sixth innings. In fact, even in the one-dayers, he didnt score many runs. It was one of the very few series where he wasnt getting runs. But in that particular innings he was really playing like Gavaskar, and I think he wanted to score a big hundred and neutralise all those who were against him.After that incident, the umpires were on the back foot. They were under pressure and one or two decisions which could be here or there, we got in our favour. Like Allan Border was caught down the leg side, which I thought wasnt a very clear decision. At the end of the fourth day, we realised we were getting the upper hand.Overnight they were three down for 40 [24]. Once we got these wickets [of] Graham Wood and Greg Chappell, who was bowled by Karsan Ghavri, they were still trailing by 100-odd runs. Kapil Dev didnt come to field overnight because he had a strain in the hamstring, I think.We discussed that it was a great opportunity, and we must fight it out and save every run. We were giving pep talks to another. We were unsure whether Kapil would come on to bowl, but he said he would take treatment and come back to bowl the next day. He came the next day and bowled like a champion, and bowled them out for 83.It was like a retaliation: the press was really rubbing us hard. Players like Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell, who were very hard critics, were having a go at us. It made us more determined and angry; it aggravated us [so much] that we had to come back and beat them.The Australians came over to our dressing room [to celebrate our victory]. That way Australians were good sportsmen. I was talking to Lillee and the others, who told me that they were expecting India to make a comeback because they realised we were a good side.There were the usual champagne celebrations, but we did not get much chance to celebrate because next day we had to go to New Zealand. I would say it is one of the good innings I have played, and ultimately any innings that gets you victory is the best thing.As told to Arun Venugopal Sammy Watkins Super Bowl Jersey . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Larry Johnson Super Bowl Jersey .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. http://www.thechiefsshoponline.com/Youth-Derrick-Thomas-Chiefs-Jersey/ . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Mitchell Schwartz Super Bowl Jersey . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Morris Claiborne Super Bowl Jersey . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. STANFORD, Calif. -- Shea Salinas and Alan Gordon scored in second-half stoppage time to give the short-handed San Jose Earthquakes a 3-2 victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night. Salinas knocked in a loose rebound in the 92nd minute and Gordon scored on a header a minute later to give San Jose (5-7-6) a second comeback victory in two seasons against the Galaxy at Stanford. The Earthquakes came from two goals down to beat LA 4-3 last June 30. Marcelo Sarvas scored in the 20th minute and Hector Jimenez in the 65th for Los Angeles (7-7-3). Gordon scored his first goal of the season in the 68th minute to pull San Jose to 2-1. The Earthquakes chances looked dire after defender Victor Bernardez saw two yellow cards in the space of eight minutes and was sent off in the 77th minute,, leaving San Jose down to 10 players.dddddddddddd On the tying goal, Salinas pounced on a free ball after Galaxy goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini was unable to corral a deflected flick header from San Jose rookie Adam Jahn. Gordon got the game-winner moments later off a chipped cross from just inside Los Angeles penalty area by San Jose midfielder Sam Cronin. Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane assisted on both goals for the Galaxy, but L.A. was left to deal with failed opportunities after Bernardezs ejection, especially an 88th-minute save by Busch on Jimenez. A prone Cudicini blocked a 50th-minute rebound shot from 8 yards by San Jose midfielder Marvin Chavez. The veteran keeper, who joined LA this year, was unable to come up with the critical saves in the dying minutes, however. ' ' '