When Ajay Jadeja (partnering with Sachin) scored a brilliant century!
West Indies vs India ODI @ Cuttack
9th November 1994
#memoriesfromdiaries #mccschooldays #mcchosteldays
On this particular day, breakfast started at 7.30 am sharp for all of us hostelers; and our gang was the first to give attendance for our breakfast, you see! 😊
Bread, Butter, Jam & Coffee were our usual continental for breakfast!
After breakfast, some of us went to the reading room to browse through the day’s newspaper, before going to our classes.
Our PT Hour was a free hour today. So all of us boys in class - we were shouting and having fun in our fiefdom - the M1 Classroom, 😉when suddenly, we sensed the roar of a lion.
The roar had came from near the door. 😊
The roar that resonated through every nook and corner of our little fiefdom, in such thunderous ways!
It was our Headmaster Dr. Jefferson!!!
In his inimitable, extraordinarily powerful bass voice that resounded throughout the gothic aisles and corridors of our good ol’ school, he gave out a stern warning to all of us boys, seated in class, saying,
“I don’t want you guys doing mischief in class. I can sacrifice two of you, for saving the remaining 48!”
he thundered, in his characteristic deep voice, and left us all hushed and still for a while, in the process.
Mr. Ramasamy, taught English for us. He was around 55 years old, back then, and he was part of the Tamil Nadu Text Book Society’s Board as well. So he was a very busy teacher! On this particular day, he came a bit late to class.
He then asked us to fill out sample Money Order forms and Telegraph forms as part of our ‘English Paper’ requirements, in class.
The Money Order Forms and telegraph forms might sound quite anachronistic by today’s standards, I guess.
On this particular day, Sunil tore my shirt button, while pulling me back into class.
For more on Sunil, my bestie, and the Sunil sagas of yore, you may want to read a host of past posts on our blog, HERE! 😊
Prince from our class, was a habitual bunker of sorts. So we had nicknamed him, ‘master-bunker’
😉
On this particular day, he had returned after his routine bunking of the Chemistry class.
You see, whenever he returned to classes after his bunking sojourn was over, he used to sport such an innocent look on his face, before his teacher - a look that could melt any stony heart!
On this particular day, as usual, he so skillfully put on that ‘innocently serious’ look, to try and convince our Chemistry Master about the necessity that had kinda forced him to bunk his Chemistry class.
Mr. Manivachagam, for his part, with an equally innocently serious look on him, asked him to bring a ‘Permission Note’ from Headmaster for bunking his class. 😉
Did Physics Practicals with Samuel Rajesh.
Sharp at 3 pm we were given our refreshments, after which we all rushed quite excitedly to the TV Room to watch the Second ODI between West Indies and India at Cuttack!
Ajay Jadeja’s blitzkrieg with the bat, helped India amass a formidable total against the visitors. Jadeja scored a masterful 104 runs, leading India to victory in the process.
Brian Lara (89) top scored for West Indies.
Ajay Jadeja was indeed a surprise welcome opener on this particular day. He opened the innings with Sachin Tendulkar, and the powerful combo made mincemeat of the opposition’s bowling, smashing 14 boundaries and three sixes (by Jadeja) in the process!
Interestingly, Ajay Jadeja, being a middle-order batsman, had scored just six centuries, in his eight-year long career in international cricket. (and this was one among the six centuries in his kitty!)
It was highly unfortunate, however, that Ajay, (who was one of my favourite cricketers), was allegedly involved in the infamous match-fixing scandal that shook Indian cricket in the year 2000.
(Although Azharuddin, who was Captain of the Indian Cricket Team back then, had confessed to his involvement in fixing three matches, Ajay Jadeja stoutly refused all allegations that were levelled against him).
Sadly, he was given a life-ban, and hence he could not play International cricket from then on. The life-ban was subsequently revoked in 2003, by the Delhi High Court.
Last month, (in October 2023) all Jadeja fans were happy to see their cricketing icon, back in action, albeit in a different avatar - having been appointed as the Afghanistan cricket team mentor for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023!
PS: Fortunately or unfortunately, after the year 2000, soon after I had witnessed my favourite cricketing icons Ajay Jadeja, Hanse Cronje among others accused of having been involved in the match-fixing scandal, I stopped watching the game for life! It’s been 23 years now, and I haven’t watched any form of cricket ever since! You may want to read more about it, on our past post HERE.
The hurt was too difficult for my heart to bear, I guess!
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