Ajay Jadeja plunders 22 runs in one Waqar Younis over

Ajay Jadeja entered a different zone late in the first half of the World Cup quarter-final, and successive Waqar overs went for 18 and 22 as India spurted to 287. Pakistan managed 248 in reply.

Ajay Jadeja
I just was in the zone during that knock. Everything went according to a perfectly executed script, except that it didn't go the distance - I got out on the second ball of the last over.

I went in to bat when there were about eight overs left. Scoring against the Pakistani pace bowlers at the death was difficult. I was good at playing spin and Mushy [Mushtaq Ahmed] still had one over left to bowl, so it was too early to go for the shots. I concentrated on playing from ball to ball.

Then Nayan Mongia was run out in the 46th over and things turned around. In the 48th over, bowled by Waqar, I received a half-volley first ball, which I dispatched through the covers. From there on, everything I hit was perfect. I knew Waqar would not try to do too much and would rely mostly on his stock ball, the inswinging yorker. The first of the two sixes I hit in that over came against that ball. I picked it up early, stepped out, and flicked it over midwicket.

I was just playing my instinctive game that day, which I believe was the best in that situation, and it worked accordingly.

Rashid Latif
Jadeja's innings probably ranks as one of the best I have seen in ODIs, up there with Sanath Jayasuriya's century off us in Singapore that year. But Jadeja's innings was played under much greater pressure and in very different circumstances. As a wicketkeeper, I would always be calculating in my head what type of score we should restrict the opponent to at various stages in the game. When Jadeja came in, India were 200 for 4 in the 42nd over and I really thought we could keep them to 240-250, especially with Waqar and Aaqib Javed to bowl the last overs. But Jadeja just went berserk - in Waqar's ninth over, he hit a couple of orthodox shots as well as some unorthodox ones through midwicket. Waqar seemed under pressure, probably the first time I have seen him like that during the death overs, and the score just went out of our hands.

Jadeja usually liked to chat a bit, and we got on well anyway, but that day he didn't say anything - he just did it.