When Shane Warne turned a World Cup semifinal on 'fast and bouncy' Mohali pitch

Veteran curator Daljit recalls the magical spell which single-handedly won the match for AustraliaMOHALI: It won't be an understatement to say that Shane Warne left an indelible mark on almost all cricket venues in which he played. The PCA stadium here in Mohali was witness to Warne's first magic spell in a world event. It was the World Cup semifinal against West Indies on 14 March 1996. In a match dominated by fast bowlers on a lively pitch that offered steep bounce, Warne single-handedly won the match for Australia in the last 10 overs as West Indies fell five runs short of Australia's 207.

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The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here was a sombre place on Saturday morning. The shock around Shane Warne's death had swept through the stadium and the second day's play couldn't have started without India and Sri Lanka observing a minute's silence.

To put the spell of 4/36 in perspective, one needs to get an idea of how the pitch behaved. Former BCCI chief curator Daljit Singh remembers the game vividly. Mohali was still a new international venue. The PCA stadium boasted of being the fastest and bounciest pitch in India. The characteristic of the pitch was unlike any other in India. However, the tag came when the West Indian bowlers hurt and bounced out India to level the Test series in 1994. Daljit shared an anecdote with TOI. "In the 1996 World Cup semifinal, when Curtly Ambrose's ball flew past Mark Waugh and the wicketkeeper had to leap to gather it, a BCCI administrator jumped from his seat and exclaimed to me: what have you made, Daljit?" The West Indies pace attack of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop and Ottis Gibson had made