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Battling for Life Former Indian Army Chief Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was battling for life in a military hospital in

Wellington in TamilNadu. According to the military hospital sources he was undergoing treatment for a lung cancer. When the reports last came in he has slipped into coma and passed away late Thursday night on June26. He was in extremely critical condition and the doctors feared the worst. Manekshaw had been suffering of old age-related ailments for the past few years and was being treated at the Army Hospital in New Delhi and at the Military Hospital at Wallington, where he settled down after retiring as the army chief on Jan 15, 1973 after four decades of military service.Life and Career Manekshaw was credited with crafting the campaign that led India to victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war and creation of Bangladesh after the war. Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, born in Amritsar, Punjab on 03 April 1914, joined the first batch of 40 cadets at Indian Military Academy (IMA), DehraDun on 01 October 1932, after completing his schooling in Amritsar and

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College, Nainital. He passed out of the IMA in December 1934 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. During his military service of four decades he fought five wars from the British era and World War II, to the three wars against China and Pakistan after

India’s independence in 1947.

Honor Sam Manekshaw was the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army. He was awarded by the President of India, Padma Vibhushan in 1972, conferred the honorary rank of field marshal on 1 January 1973, for his stellar leadership during the Bangladesh campaign that saw the surrender of more than 90,000 Pakistani troops on December 16, 1971 in Dacca, then the capital of East Pakistan and which has now been renamed Dhaka.

Contribution During his four decades of military service he showed, acumen for planning and administration while handling the issue related to partition in 1947, uncommon ability to motivate the forces, coupling with it a mature war strategy. He is known for, as Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee, welding the Army, Navy and Air Force in to a well-knit team, well planned and well executed operations during the war against Pakistan in 1971.

Victory Indian opener Virender Sehwag with his hard-hitting, scattered the fielders and lambasted the Pakistani attack scoring 119 off 95 balls (9*4,5*6) as India marched to the semifinal league high on confidence. Suresh Raina followed his hundred against Hong Kong with a 69-ball 84 that was laden with shots of the highest quality. Sehwag and Raina added 198 runs for the 2^nd wicket that paved the way for India’s victory over Pakistan. They both played with aggression and squeezed the confidence and hope out of the Pakistani bowlers.

 
Sehwag Sehwag’s ton overshadowed Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik’s knock of 125 runs. Malik had opened with Salman Butt retired hurt with cramps in the 40^th over. Pakistani team had posted a strong total of 299 for four to win the match and India replied in a befitting manner by strong opening. Gambhir fell early for 9 when Misbah-ul-Haq pulled off an athletic catch at gully before Pakistani bowlers faced the onslaught of Sehwag and in-form Suresh Raina. None of the Pakistani bowlers could stop the flurry of boundaries. It was all Indian flags all over.

 
Raina It was a marvelous cricket by Sehwag and Raina that created the ground for crushing defeat for Pakistan. Playing under lights Sehwag savaged the attack scoring his ninth hundred. It was his first one-day hundred for India since the 2007 world cup match against Bermuda. Since then he could not retain his form and had to go through the agony of getting omitted from the team. Sehwag was slow to begin with, allowing Raina to take the driving seat. Raina picked the line and length early and with his perfect timing played some breathtaking strokes. The control and disdain in some of his shots angered Iftikhar who let loose a volley of words. He was declared man of the match.

Record Indians took the sweet revenge for the defeat in the hands of Pakistan in the Kitply tri-series final in Dhaka. Sehwag and Raina prepared the ground for win and rest of the formalities was completed by Yuvraj and skipper Dhoni.

India won with six wickets in hand and with 7.5 overs to spare. It was the day of Sehwag and Raina who made a record of adding 198 runs for the 2^nd wicket for Asia Cup breaking the previous best of 154 between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly against

Bangladesh in 2004.Trually they taught some cricket to the Pakistanis.