Tendulkar's century takes India to modest score

By G. Viswanath

SHARJAH, OCT. 20. The purists must have been pleased with the way Sachin Tendulkar batted for a century at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, even if it was in an abridged version of the game. He had to return to the old-fashioned ways of grafting on a surface that was not genuinely conducive to free flowing batsmanship, with the ball tending to come on to the bat rather sluggishly, although Sourav Ganguly's cover boundary in the very first over of the Coca Cola Tri-series here promised a lot.

It was not before long that the Indian openers discovered the slowness of the pitch, as a result of the heavy roller being used in the final phase of the preparation of the pitch. That the Indians managed to put on board only a reasonable total of 224 - thanks to a hundred-run partnership between Tendulkar and Robin Singh for the fifth wicket - was not in the main due to the nature of the pitch. On a day when the `calling' and running between the wickets was awful, Rahul Dravid must take the blame for not grounding his bat. His departure put a specific demand on Tendulkar to stay through the Indian innings.

Determined innings

Tendulkar showed a kind of determination that was evident in his effort against New Zealand in the final of the ICC Knock out at Nairobi. It appeared fatigue finally overcame him at the point of his dismissal; he did not even seem to have the energy in him to reach the bowler's end when Avishka Gunawardene's direct throw hit the base of a single stump he was aiming at from mid-wicket.

The pitch was not easy to bat on. The Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya had predicted on Thursday that the nature of the Sharjah pitch had declined a lot over the years and that low- scoring matches had been the order in the last two years. He was more or less proved right when his new ball bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa operated. There was no carry and though Ganguly pushed Vaas wide of a diving Marvan Atapattu at cover, the following overs from the Sri Lankan medium-pacers just about confirmed what was in store for the Indian batsman.

The Indian captain appeared to be in the mood to play in his natural vein. There was the risk in hitting over the top. Ganguly managed to hit one off Zoysa, but thereafter he was mishitting the ball. He had a lucky escape when Atapattu at cover held a catch, but umpire George Sharp had signalled a no ball because Muttiah Muralitharan was not inside the 30 yard circle at the point of delivery. But Ganguly did not make the most of it, fending a catch to Gunawardene at point. Obviously he was not really in a position to face the rising ball which Vaas managed to get on that occasion.

The exit of Ganguly, coming here after back-to-back centuries against South Africa and New Zealand was a big blow. It was an ideal situation for some one like Dravid, not in really good nick, to play himself in. The two boundaries he struck off Zoysa and Kaushaliya Weeraratne promised a plenty from him. But the second-wicket stand came to an abrupt end with Dravid failing to ground his bat. He appeared to be physically in, but slow motion replays showed that he had stepped on the outer part of the popping crease, leaving a thicker part of the crease to the fielding side.

Tendulkar was the only batsman who appeared to have come to terms with the pitch. He had played cover drive off Vaas, leaning into the shot and with head down. But he cut out all the frills and played the ball late and made his intentions clear that he was going to graft and play each delivery on merit.

When the off-spinners, Muttiah Muralitharan and Russel Arnold came on, he employed the sweep to perfection, though Jayasuriya had kept a man at backward square leg inside the circle.

Tendulkar saw Kambli falling a second run out victim and Muralitharan finding the gap between bat and pad to bowl left- hander Yuveraj Singh for his first single digit score.

The repair work was done admirably by the fifth-wicket pair in Tendulkar and Robin Singh. Both did not allow the slowness of the pitch to play havoc on their nerves. Tendulkar's second boundary shot came after nearly 22 overs and the third in the 32nd.

He hit a six off Jayasuriya that saw him go into the 90s in style. He completed his 26th century in limited-overs internationals and his seventh in Sharjah, which was there for the asking.

It was another remarkable show of batsmanship from the Indian batting maestro, his century coming in less than three and a half hours, but the Indian innings owed a lot to the typical effort from Robin Singh, whose 35 in the circumstances was a big one.

Scoreboard

INDIA

S. Ganguly c Gunawardena b Vaas        17
(24b, 2x4s)
S. Tendulkar (run out)                101
(140b, 3x4s, 1x6)
R. Dravid (run out)                    16
(21b, 2x4s)
V. Kambli (run out)                    12
(21b, 1x4)
Yuveraj Singh b Muralitharan            7 

(15b)
Robin Singh c Atapattu b Muralitharan  35
(61b, 1x4)
A. Kumble b Vaas                       11
(13b, 1x4)
A. Agarkar (not out)                    7
(7b)
V. Dahiya (run out)                     0
(1b)
Zaheer Khan (not out)                   1
(1b)
Extras (lb-6, nb-6, w-5)               17
                                      ---
Total (for eight wkts. in 50 overs)   224
                                      ---

Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Ganguly), 2-64 (Dravid), 3-87 (Kambli), 4-
102  (Yuvraj), 5-202 (Robin), 6-205 (Tendulkar), 7-222  (Kumble), 
8-222 (Dahiya)

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 10-0-40-2, Zoysa 10-2-48-0, Weeraratne 8-
0-41-0, Muralitharan 10-0-36-2, Jayasuriya 9-0-36-0, Arnold  4-0-
17-0.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Sengupta tastes defeat
Next     : Venkat, Hanumant in panel