The Hindu : Masterly knock by Tendulkar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 19, 2003

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Masterly knock by Tendulkar

By. S. Dinakar

PRIZE SCALP: Rest of India's Zaheer Khan exults after having Mumbai's Sachin Tendulkar caught by Rahul Dravid in the Irani Trophy match in Chennai on Thursday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

Chennai Sept. 18. These were not bold strokes on the canvas. But then, you can create without conquering.

At no stage during his invaluable 94 did Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar appear the conquering general that he so often is. This was a different Tendulkar.

Dogged and determined, occasionally flamboyant, but surely not pulse pounding. And the skipper's effort may have created an opportunity for Mumbai.

The man who deprived Tendulkar of a hundred with a delivery that seamed and bounced and then found the edge, clenched his fists to celebrate the prized scalp.

For the Rest of India, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, putting behind a sore back, emerged the hero, grabbing five wickets on a green-top, earning the honour of leading his team back.

Essentially a seam bowler, he hit the seam around the three quarters length rather than bowling too full; the right method on this surface. Zaheer sent a few whistling past the batsmen's nose to signal that a battle was very much on.

At the other end, Tendulkar dishing out hard, percentage cricket, and batting according to the demands made by the pitch and the needs of the situation, ensured that his bond with Chennai and the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium endured.

By stumps, Mumbai, recovering from 98 for five, had progressed to 272 for nine on the first day of the TVS-Z.R. Irani Cup match, here, on Thursday. The side lost some of the initiative in the last 30 minutes.

The men who decided on the pitch did not bite the bullet and a green surface was chosen for the contest. There was sufficient bounce and carry when the pacemen zeroed in on the right areas.

However, the wicket was also a touch uneven in bounce and a few balls kept low. At least, we did not have a scenario where the bat held complete dominance over the ball.

This duel was not a lop-sided one. Survival was demanding, but not impossible. Application was the key.

Tendulkar (94, 197b, 14x4) put his mind over matter, so did the left-handed Sairaj Bahutule, whose 58 (183b, 7x4) was a worthy contribution.

Joining forces just before lunch, with Mumbai at a wobbly 98 for five, the two added 149 for the sixth wicket in 56.1 overs, frustrating the Rest of India attack in the process.

It was only with the second new ball, claimed in the 81st over that Zaheer achieved the breakthrough, make-shift 'keeper Rahul Dravid completing Tendulkar's dismissal.

Bahutule was desperately unlucky to depart, hitting the ball on to his shoe from where it bounced to V.V.S Laxman at mid-wicket, leggie Anil Kumble being the lucky bowler.

There was no luck about Kumble's next strike though with the bowler yorking Ramesh Powar, who failed to trouble the scorers. It was intelligent captaincy by Sourav Ganguly to have brought back Kumble, with the ball still gleaming.

Soon Zaheer won a leg-before verdict against Vinayak Samant, in the penultimate over of the day, and Rest of India had regained some lost ground.

Back to Tendulkar's innings. He had his early moments of uncertainty, struggled to find his timing, and did survive a confident leg before appeal by Zaheer prior to lunch and then a vociferous caught behind shout off Ganguly, operating wicket to wicket and moving the odd ball away.

He gradually settled down, and between moments of studied defence, were a few thundering strokes such as a straight drive off Zaheer and a sweep-pull at the expense of an off-colour Harbhajan Singh.

A hundred approaching, Tendulkar was switching to another gear, swinging and pulling Zaheer for boundaries, before the spirited paceman had his revenge in the same over.

Earlier, given the amount of grass on the pitch, it was not surprising that Mumbai was inserted. However, openers Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane provided their team a solid start, with the latter in particular, driving fluently between cover and point. Jaffer was more circumspect.

The opening duo was helped by the fact that Zaheer did not appear to be stretching himself fully in the early overs — understandable, considering his back problems during the Challenger Series — and Balaji was too fullish in length.

In fact, it was first change Sanjay Bangar, who consumed Mane (26), the opener fatally opting to square-drive a delivery too close to his body and Kumble making no mistake at gully.

Nishit Shetty (5), surfacing at the No. 3 slot, looked out of his depth, was put down by Ganguly off his own bowling, but soon fell to Zaheer, the left-hander's leaden footed drive pouched by Sehwag at covers.

Ganguly's move to bring on Zaheer from the Wallahjah Road end worked. The left-armer steamed in with more purpose, hit the bat that much harder, and got a few to bounce steeply.

And after Bangar completed a seven-over spell, Balaji, brought back from the pavilion end, switched to a more productive length.

The local boy nailed Jaffer (43, 70b, 6x4), with the right-hander shouldering arms to a delivery that nipped back. The incoming ball is Balaji's strength, and Jaffer should have only been expecting it.

What might have caused Jaffer to misjudge could have been one that Balaji actually got to jag away a few deliveries earlier.

That, looking back, might have been the killer ball.

This also takes us to a cricketing truth. A delivery remains a weapon only if it has an element of surprise about it, putting the batsman in two minds — `should I play it or leave it' — as he prepares to negotiate.

Balaji has worked hard on his bowling, his run-up is a lot more fluent now, he does possess a useful incoming delivery that will always make him a threat in limited-overs cricket, however, to be consistently successful in the longer version of the game against quality opposition, he will have to take the delivery away from the right-hander or at least get it to straighten as Javagal Srinath does.

It is the two-way seam movement that has been the key ingredient in Zaheer's displays at the international level and, on Thursday, he did make inroads into the Mumbai line-up, angling one into the left-handed Vinod Kambli (2) from over the wicket, and winning a leg-before decision even as the batsman shuffled across. Ajit Agarkar had not even opened his account when he nicked Zaheer into Parthiv Patel's gloves. Zaheer's pre-lunch spell read an impressive 5-2-12-3.

There was some cause for concern in the first session when Parthiv had to leave the field due to a bout of dehydration. Rahul Dravid donned the big gloves for 15 minutes before Parthiv returned.

However, a tired Parthiv, headed for the pavilion after the 65th over, Dravid again having to perform an emergency job.

Mumbai left out Nilesh Kulkarni, Swapnil Hazare, Vineet Indulkar and Bhavin Thakkar from the eleven while Murali Kartik, Rohan Gavaskar and Amit Bhandari missed out for Rest of India.

The scores:

Mumbai — 1st innings: V. Mane c Kumble b Bangar 26, W. Jaffer b Balaji 43, N. Shetty c Sehwag b Zaheer 5, S. Tendulkar c Dravid b Zaheer 94, V. Kambli lbw b Zaheer 2, A. Agarkar c Patel b Zaheer 0, S. Bahutule c Laxman b Kumble 58, R. Morris (batting) 9, R. Powar b Kumble 0, V. Samant lbw b Zaheer 4, A. Salvi (batting) 0. Extras (b-15, lb-3, nb-13) 31. Total (for nine wkts) 272.

Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-59, 3-91, 4-98, 5-98, 6-247, 7-260, 8-260, 9-265.

Rest of India bowling: Zaheer 20-5-74-5; Balaji 11-6-44-1; Bangar 10-2-35-1; Ganguly 9-5-11-0; Kumble 20-6-46-2; Harbhajan 12-2-44-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News Update

Stories in this Section

Cricket

Masterly knock by Tendulkar

16-team format for World Cup?

Tendulkar joins 17,000-club

I am recovering well: Nehra

Govt. has to decide India-Pak. series: Dalmiya

Vishwanath to be inducted into Hall of Fame

BCCI pads up to fight AIDS

Tennis

In a hero's shadow, Prakash and Bopanna have a lot to prove

Football

Iran too hot for Bangladesh

Asian Games

Pakistan to host SAF Games

Chess

Pilloo Mody international rating tourney from today

Swimming

Shikha rewrites National mark