ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 21 : 217 v New Zealand at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad , 29 Oct 1999 Sachin Tendulkar scored his maiden double Test hundred in his 71st match (110th innings). He became the 12th Indian ( and 18th occasion) to score a double Test hundred. Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63850.html Match Report Third Test Match : India v New Zealand 1999-2000 At Ahmedabad, October 29, 30, 31, November 1, 2. Drawn. Toss: India. Three of the four previous Tests played on the Motera ground had finished decisively, and more than once its pitches had been rated as "poor". This time the pitch was so firm that it produced one of the most boring draws in recent memory. It became slower and slower by the day. With the dry atmosphere denying the bowlers any assistance from swing, it took New Zealand the best part of two sessions to exploit Ramesh's vulnerability around the off stump, in which time he compiled his second Test hundred. His wicket, captured by Harris with a subtle variation of angle, was their last success until halfway between lunch and tea on the second day when Ganguly, who made 125 (20 fours), failed to get sufficient carry on a lofted on-drive off Astle. By then, he and Tendulkar had added 281 - breaking the Indian fourth-wicket Test record that they themselves had set at 256 against Sri Lanka two years earlier - and Tendulkar was well on his way to his first Test double-century and highest first-class score. Acquiring steadily over eight and a quarter hours, he may have been slow by his own standards, but few loose balls among 343 escaped punishment. He hit 29 fours. Yet twice the Indian captain might have been out in the 90s late on the first day. Till then he had refrained from going for bouncers but he was unable to resist the short one that Cairns slipped him in his first over with the second new ball. Astle, running back from second slip, narrowly failed to complete what would have been a stunning catch off a top edge. A run later, there was not much daylight between the ball and Tendulkar's outside edge as he played a forcing shot at Nash. The dramatic effect was heightened by Parore dropping the ball. Tendulkar was eventually out shortly after tea on the second day, magnificently held just off the ground at straightish mid-wicket by Nash from a full-blooded pull at Vettori. The left-arm spinner took four wickets, but in 57 overs conceded 200, and India declared at 583, their highest total against New Zealand. The tourists lost Horne in negotiating the remains of the day, and three more wickets fell on the third morning. A hardy stand of 70 between Fleming and Astle halted the collapse, and it was a gem of a reverse-swinging ball by Srinath that took Fleming's edge. Astle, batting with immense concentration yet missing no scoring opportunity, stayed until the close, but next morning he met a deadly out-swinger from Venkatesh Prasad before he had his eye in against the new ball. He was seventh out, but the recovery was sustained, Cairns remaining at the heart of it with 72 in four hours. New Zealand's innings lasted 55 minutes beyond lunch, which was long enough to persuade Tendulkar to rest his bowlers before mounting another assault. India, 275 ahead, increased their lead to 423 with a rush of merry batting that brought up 100 in 93 minutes. Tendulkar declared with time for 13 overs that evening, but Horne and Stead, who had come from New Zealand to replace the injured McMillan, put on 131 in 55 overs before falling in the space of seven balls. These reverses proved to be a minor tremor: Spearman and Fleming shut the door in India's face with an unbroken stand of 121.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 22 : 116 v Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, 26 Dec 1999 Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63866.html Match Report Second Test Match : Australia v India, 1999-2000 At Melbourne, December 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. Australia won by 180 runs. Toss: India. Test debuts: B. Lee; H. H. Kanitkar. Australia's elation at winning this Test, and with it the series, was all the greater for the contribution of their new recruit, Brett Lee, who took seven wickets in the match, including five for 47 in the first innings. Lee for Kasprowicz was the only change from the eleven that won the First Test, while India left out Gandhi, clearly shell-shocked, promoted Laxman to open in his place, and took aboard the left-handed Hrishikesh Kanitkar to bat in the middle order. India's fast bowlers were not disciplined enough to capitalise on first use of a bouncy pitch which, having sweated under the covers, also provided movement off the seam. Slater was in splendid touch and, with Mark Waugh patient in the absence of form, Australia rallied from a poor start to share the honours of a rain-shortened first day. Play had not got under way until the afternoon. Srinath and Agarkar were accurate and hostile in later spells, but by then Slater and Waugh were well entrenched. There were further interruptions for rain on the second day. India's bowlers, not allowing for the fact that the ball was in middle age and less resilient, pitched too short and again paid a highprice for the two wickets captured. Slater hooked a wide ball high and straight to long leg - his eighth Test dismissal in the 90s - while misjudgment of width in square-cutting toppled Steve Waugh. Bad light, immediately followed by a thunderstorm, ended play early, but the Delegates Room at the MCG was lit till late as the referee, Ranjan Madugalle, conducted a lengthy hearing on Venkatesh Prasad's conduct after dismissing Slater. He had pumped the air with upturned fists in the batsman's face as he departed, and it earned him a heavy fine plus a suspension held in abeyance. When Australia resumed at 332 for five on the third day, India's hopes of a win were already distant. By the close, the spectre of defeat was staring at them. The satisfaction of removing Ponting, the rapacious Gilchrist - this pair had put on 144 for the sixth wicket, mostly the previous day - and Warne in the space of four runs all came to nothing once the tail wagged furiously. Lee, the debutant, spent 77 productive minutes in the middle with Fleming, adding 59. This cameo helped ensure that Lee was free of stage fright when Waugh brought him on to bowl the sixth over of the Indian innings. He struck with only his fourth ball, bowling Ramesh off the inside edge, and later in the day was in line for a hat-trick, reverse-swinging a ball almost 59 overs old to dismiss Mannava Prasad and Agarkar. By then, the innings was a shambles, for all that Tendulkar remained unscathed, gathering runs with deft placements and assaults on the rare loose ball. He and the equally defiant Kumble saved the follow-on but, with only five overs left to the close, Tendulkar pulled a long-hop straight to square leg. He had made 116 out of a total of 212, with a straight six off Warne but only nine fours. Gilchrist's previous mastery over Kumble saw him come in at No. 4 to provide Australia with quick runs after the early loss of two second-innings wickets. He obliged with 55 off 73 balls, and Waugh declared with a lead of 375 and a minimum of 126 overs remaining. Laxman again fell cheaply, and Ramesh batted for only one over on the final morning before retiring hurt, his left thumb broken the previous evening when he fended a bouncer from Lee on to his helmet. Lee produced another very fast delivery to get rid of Dravid. However, it was an inspired move by Waugh, giving Blewett a short spell just before lunch, that breached the remaining partnership that could have frustrated Australia. With his penultimate ball before the interval, Blewett bowled Ganguly with one that skidded through low. Soon after the resumption, Warne's only wicket of the innings sealed India's doom, for it was Tendulkar. Absolutely composed hitherto in making 52, Tendulkar misread his old adversary's intentions, shouldered arms and was lbw. Kanitkar and Mannava Prasad held the Australians up, but Waugh again proved the adage that fortune favours a winning captain. Turning to his brother Mark's off-spin, he was rewarded with consecutive wickets. Kumble was able to prevent a hat-trick but not the defeat. Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar. Attendance: 134,554. Lee, Tendulkar grace MCG stage John Polack December 28, 1999 Capitalising upon the opportunities afforded them by a significant improvement in Melbourne's weather, it was two players at opposite ends of the Test cricketing spectrum who emerged as the stars on a magical day three of the Second Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today. In his first Test, paceman Brett Lee dramatically provided the spark on another brilliant day for the home team and in response, Sachin Tendulkar composed a glorious innings amid the sheer wreckage of India's first innings score of 235 in response to the home team's 405. On a day when the quality of Melbourne's weather finally reached the verge of acceptability for Test cricket, so this turn for the better was indeed replicated by a considerable improvement in both the amount and the general quality of the cricket which was played. Almost immediately, the pitch again showed itself to be on the capricious side, and the opening passages of the morning's play belonged almost exclusively to India as a result. In conditions conducive to swing bowling, Javagal Srinath (4/130) beat the edge of the bat at least twice in the first over of the day, and similarly false strokes were n frequent evidence as the first half hour unfolded. That Adam Gilchrist (78), Ricky Ponting (67) and Shane Warne (2) were all forced to beat a hasty retreat back to the pavilion represented the ultimate confirmation of this pattern. But for the next seven captivating hours, matters did not so easily fall India's way. Indeed, the tourists' aspirations of finally coming out on top at the end of a day's cricket in this series were more than adequately stymied from the moment that Lee (27) entered a Test arena for the first time to indulge in an unexpected, ungainly and effective half century stand for the ninth wicket with Damien Fleming (31*). Fleming again underlined the notion that he is gradually on the improve as a Test batsman, while Lee overcame some early nerves to hit out forcefully. Although its effect was unlikely to have been greatly consequential, there was then time for another curious umpiring decision. Umpire David Shepherd ruled Glenn McGrath (1) to be run out even though it had appeared that Tendulkar had dislodged the bails before an incoming throw from Hrishikesh Kanitkar at cover hit the stumps at the bowler's end. This then set the stage for a nerve jangling 28 minutes of batting for the Indians in the lead-up to the lunch adjournment. And, whilst VVS Laxman (5) and Sadagoppan Ramesh (4) did not experience too many tremors in that time, disaster for the tourists - and utter jubilation for Lee (5/44) - duly ensued when the New South Wales speedster pitched only his fourth ever delivery at Test level on an impeccable length and induced the latter to inside edge it into his stumps. Matters became even more auspicious for Lee after he was switched to the Members' End for a second spell in mid-afternoon. It was then that Rahul Dravid (9) gifted him another wicket in his fifth over with a half-slash, half-cut at a short delivery which held its line wide outside the off stump. Around two wickets to McGrath and a dubious lbw decision which afforded Warne his 350th Test wicket, it was Lee's third spell (and more specifically, the fifth over of it) which then applied the icing to his by now delicious cake. Forty minutes before stumps, the paceman spectacularly reduced the chasm between ambition and reality with three breakthroughs in one over. India plunged from 5/167 to 8/169 in the space of six balls before a rapturous audience. The off stump of Mannava Prasad (6) was lost to a thundering full toss, Ajit Agarkar (0) was trapped lbw for his second successive golden duck by a fierce inswinging yorker, and then Javagal Srinath (1) parried a ball torridly aimed at his throat into the gully. Somewhat unsurpisingly, it was yet again the brilliant Tendulkar (116) who was answering the unenviable call to shore up India's battered defences in the meantime. After an engrossing battle with a bouncer-hungry McGrath had kept him subdued through the early part of his stay, he gradually began to increase his scoring rate with a number of beautifully crafted strokes. Of these, none was more outrageously brilliant than a superb lofted off drive from Warne which sailed well over the fence and into the midst of a delighted Indian throng sitting in the lower reaches of the Southern Stand. But either side of that stroke, there were many to please the eye. Quite simply, his sense of assurance and sheer range of shots against an adroitly rotated attack were perfectly applied in these hostile circumstances. In the course of registering a chanceless hundred (his 22nd of all time, his fifth against Australia and his first at this venue), he never seemed ill at ease and he played shots to all parts of the ground. He was probably never more at home than when he was driving into and through the covers - and he did so in both a forthright manner and on a serial basis until the moment in the shadow of stumps at which he skied a hook to Justin Langer at deep backward square leg off the bowling of Fleming. As he began to lose support with rapidity at the other end, so he had opened his shoulders and toyed with the bowling to maintain the strike in even more emphatic style, some of his straight driving and pulling especially audacious. In this mindset, the use of his feet and the sheer craftsmanship of his batting were a pure joy to behold. This stood in complete contrast to the efforts of most of his batting teammates, whose inability to command him the support he deserved regrettably left a considerable amount to be desired.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 23 : 122 v Zimbabwe at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi , 18 Nov 2000 Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63905.html Match Report First Test Match : India v Zimbabwe 2000-01 At Delhi, November 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. India won by seven wickets. Toss: Zimbabwe. Test debut: V. Dahiya. India took the honours in an engrossing opening act. For most of the Test, the pitch was a batsman's paradise; the first two innings raised 880 runs for 13 wickets and featured three centuries. But the game was turned by the fiery bowling of Srinath, who demolished Zimbabwe's second innings and returned match figures of nine for 141. The Zimbabweans had shown healthy promise in their warm-up fixtures, and confidently took first strike. Srinath's pace extracted both openers cheaply, but some shoddy catching around the bat negated the initiative of Ganguly, who employed six bowlers on the first morning. The road to recovery was laid in a 119-run stand between Carlisle and Campbell, who became the third Zimbabwean after the Flower brothers to reach 2,000 Test runs. But when they went, swiftly followed by Whittall for a duck, the innings again threatened to fall apart. Andy Flower averted the crisis, carrying his side to a respectable 232 without further casualties by the close. On a cold and hazy second morning, Srinath took the new ball and removed Streak with his opening delivery. But Flower ensured that the last four wickets added 190, including a Zimbabwean tenth-wicket Test record of 97 undefeated runs with Olonga, who survived 158 minutes for 11. Flower himself batted 466 minutes and 351 balls, hitting 24 fours and two sixes and revelling in the ideal conditions to reach an unbeaten 183, his eighth and highest Test hundred, and his second at Delhi after his 115 in 1992-93. Streak declared on the second evening at a handsome 422 for nine. Next day, the Indians confronted Zimbabwe's fire with their own brimstone. They purchased 266 runs from a full day's shopping, which cost them only the openers. Dravid accompanied first Das and then the mercurial Tendulkar in two successive century stands; he passed 3,000 Test runs just before the end of play. India still trailed by 147, however, and a draw seemed most likely. But the fourth day saw them at their aggressive best. Dravid and Tendulkar extended their third-wicket partnership to 213, with Tendulkar cruising to his 23rd Test century and batting in all for four and three-quarter hours. Dravid, however, remained to complete a flawless double-hundred, his first in 39 Tests, from a 541-minute stay that occupied 350 balls and was punctuated by 27 fours. At once, Ganguly made a bold declaration, shortly before tea, with a slim lead of 36. The onus now shifted to the home bowlers to maintain the basics on a pitch showing little wear and tear. Ganguly's wishes were answered: Srinath dismissed both openers without scoring in his first three overs. The Zimbabweans began the final day a shaky 119 for five, with Andy Flower, 41 not out, their best hope. The Indians came at him with all guns blazing and, while he top-scored again with 70, he was unable to inspire another recovery. Zimbabwe fizzled out for 225, with Srinath grabbing his seventh five-wicket haul in 48 Tests. That left India to chase 190 in 47 overs; they rushed past the target in the 38th, riding high on unbeaten half-centuries from Dravid and Ganguly. Man of the Match: J. Srinath. Indian batsmen, Srinath fashion seven-wicket victory Anand Vasu reporting from Feroz Shah Kotla November 22, 2000 Form is temporary, class is permanent goes the adage. When a classy batsman is in form, that is the ultimate problem for a bowling side. Zimbabwe today were at the wrong end of an exhilarating batting display from three men - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. If Tendulkar provided the initial impetus with a run a ball blistering 39, Dravid (70 not out) and Ganguly (65 not out) took India to their fourth consecutive victory in the first Test of the current series at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The pair added 110 runs for the third wicket and took India past the target of 190 in 37.3 overs with seven wickets to spare. The session between lunch and tea proved to be a most dramatic one, and settled the issue in India's favour. The Indian bowlers, fresh from the rest and rejuvenated by the meal knocked out the Zimbabwe tail. But not before they let at least three chances go abegging. Skipper Ganguly floored a sitter in the slips and Vijay Dahiya added a blackmark to a good match for him by dropping a regulation catch behind the stumps. Fortunately for India, the error was rectified soon enough as Henry Olonga, the last man, missed a full, straight Srinath yorker and was trapped plumb in front. After charging in for 24.1 overs, Srinath returned 5/81, taking his match tally to nine wickets. Although Srinath had created the chance for the Indians by restricting Zimbabwe to 225, there was still a challenging target to be overhauled. Challenging or not, it was easy work for India given the kind of form the top three batsmen have been in. Sadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das walked out to the middle ending any speculation that the Indians might change the batting order in an attempt to make a quick start. Unfortunately for Ramesh, his poor form continued. Playing at a ball outside the off stump from Heath Streak without really moving his feet, Ramesh (0) presented Andy Flower with an easy catch. First innings double centurion joined Das out in the middle and started off in splendid fashion, pulling Brian Strang to the fence in style. Unfortunately for India even this combination was not to last. Das made an error of judgment, backed up too much and could not regain his crease before a Brian Murphy direct hit broke the stumps at the nonstriker's end. For the third time in this match, the score read 15/2. In walked Sachin Tendulkar. Playing as only he can, the Mumbai class act decimated the Zimbabwean bowling. Driving the ball with immense power, Tendulkar found the gaps with ease. The momentum was so frenetic, the hitting so clean, that even Heath Streak was forced to stop and applaud. When the spinners were brought into the attack, their fate was no better. Tendulkar employed the sweep shot with great results. Planting his foot and sweeping the ball all along the ground, Tendulkar pounded the hoardings square of the wicket. Unfortunately for India the fairytale didn't last long. Tendulkar went hard at a ball from Paul Strang that was well outside the off stump and miscued it to backward point. The other leg spinner, Brian Murphy who suffered so much at the hands of Tendulkar pouched the catch. Tendulkar's 39 ball assault that yielded as many runs, was over. His innings however, had put India in the driver's seat. Ganguly and Dravid then came together to forge a sensible 110-run partnership that saw India through to victory. Dravid added an unbeaten 70 to his first innings double ton. Stroking the ball with gay abandon, he realised very early on that this target could be overhauled by sensible batting. Ganguly too was patient and prudent in shot selection. When the ball was there to be hit though, neither missed out. If Dravid's pet stroke was the pull, Ganguly's was the dance down the wicket that deposited the ball in the stands. When Ganguly nudged the ball behind square for his 65th run, India had completed their triumph with 9.3 overs to spare. Srinath was adjudged the man of the match.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 24 : 201* v Zimbabwe at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur, 25 Nov 2000 Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63906.html Match Report Second Test Match: India v Zimbabwe 2000-01 At Nagpur, November 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. Drawn. Toss: India. Test debut: Sarandeep Singh. The bandwagon moved southwards to the orange groves of Nagpur, hosting its first Test in three years. The match was poorly attended, with headlines dominated by local political demands for autonomy, the Indian board's hearings into match-fixing, and gossip about captain Ganguly's fling with voluptuous actress Nagma. On the field, however, there was a feast of runs. Six batsmen ran up centuries, culminating in Andy Flower's undefeated 232, the highest Test score by a wicket-keeper, which foiled India's expectations of a series whitewash. Forced to follow on, Flower and his team-mates displayed great grit and poise as they camped at the crease to erase an unnecessarily tall home total of 609, a ground record. For nearly two days, the Indians laboured on a placid track. Having claimed first use of the pitch, India might have driven the last nail in Zimbabwe's coffin had they not delayed their declaration until ten overs after tea on the second day, waiting for Tendulkar to complete his second double-century in Tests. Over-cautious batting had slowed them down when aggression was the need of the hour. Tendulkar's innings lasted 392 minutes and 281 balls, included 27 fours, and was the highlight of India's mammoth total, which was set on its way by opener Das's maiden century, in his third Test. In between, Dravid took his series aggregate to 432 before he was finally dismissed; he added 155 with Das and 249 with Tendulkar, their second double-century stand of the series and an Indian all-wicket record against Zimbabwe. The visitors had rethought their batting order, after Rennie and Grant Flower's last five opening partnerships had totalled 12 runs. Flower dropped to No. 6, and Whittall moved up to weather the new ball for only the second time in his Test career. The switch did wonders for both; Whittall notched up a strokeful 84, while Flower followed his king pair at Delhi with a hard-hitting hundred. Zimbabwe began the fourth day on 359 for six, hoping to avoid the follow-on, but the later order lasted just 12 overs - time enough for Flower to complete his century, but leaving them 28 short of making India bat again. The home side were counting down to victory shortly after lunch, when 21-year-old off-spinner Sarandeep Singh, a newcomer from Punjab, reduced Zimbabwe's second innings to 61 for three, still 166 behind. But the indomitable Andy Flower showed awe-inspiring skill and physical fortitude, remaining unconquered for 544 minutes and 444 balls, to build a career-best 232 laced with 30 fours and two sixes. It was his ninth Test century, and first double. The previous best by a Test wicket-keeper was 210 not out by Taslim Arif for Pakistan against Australia at Faisalabad in 1979-80. Surprisingly, Campbell, who like Flower had played in all of Zimbabwe's 47 Tests, had never previously passed 99, but he put that right now as they added 209 to push their side into the lead. Viljoen, a last-minute fly-in for the injured Paul Strang, then helped Flower put on 113 for the sixth wicket to ensure safety. Although the result meant the Indians took the series 1-0, Zimbabwe's fighting draw represented a moral defeat for them. Ganguly, who could have become the first Indian captain to win his first three Tests in charge, complained that the Nagpur pitch was fit enough at the conclusion for another five-day match. He had craved turning tracks for the Test matches; instead, his bowlers were committed to grafting on flat batting surfaces. Man of the Match: A. Flower. Man of the Series: A. Flower. Tendulkar, Dravid make merry as India amass 609 Anand Vasu November 26, 2000 The Indians may not be consistent, but the Zimbabweans sure are predictable. When it comes to bowling on Indian wickets, Heath Streak and his motley crew have no idea how to approach the task. Their speedster Henry Olonga is a case in point. After roaring in for a few overs attempting to send down the fastest delivery in the history of the game, he settles down to being more sedate, if not more sensible. When it comes to spinners Brian Murphy, Grant Flower and Dirk Viljoen, the less said the better. Uniformly, the Zimbabwean bowlers, barring the captain himself, bowled on every spot in the pitch. Short, full, wide of off stump, down leg side... Everything was tried but the simple short of a length outside the off stump delivery. The result, India amassed 609 before declaring with four wickets still in hand. Sachin Tendulkar made a masterly 201 not out and Rahul Dravid helped himself to 162. The two put on 249 runs together. For the first time since Mark Taylor's Australians conceded 633/5 declared to India in Calcutta in early 1998, India crossed the six hundred run mark. That was two and a half years ago. One would certainly have to go back much longer to find an instance where India made six hundred runs abroad. The day began positively for India. After a few quick singles Dravid struck a boundary to reach ninety-nine. On reaching that score, he slowed down, ever so briefly. Carefully playing out almost two overs, Dravid finally brought up his century. Having done so, it was back to business as usual. Dravid quickly got busy cracking the bowlers away. He began by welcoming Grant Flower to the wicket by hitting him out of the ground over long on. Playing several such shots against the left arm spinners, Dravid was unafraid to take the aerial route. Meanwhile, Tendulkar threatened to catch up with his counterpart. Reaching his century off 155 balls, Tendulkar opened his shoulders and began to take a serious liking to the Zimbabwe bowlers. The pair went in to the pavilion to enjoy a sumptuous lunch, till then untroubled and unconquered. While the crowd eagerly awaited a surfeit of runs and no wickets lost in the session between lunch and tea, they were in for a disappointment. Instead, the Indians added just 83 runs for the loss of two wickets. After reaching 162 without stuttering, Dravid inexplicably went after a bouncer that was well down the leg side from Streak and gloved the ball through to the wicketkeeper. The nature of the pitch and the bowling attack made it look like Dravid had missed out on a good opportunity. However, one must remember that he spent more than six and a half hours at the wicket and struck twenty fours. Coming in to bat with 473 runs already on the board must be quite awkward. Sourav Ganguly certainly found it so. In a two paced innings where he was either blocking the ball or going for huge hits, Ganguly managed 30 before miscuing one such big hit, only to be caught at mid off. Ajit Agarkar (12), as he has done many times in the past, promised much and delivered little. Fortunately Sunil Joshi came in and smacked the ball around for a sprightly 27 in the company of Tendulkar. This brought stumper Dahiya out to the middle. He was given just four minutes at the crease by Tendulkar. Reaching the second double century of his Test career in 392 minutes, Tendulkar exulted. In a repeat of the last Test, India declared their innings closed as soon as a batsman reached his double hundred. In Delhi it was Dravid and today, Tendulkar. The Mumbai batting star's 201 included 27 hits to the fence, but not once did he attempt to hit the ball all the way over the ropes. At a massive 609/6 India declared their innings closed. In response, Zimbabwe sent Guy Whittall to open the innings in place of Grant Flower who bagged a pair in the Delhi Test. In the eighteen overs that were bowled, Zimbabwe managed to reach 59/1. The wicket that fell was of Gavin Rennie, being needlessly run out. Whittall (34 not out) and Stuart Carlisle (4 not out) saw Zimbabwe through to stumps without further damage.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 25 : 126 v Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, 18 Mar 2001 Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63921.html Match Report Third Test Match : India v Australia, 2000-01 Appropriately, the deciding Test of an enthralling series, marked by dramatic shifts of fortune, produced a grandstand finish. India, requiring 155 in the final innings, seemed to be heading for a comfortable win, only to encounter a brave, if unavailing, challenge from the Australian bowlers. The bare pitch prompted both sides to alter the balance of their attacks towards spin. Australia picked Miller as a second spinner for the first time in the series; India included leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule to back up Harbhajan Singh and the slow left-armer, Kulkarni. While all three shared the workload, the concentrated threat to Australia's batsmen was again posed by Harbhajan, who took 15 wickets, his second successive Test match return of ten or more wickets. Only leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani, with 16 against West Indies at Madras in 1987-88, had claimed more wickets in a Test for India. That Australia took any advantage from their continued luck with the toss was all down to opener Hayden, who was last out for 203 made in 474 minutes off 320 balls. Fifteen fours and six sixes - the most sixes by an Australian in a Test innings - testified to his form and his positive approach regardless of the situation. But support was confined to Langer and the Waugh twins. He added 150 with Mark Waugh, who passed 7,000 Test runs, and 123 with Steve, whose dismissal in circumstances both unfortunate and bizarre triggered his side's collapse. Australia's captain became only the sixth batsman in Test history to be given out handled the ball. While Waugh's attention was fixed on the umpire after an lbw appeal, following a missed a sweep at Harbhajan, the ball came to ground outside the popping crease and spun back vigorously towards the stumps at bail height. Alerted to the danger by Hayden from the other end, Waugh fatally intercepted the ball with the palm of his hand. Harbhajan now collected the remaining six wickets for 26 in 9.4 overs; Hayden's mastery was emphasised by the fact that he scored all but four runs of the 51 added in that time. Warne made his 23rd duck in Tests, an Australian record. India's reply, launched by Das and Ramesh with a century partnership, also tapered away after the fall of the fifth wicket. The difference was that their collapse started with the total already at 453, which included four fifties and Tendulkar's superb century. He reached it with his second six off Miller, and also hit 15 fours in his 126. Helped by Tendulkar's 169-run partnership with Dravid, the eventual lead was 110. Hayden and Slater quickly chipped away at this, raising 82 in 18 overs before a diving catch by Zaheer Khan at deep mid-wicket dismissed Hayden. Mark Waugh then added 100 with Langer and Steve Waugh, and the latter, composed and assured, remained unbeaten at the end of the fourth day. Harbhajan had him caught next morning in the eighth over, and this time India's off-spinner took the last six wickets for 15 in 17.1 overs to finish with a career-best eight for 84. Australia seemed beaten as India reached the hundred mark with only two wickets down. Laxman and Tendulkar were in such firm control that victory looked a formality. However, Gillespie's dismissal of Tendulkar, caught by Mark Waugh at second slip off a ball of lethal speed and aim, was the signal for two more wickets in the next three overs. Laxman was still scoring freely, but after tea, with 20 runs wanted, Mark Waugh removed him with an amazing mid-wicket catch that put the match wide open once more. When the seventh wicket fell at the same score, the balance was tipping Australia's way. Stand-in wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe and Zaheer tilted it back again and, with India nine short, McGrath - suffering from a stomach disorder and having to be sparingly used - was called on to make a final effort. Aided by Mark Waugh's fourth catch of the innings he prised out Zaheer, but it proved to be Australia's last throw. The target was now just four runs. Dighe and Harbhajan picked up a single each and then, fittingly, Harbhajan, voted Man of the Series, nonchalantly pushed a McGrath half-volley square of the wicket for the winning runs. The two-wicket margin matched India's narrowest Test win, also against Australia, at Bombay in 1964-65. Man of the Match: Harbhajan Singh and M. L. Hayden. Man of the Series: Harbhajan Singh. Tendulkar waltzes away to his 25th Test hundred Santhosh S March 20, 2001 India were 480/9 at the end of the third day's play in the third and final Test match against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Tuesday. They lead by 89 runs going into the fourth day tomorrow. India scored 269 runs, losing eight wickets in the 90 overs bowled today. India resumed at a commanding score of 211/1. But Glenn McGrath drew first blood for Australia with the very first ball of the day; SS Das trapped in front of the wicket on his overnight score of 84. In the seventh over of the day, McGrath went on to dismiss VVS Laxman (65), caught by Mark Waugh at second slip. Sourav Ganguly who had a tense stay at the crease before lunch, troubled by Gillespie's pace and bounce, was the next man to be dismissed. He made 22 runs off 76 balls and never looked convincing today, before playing a flashy shot outside the off stump to give Gilchrist a simple catch off the bowling of McGrath. Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar was cruising along watchfully, punishing the loose balls to the fence. Rahul Dravid who joined him in the middle was in attacking mood as the two batsmen went on reaping runs off some listless Aussie bowling in the post lunch session. Dravid's good form was evident in his stroke play and in the assurance he has shown in the middle as he smashed Gillespie for a straight six. Soon after tea, Tendulkar lofted Colin Miller to the mid-wicket fence; the mistimed stroke went up in the air straight to Michael Slater. But Slater misjudged the flight of the ball completely and over ran forward to miss out an opportunity to dismiss the most sought after wicket in international cricket. Slater's misery in the field on this tour was truly compounded. Aussies were losing their way as Gilchrist failed to latch on to a leg side catch offered by Dravid off the bowling of Gillespie. Tendulkar reached his 25th Test hundred in grand style, lofting Miller for a straight six. The crowd got to their feet to applaud the little master. Jason Gillespie was bowling with a big heart and rewards were due to him. Gilchrist and Gillespie got together to dismiss Dravid and Tendulkar in the space of 26 balls. Dravid made 81 attractive runs off 140 balls with the help of six and a dozen boundaries. He and Tendulkar added 169 runs for the fifth wicket in 42.2 overs. Tendulkar waltzed his way to 126, punctuating his knock with two sixes and 15 boundaries before being dismissed. The highlight of his innings were the three fours he scored off an over from Shane Warne. There were two little gems to the fine leg fence off Warne who was bowling around the wicket. This prompted Warne to bowl a bouncer and Tendulkar dispatched it to the third man fence with a stylish upper-cut. Gillespie's telling spell of 7-4-15-2 made a difference to the outcome of the day's play, enabling a late order collapse of the Indian innings. Warne who bowled well all through the day was at last rewarded with the wicket of Sameer Dighe (4), trapped in front of the wicket. Colin Miller who had trundled all along, being whacked to the fence by Tendulkar and Dravid, managed to get amongst wickets. In fact he claimed two, Zaheer Khan (4) caught and bowled and Harbhajan Singh (2) caught by Mark Waugh at slip. At close of play, Sairaj Bahatule was unbeaten on four with Nilesh Kulkarni who is yet to open his account.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 26 : 155 v South Africa at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein , 3 Nov 2001 ...Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63951.html Dazzling Tendulkar turns the tables on South Africa Peter Robinson November 3, 2001 The floodlights were turned on for the last hour at Goodyear Park on Saturday, but the glow that suffused the first day of the first Castle Lager/MTN Test came largely from a majestic Sachin Tendulkar century. Tendulkar has made higher Test match scores, but he can rarely, if ever, have played better than in taking 155 of a South African attack that had threatened to rip through the Indian batting. Tendulkar's innings, 105 on debut for Virender Sehwag and a fifth wicket stand of 220 lifted India from a precarious 68 for four to a position of no little authority at 372 for seven at stumps. It was a wonderful recovery by India, who had been asked to bat first by the South African captain Shaun Pollock. For the first hour-and-a-half Pollock's decision seemed to be vindicated as the top fell off the Indian batting. The tourists had suffered two setbacks even before a ball was bowled. Harbhajan Singh, of whom so much is expected on this tour, was ruled out by a groin infection (technically known as epididimytis). And then, during the Indian warmup, wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe pulled a back muscle and had to be replaced by Deep Dasgupta. From these unpromising beginnings, the day rapidly got worse for India. Rahul Dravid made just 2 before edging Pollock to Jacques Kallis at second slip, SS Das made 9 before chopping Nantie Hayward onto his off stump and then VVS Laxman, who had made a sprightly 32, was caught down the leg side off Hayward. India were then 51 for three which soon became 68 for four when Kallis got one to kick up at Sourav Ganguly and the ball lobbed off the splice into the gully where Gary Kirsten dived forward to take a fine catch. South Africa were clearly in charge with the innings on the verge of collapse. But Tendulkar had other ideas. He carried the attack to the South Africans with such force that India arrived at lunch on 123 for four. Much the same followed through the afternoon. Tendulkar played one glorious shot after another and the South African attack wilted. Makhaya Ntini's first four overs cost him 36 and at one point the run rate neared five to the over. There was also some puzzling captaincy. Both Tendkular and Sehwag milked the absence of a third man, accidentally on some occasions, but deliberately on others and any number of runs came through, past or over the slip cordon. Pollock clearly believed there was still something in the pitch for his bowlers, but the South African attack was too often wayward and the home side leaked runs in this area. Sehwag played his hand perfectly, lending support to his senior partner throughout their stand and then stepping up a gear once Tendulkar had departed. Ironically, it was Ntini, on the day the weakest of the South African bowlers, who finally got rid of the Little Master with a short one that Tendulkar pulled for Neil McKenzie to take a well-judged catch coming in from the square leg boundary. It was his 26th Test century and on the way to it he became the second Indian to reach 7000 Test runs. By then, though, India had reached 288 for five and the initiative had firmly been wrested away from the South Africans. Sehwag dominated a 63-run partnership with Dasgupta for the sixth wicket before Pollock finally squeezed one between bat and pad to bowl him and South Africa's final success came off the last ball of the day when Kallis had Anil Kumble caught behind off a thin edge. The day, however, belonged to India who did their cause an immense amount of good. If South Africa had taken full advantage of the conditions, the entire Indian tour might have taken a wrong turn up a blind alley. But Tendulkar had other ideas. At one point, just before lunch, he hit eight fours in 18 balls. "I didn't want to think about what was coming next," he said afterwards. "I thought let's just deal with the present." Tendulkar also had the Test debutant Sehwag to encourage. "My first line to him when he came in was `I know you're tense. You're never going to be this tense again, so enjoy the moment'." He acknowledged that there was always something in the pitch for the bowlers - "It wasn't a flat track, that's for sure" - but by the end of it all, "I feel we've done a good job today." It would be hard to disagree with him. Match Report First Test : South Africa v India At Bloemfontein, November 3, 4, 5, 6. South Africa won by nine wickets. Toss: South Africa. Test debuts: D. Dasgupta, V. Sehwag. Though the margin of victory did not flatter South Africa, it did understate the strength of India's opposition. For the first three days of this Test, the cricket was combative and, for the most part, spectacular. The pitch, relaid not many months earlier, was liberally grassed. It was not fast but initially provided bounce and lateral movement. By the fourth day, it became awkward, developing a mosaic of wide cracks at one end. Pollock's decision to bowl earned good returns in the short term - four wickets in 90 minutes - although his own hostility with the new ball brought him less reward than he deserved. However, South Africa's advance was halted by the awesome mastery with which Tendulkar scored his 26th Test hundred, and his partnership of 220 with Virender Sehwag, who made a flawless century in his maiden Test innings. Sehwag might not have played had Harbhajan Singh not been taken ill on the eve of the match. Tendulkar became comfortably the youngest player to score 7,000 Test runs, at 28 years 193 days in his 85th Test, beating David Gower (who was 31). The range and power of his shots took him to his hundred in only 114 balls; when, to his immense annoyance, he got himself caught off a short delivery, he had hit 23 fours and a six. Watching ball after ball hit the middle of Tendulkar's bat can only have been reassuring for Sehwag, but his composure and the manner in which he shaped his own innings, 105 in 173 balls, including 19 fours, testified to a sound temperament. The adorning feature was his delightful cover driving. He was finally bowled by a true beauty, the first of three victims Pollock claimed with the second new ball. South Africa's reply began early on the second day and ended six overs after tea on the third. Their eventual 563 beat their previous best against India: 529 for seven at Cape Town in 1996- 97. It was founded on a third consecutive century opening stand between Gibbs, who was allowed the freedom to hit 16 fours and two sixes in 107 off 145 balls, and Kirsten. They departed in successive overs but Kallis and McKenzie, both watchful, kept the innings on an even keel. India fought back and had the better of the third morning: Kumble and Zaheer Khan restrained Kallis and Dippenaar for 50 minutes before three wickets in six overs with the new ball suggested Ganguly should have taken it before the 95th over. When Kallis was caught at second slip, it was his first dismissal in 1,241 minutes of batting (spread over three matches) - then a Test record. Srinath accounted for the next two with consecutive balls to reach 200 wickets in his 54th Test. With four wickets left, South Africa were still two runs behind. From that point, however, they took decisive control, thanks to Klusener and Boucher, who put on 121. Klusener's bat was more edge than middle to start with but, once his eye was in, it became a lethal bludgeon. He made 108 off 124 balls, with 18 fours and a six, to set up a formidable lead of 184. India cleared 96 for just one wicket by the end of the third day. But on the fourth there came a sudden and sharp decline, as Pollock's accuracy and incisiveness conspired with the deteriorating pitch and a fair number of batting errors. Nine wickets went down for 129 runs and Pollock earned a Test haul of ten for the first time. Chasing 54, South Africa settled the argument by tea. Man of the Match: S. M. Pollock. Attendance: 13,896. Close of play: First day, India 372-7 (Dasgupta 29); Second day, South Africa 327-3 (Kallis 49); Third day, India 96-1 (Das 54, Laxman 25).
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 27 : 103 v England Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad , 11 Dec 2001 .........Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63962.html England take commanding lead despite glittering Tendulkar ton Stephen Lamb December 13, 2001 England lead India by 131 runs with all their second innings wickets intact after an enthralling third day in the second Test at Ahmedabad. Ashley Giles took five wickets as India were bowled out for 291, despite a glittering century from Sachin Tendulkar and 75 from VVS Laxman. At the close England were 15 without loss. An expectant Ahmedabad crowd got an early taste of Tendulkar as Richard Dawson was swept to the midwicket boundary in the first over of the morning. Dawson made way for Giles after just one over, but it was Matthew Hoggard who made the breakthrough when Rahul Dravid was caught behind by Jamie Foster, playing an indeterminate stroke outside the off stump to leave India on 86 for 3. Sourav Ganguly's arrival prompted Nasser Hussain to call up Andy Flintoff, and the Lancastrian immediately obliged as the Indian captain edged a ball that was slanting across him to the safe hands of substitute Martyn Ball at first slip. As England's bowlers kept a tight line, Tendulkar and Laxman remained largely on the defensive. But Tendulkar greeted the return of Dawson with boundaries in consecutive overs, one driven exquisitely through extra cover, the other cut behind square as the bowler dropped marginally short. In pleasantly cool conditions and in front of the largest crowd of the game so far at the Motera Stadium, Tendulkar completed a patient 50 by cutting Hoggard to the boundary backward of point. It was already a vital contribution, but the landmark signalled a change of tempo. India's hero now showed why he is widely regarded as the world's premier batsman, with a delightful display of artistry. Tendulkar's class shone through as he worked two Hoggard deliveries outside the off stump for boundaries between mid-on and midwicket. Hoggard's rueful smile was respectful as well as phlegmatic. It was the last over of his spell, but Dawson's re-introduction met with the sternest of receptions, as Tendulkar drove him imperiously over the long-on boundary. As Tendulkar twinkled, Laxman was primarily supportive. The hundred partnership came off 175 balls, with the taller man contributing just 23. To a rapturous reception, Tendulkar then swung Hoggard away behind square leg to reach his 27th Test hundred. His second 50 had taken just 55 balls. It took a rare blemish to dismiss him, as he drove Hoggard without quite getting on top of the delivery. To England's delight Hussain held on to the catch at the second attempt at mid-on. Virender Sehwag announced himself with some wristy legside flicks, but Craig White soon won a marginal lbw decision from umpire Jayaprakash as Sehwag was hit just above the knee-roll playing from the crease. With the door now ajar, Ashley Giles wasted no time in kicking it open. He produced a gem of a delivery to dismiss Anil Kumble, bowled off stump as the ball turned out of the rough around middle and leg. In Giles' next over Harbhajan drove recklessly to Flintoff at cover. Javagal Srinath was then caught off bat and pad by Mark Butcher at silly point. Tinu Yohannan held an end up briefly as Laxman played some mighty strokes through midwicket, but India's innings ended on 291 when Laxman went for 75, trying the stroke once too often and holing out to Mark Butcher. Giles ended with Test-best figures of five for 67. As England batted for just three overs before the close, Marcus Trescothick was fortunate to take four to fine leg from an inside edge off Yohannan. An authentic cut gleaned four more to third man, and England finished in firm control of the match at 15 for no wicket, 131 runs ahead. Match Report Second Test: India v England At Ahmedabad, December 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Drawn. Toss: England. After England's defeat in the opening Test at Mohali, predictions of another Indian whitewash filled the air, but at Ahmedabad Hussain's team proved more resilient than Graham Gooch's nine years earlier. Even without Thorpe, who decided only hours before the start to fly home at once for family reasons, England dominated large tracts of the match, but ultimately lacked the firepower to force the victory that would have levelled the series. Waiting to be bowled out, 373 ahead, was overly cautious for a side 1-0 down in a three-Test rubber. Hussain was wary of the damage that Tendulkar, in particular, could inflict on his inexperienced attack. He left India's batsmen just over a day to negotiate and, on a comatose pitch that had failed to offer the expected sharp turn, they did this with ease. A ponderous century opening stand between Das and Dasgupta - at barely two an over - directed them to safety at 198 for three. With both captains apparently more interested in avoiding defeat than chasing victory, the final day was virtually unwatchable. Both sides made two changes from Mohali. Vaughan stepped in for Thorpe, and Giles was welcomed back in place of Ormond. For India, Sehwag returned after his suspension and Srinath after injury, while Iqbal Siddiqui and Bangar dropped out. Hussain won the toss for the first time since the Lahore Test, 13 months before, and Trescothick and Butcher celebrated with a positive century stand for the first wicket. Butcher's eventual dismissal was the first of ten in the match for Kumble, which took him to 299 Test wickets. England repeatedly fell prey to his googly which, allied to the ever-present top-spinner, made playing back to him a dangerous occupation. Four batsmen succumbed to the googly on the first day, including Trescothick, who drove and slog-swept the spinners stoutly, but dabbed to the wicket-keeper on 99. Hussain, leg-before to a ball snaking down the leg side, and Vaughan, given out caught off bat and pad, were both left cursing umpire Robinson. With Flintoff 's technique against spin proving hopelessly unsubtle, England needed a maiden Test century from Craig White to pass 400. Seven and a half years and 23 Tests after his international debut, White's vulnerable yet unquestioned talent finally held sway in an innings that, suitably, was stylish one minute, fretful the next. It had its good fortune - during a 105-run partnership with Foster, Dasgupta failed to stump him, on 44, off Harbhajan, and dropped a simple chance off Srinath when he was 63; in the same over, Kumble dropped a difficult one when White hooked to long leg. For all his wonders with the ball, Kumble was harshly jeered by the crowd as he left for treatment on a damaged hand. England's first-innings lead of 116 was largely thanks to an indefatigable display by Giles who, beset by heel and Achilles problems, trundled up to the crease like an old wheelie bin, but claimed a Test-best five for 67 from 43.3 overs in sapping heat. Giles had bowled only 17 overs since July, and met each congratulatory huddle as if he feared he might topple over. He judged it the achievement of his career. Giles made short work of India's last four wickets, the final indignity for a partisan crowd. Earlier, they had hero-worshipped Tendulkar towards his 27th Test hundred - level with Allan Border and Steve Waugh, behind only Bradman and Gavaskar - and then abruptly lost interest from the moment that he drove Hoggard to the juggling Hussain at mid-on shortly before tea. Tendulkar was supreme in the afternoon, ridiculing England's packed off-side fields by whipping balls from outside off through the leg side at will; three such strokes, in one memorable over from Hoggard, brought him 11 runs. Hussain's captaincy was enthusiastic, clear-sighted and, at times, uncom-promisingly negative: he never allowed the game to drift, marshalled his limited resources intelligently and posed Tendulkar question upon question, most of which were answered perfectly. It was as compelling as the final hours were dull. On the fourth day, Butcher defied a stomach bug that had afflicted much of the squad to keep England's victory ambitions alive. Dropped on 59 by the fallible Dasgupta, he gutsed it out for four and a quarter hours until he cut to slip, eight short of a century. But he had done enough to suggest that his demons against spin were becoming a thing of the past. India's fielding was woeful, but England, with Vaughan also unwell, were in no mood to be hurried into a declaration, and the draw grew ever more likely. Man of the Match: C. White. Close of play: First day, England 277-6 (White 42, Foster 15); Second day, India 71-2 (Dravid 5, Tendulkar 2); Third day, England 15-0 (Butcher 5, Trescothick 10); Fourth day, India 17-0 (Das 11, Dasgupta 6).
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 28 : 176 v Zimbabwe Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur, 21 Feb 2002 ......Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63976.html Tendulkar ton puts India in the driver's seat Anand Vasu February 23, 2002 It is unfair to expect any player to score a hundred every time he walks out to bat. Try explaining that, however, to the average cricket fan. You will find that logic exits speedily out of the window when it comes to Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, in particular. Making an unbeaten 137 (275 balls, 18x4), Tendulkar entertained the swelling weekend crowd at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium and took India to 437/5 at stumps on the third day. Zimbabwe, for their part, found themselves yet again at the receiving end of a Tendulkar special. Minutes before tea, Tendulkar turned a full delivery from Travis Friend to square leg, scurried two, and reached his 28th Test hundred, going past Steve Waugh and Allan Border in number of Test tons scored. The little man from Mumbai is now just one century away from Sir Don Bradman and six away from the all-time leader Sunil Gavaskar. In the course of this innings, Tendulkar also passed the milestone of 7500 Test runs. So Tendulkar made a ton against Zimbabwe on a belter of a batting track at Nagpur - not too surprising. Perhaps less expected was the manner in which Sourav Ganguly batted. The Indian captain, who has been out of sorts for many Tests now, looked perfectly comfortable at the wicket. But just when it looked like he would emerge unscathed with a big score, he threw his wicket away. Let us face it - Ganguly has a certain contempt for left-arm spinners, and he simply cannot resist the urge to walk down the wicket and thrash them out of the park. It looks spectacular when it comes off, very silly when it does not. After knocking the ball around sensibly for 38 (99 balls, 7x4), Ganguly sauntered down the track and deposited a Ray Price delivery straight down the throat of Grant Flower at long on. With 344 on the board, VVS Laxman then walked out to the middle. And, from his performance today, one would have to conclude that VVS Laxman is fast becoming one of those enigmas of world cricket. The man who slammed 281 in the most trying of conditions against Australia in the second Test at Kolkata has since struggled to make a big score. The pressure of failure has turned a free-stroking batsman into a nervous prodder. The Hyderabadi stylist put his head down today, cutting out many of the shots in his repertoire and settling in - before falling tamely. Laxman, who prefers to use his bat rather than pad the ball away, gave Price a classical dismissal when the shoulder of his bat deflected a delivery to the close-in fielder on the off-side. Laxman made just 13 (47 balls, 2x4). Earlier, after adding eight runs to his overnight score, Rahul Dravid was dismissed on 65, chopping hard at one that kept low from Heath Streak. The ball kissed the inside edge and went straight back onto the stumps. Sanjay Bangar, in the side at the expense of Virender Sehwag, played his part well, batting sensibly and feeding his senior partner the strike. When the loose ball was on offer, Bangar was sharp enough to take full toll. Coming to the wicket to join Tendulkar with India on 376/5 in the 140th over, Bangar's unbeaten 22 (87 balls, 2x4) helped Tendulkar take India through to stumps without further damage. For Zimbabwe, Price, the 24-year-old left-arm spinner playing in his seventh Test, stood out. Bowling with a fair degree of accuracy against batsmen who eat spinners for breakfast, Price returned figures of 4/130. Unfortunately for the visitors, though, the other promising young bowler, Travis Friend, was put out of action in the 149th over of the innings. Having bowled one "high full-pitched ball," as the rules describe what is commonly known as a beamer, and being no-balled and warned for it, Friend repeated the mistake. Umpire S Venkataraghavan had no choice but to remove him from the attack for the course of the innings. It was an eventful day, but it will all amount to nought for the spectators if this game meanders into a tame draw. India will need to score quickly on the fourth day and give themselves enough time to bowl Zimbabwe out. With a lead of 150 on the board already, India should be looking to force the pace first thing on the morning of the fourth day. Match Report First Test : India v ZImbabwe At Nagpur, February 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. India won by an innings and 101 runs. Toss: Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe returned to the Orange City of Nagpur, where they had played their last Indian Test in November 2000, and for the second time running they conceded three hundreds in an innings. Das and Tendulkar re-enacted their feats of 15 months earlier, and the third century came from Bangar, in his second Test. But in 2000-01, the Zimbabweans had responded in kind on a placid pitch: Andy Flower had scored a career-best 232, supported by Campbell's maiden Test hundred, to stave off an innings defeat. This time, Flower managed 11 runs in all on a dusty, crumbling surface, as Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, both missing from the earlier encounter, bowled India to an overwhelming victory. Carlisle had taken first use of the pitch, and Campbell seemed to enjoy his return as they shared a second-wicket stand of 106. But once Kumble parted them, and Andy Flower lost his leg stump to his 12th delivery, an in-swinging yorker from Zaheer Khan, the middle order crumbled. Friend, at No. 9, cut and drove to an unbeaten 60 in 70 balls to prolong the innings into the second morning. Das spent most of the rest of the day compiling his second century against Zimbabwe, batting for five hours until he edged Price to slip in the final over. That was the cue for Tendulkar's entrance. Even he was slowed down by the pitch, but he cruised to his 28th Test hundred, one behind Bradman. Price bowled a marathon spell, but Friend was barred from the attack by umpire Venkataraghavan after bowling a beamer at Tendulkar on the third evening - he had been warned and no-balled the previous day for a similar offence against Das. By then, Bangar had joined Tendulkar, and next morning, after three days dominated by drudgery, they took off, adding 110 in 16 overs together. Bangar repeatedly rushed down the pitch to attack Price, who nevertheless claimed Tendulkar as his fifth victim, as Bangar hurried on to a hard-hitting maiden century. It announced not only his arrival on the big stage, but India's determination to press for a win. Ganguly promptly declared, at a monumental 570. Needing to muster 283 to make India bat again, or to survive for just over five sessions, Zimbabwe soon wilted against the clinical spin of Kumble and Harbhajan. By the close, the cream of their batting had already been skimmed, with only the opener, Gripper, stubbornly hanging on. On the final day, a sparse crowd had to wait little more than an hour to see Kumble and Harbhajan, bowling unchanged, complete the last rites. They snared nine wickets between them. Man of the Match: A. Kumble. Close of play: First day, Zimbabwe 248-8 (Friend 33, Price 6); Second day, India 209-2 (Dravid 57, Tendulkar 0); Third day, India 437-5 (Tendulkar 137, Bangar 22); Fourth day, Zimbabwe 152-4 (Gripper 52, Price 4).
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 29 : 117 v West Indies Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 19 Apr 2002 Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63985.html Tendulkar equals Sir Donald Bradman's record at Port of Spain Santhosh S April 19, 2002 India were 262 for four at the close of the first day's play in the second Test match against West Indies being played at the Queen's Park Oval at Port of Spain in Trinidad on Friday. The highlight of the day's play was Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 29th Test century to equal Sir Donald Bradman's record of Test hundreds. The young maestro now has only Sunil Gavaskar, with 34 Test hundreds, ahead of him. Enjoying his share of good fortune, the batting maestro, just four days short of his 29th birthday, helped himself to an unbeaten 113 off 235 balls, punctuating his knock with 14 boundaries. Giving him company was VVS Laxman on 21. Tendulkar missed out on a Test hundred at Georgetown, and here at Port of Spain, the world's numero uno batsman, shook off all early disappointments to play a masterly knock. There were fierce cuts, pulls, sweetly timed cover drives and those patented flicks through mid-wicket - all the ingredients of a classic Tendulkar century. Earlier in the day, Carl Hooper won the toss and did not hesitate to put India in to bat first. On a pitch with a lot of grass on it, the West Indies opted to go in with four fast bowlers, the burly Marlon Black coming in for injured leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo. The Indian team management was forced to make the tough decision to drop their most successful bowler, Anil Kumble, to include the extra seamer - Ashish Nehra. As expected, Ajay Ratra got his first Test cap at the expense of Deep Dasgupta. The third change made by the visitors was to bring back Harbhajan Singh in place of Sarandeep Singh. India had a new pair of batsmen walking out to open the innings in Shiv Sunder Das and Sanjay Bangar. The two batsmen could only add 18 runs for the first wicket. Mervyn Dillon trapped Das (10) plumb in front with the last ball of the seventh over. Bangar's (9) first effort as a Test opener did not go too well either; he was caught behind off Adam Sanford before reaching double figures. Rahul Dravid, back at number three, and Tendulkar thus had a job in their hands to repair the Indian first innings. Tendulkar survived a testing over from Sanford; shaping to play a ball towards mid-wicket, he got a leading edge towards Cameron Cuffy at mid-off, but the tall fast-bowler was slow to react. In the same over, with his score on six, Tendulkar survived a very loud shout for caught behind. Umpire Asoka de Silva's decision to give Tendulkar not out was to change the complexion of the day's game. Soon after the lunch interval, Dravid found himself not given out after padding up to a ball from the quickest bowler on the day - Marlon Black. Once again, it was umpire de Silva who gave the decision in batsman's favour. Tendulkar was on 27 when Mervyn Dillon started to celebrate the dismissal of the master batsman, trapped plumb in front. Tendulkar must definitely have known that it was going to be his day to make a big score after seeing umpire Daryl Harper refuse the appeal. Dravid, meanwhile, played very much in the same vein that earned him an unbeaten 144 in the first Test at Guyana. Both Dravid and Tendulkar played some handsome shots past the ropes and reached their respective half-centuries to take India safely to 156/2 at tea. Soon after the tea break, Black slipped in a fast delivery through to knock back Rahul Dravid's off-stump. Dravid made 67 off 147 balls, striking 11 boundaries. The third-wicket stand between Dravid and Tendulkar yielded a valuable 124 runs off 33.3 overs. Sourav Ganguly took his time to get settled even as Tendulkar started hitting the boundaries. The Indian skipper took 10 runs off one of his counterpart's overs, striking two boundaries. The two batsmen brought up the 50-run stand soon, but Ganguly (25) danced down the track to Hooper soon after, giving an easy catch to Dillon at mid-off. The second new ball almost got rid of VVS Laxman in the manner in which he has been dismissed on so many occasions in his career; the stylish batsman, playing away from his body, edged a ball from Cuffy, but Lara was found wanting at second slip. Cuffy bowled an excellent last over to finish the day's play, beating the outside edge of both Laxman and Tendulkar; the over clearly epitomised the luckless day that the Windies bowlers had to go through. Match Report Second Test: West Indies v India At Port-of-Spain, April 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. India won by 37 runs. Toss: West Indies. Test debut: A. Ratra. True to form, the Queen's Park Oval staged another nail-biter. As against South Africa a year earlier, the West Indians carried high hopes of victory into the last day. Then, they had needed another 200, with nine wickets left; this time, they were 131 for two, needing 182 more, with Lara and Hooper together. Again, they fell short; India completed their third Test victory in the Caribbean at the same venue as their earlier two, in 1970-71 and 1975-76. They had laid the groundwork on the first day, scoring 262 for four after Hooper chose to bowl. Following a difficult start - on six, he survived a confident claim for a catch at the wicket off Sanford - Tendulkar settled to build his 29th Test hundred, which put him level with Don Bradman, though he had taken 93 Tests to Bradman's 52. Only Sunil Gavaskar, with 34, had more. It was a resolute rather than commanding innings; Dravid looked the more assertive in a partnership of 124. Tendulkar added only four on the second morning before Cuffy ended his six-hour stay, prompting a decline in which the last six wickets went down for 63. Laxman remained unbeaten on 69, having made the most of a life on ten the previous afternoon, when Lara missed him at slip off the second new ball. West Indies were making a strong response at 179 for three, with Lara batting more like himself. Then, as the shadows lengthened, three wickets fell for one run inside ten balls. Hooper resisted stoutly for three hours, but had little gainful support next morning as India gained a lead of 94. They were ebbing again at 56 for four, when Sanford dismissed Tendulkar fourth ball for nought, but Ganguly and Laxman batted through to the close and an hour into the fourth day, adding 149 to restore the balance. The new ball tilted it yet again: once Laxman chopped Dillon back into his stumps, the last six wickets crashed for 13 runs in ten overs. West Indies needed 313 to win, a tall but not overwhelming order. They lost Williams early and Gayle retired with cramp, but Sarwan and Lara looked set to see out the day. They had added 57 when Sarwan dabbed a straight ball from Harbhajan Singh to slip; shortly afterwards, bad light ended play. The stage was set for Lara to convert his overnight 40 into a first Test hundred on his home ground, in front of a crowd of 10,000. But his gesture to the usually boisterous Trini Posse Stand to mute its music was evidence of nerves; he spent an uncertain hour adding seven, before Nehra's fourth ball of the day induced a catch to first slip. Hooper pulled to mid-wicket in Nehra's next over, and the Indians whooped with joy. Chanderpaul and the returning Gayle kept them anxiously waiting just over two hours for their next wicket. The stand raised 73 amid mounting tension; if only India could separate the two, they would be through to the long tail. At 237, Gayle's loose drive presented a catch to cover; West Indies needed 76, and Chanderpaul could find no one to help him get more than halfway. His resistance should have ended four overs after tea, when Chanderpaul was reprieved by third umpire Nicholls's drawn-out rejection of a low, but certainly fair, wicket-keeper's catch; he was still there nine overs later, when last man Cuffy was caught at gully to give India their first Test win in the Caribbean since 1975-76, when they made 406 for four, the highest fourth-innings total to win a Test. Man of the Match: V. V. S. Laxman. Close of play: First day, India 262-4 (Tendulkar 113, Laxman 21); Second day, West Indies 197-6 (Hooper 30, Dillon 6); Third day, India 165-4 (Ganguly 48, Laxman 60); Fourth day, West Indies 131-2 (Lara 40, Hooper 1).
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 30 : 193 v England at Headingley, Leeds, 22 Aug 2002 ...Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63999.html Tendulkar and Ganguly make light of Headingley gloom Ralph Dellor August 23, 2002 Just under an hour's play was lost at the start of the second morning of the third npower Test at Headingley, but the Indian batsmen more than made up for lost time with a spectacular display of batting skills while the England bowlers laboured in conditions that should have helped them. Rahul Dravid went on as surely as ever and, when he was eventually out, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly raised individual hundreds in a fourth wicket partnership worth 249. When play did get under way beneath slate-grey skies, there were the expected examples of the bat being passed but without taking the edge, and increasingly Dravid and Tendulkar imposed themselves. As ever in these conditions, there was encouragement for the bowlers, but there were numerous instances of frustration that were seized upon rather than the consistent inspiration that was required. Matthew Hoggard even induced Tendulkar to drive uppishly through the covers for four, and when the next ball was whipped off his legs for another boundary, Nasser Hussain switched Andrew Caddick to bowl down hill, without any more success. That was just one of a number of changes made to the bowling, but all with the same result. Just before lunch, Hussain even resorted to trying the occasional medium pace of Mark Butcher who was undoubtedly short of bowling since his knee operation. He also gave one over to Michael Vaughan. The batsmen, meanwhile, were quickly giving momentum to the innings. The first ten overs of the morning produced 41 runs, with seven fours. Dravid went to his highest score against England while Tendulkar passed fifty with an exciting pull off Tudor. The batsmen continued to make healthy progress after lunch with Tendulkar in particular showing a range of shots that should have been closed to mere mortals in these conditions. The bowlers did get a boost, however, when the third wicket partnership had put on 150. Ashley Giles drew Dravid down the pitch, beat him in the air and Alec Stewart did the rest. Dravid's innings had lasted just over seven hours, he had faced 307 balls and hit 23 boundaries. He had been bruised and battered about the hands but had never flinched and the value of his innings in the circumstances cannot be overstated. Ganguly settled quickly to his task after what is now the traditional greeting from Andrew Flintoff in particular who delivered a considerable number of balls in his own half. Meanwhile Tendulkar was in imperious form. He went to his century with an exquisite on-drive off the bowling of Giles for his thirteenth boundary after facing 171 balls. It was his sixth hundred off the England attack in 15 matches and his 30th Test century in all. Only his great hero, Sunil Gavaskar, has scored more. It became evident during the extended afternoon session that England stood little chance of bowling India out and it became a question of when Ganguly was likely to make the declaration. He was in no hurry to do so while there were rich pickings to be had and England could be batted out of the match. While Tendulkar went on remorselessly, Ganguly brought up his fifty with a six off Giles. A spectator tried to do what England's fielders had been unable to do, namely catch Ganguly. Unfortunately for the man in the stands, his moment of glory became somewhat tarnished when the ball crashed into his head and he was led away for treatment from the medics. Robert Key did not receive the same attention when he dropped Ganguly off a straightforward chance at slip when the Indian captain had 62. Certainly the bowler, Caddick, did not appear to be inquiring after Key's health. Perhaps the fielder was inconvenienced by the light, or lack of it, for it was shortly afterwards that the umpires offered it to the batsmen who declined to go off. Memories went back to Trent Bridge when, with fewer than the four lights showing on the board here, England's batsmen had scurried to the pavilion in similar circumstances. Tendulkar and Ganguly took no notice of the gloom (there were now five lights shining brightly) as they clattered the bowling to all parts. They added 47 from three overs before Tendulkar reached 150 and Ganguly went to his hundred from 156 balls with 12 fours and a six. He then smashed Giles for a six over mid-wicket, changed his bat, and proved the new one was just as good by hitting another six next ball and then a one-bounce four in an over that cost 23. The 11 overs with the second new ball cost 96 runs, including five sixes and nine fours, when Ganguly swung and missed at a straight ball from Alex Tudor and was bowled for 128. It was a thrilling innings that could be allowed to be run its course because a declaration would have inevitably brought a close because of the light. VVS Laxman made his way to the middle and then returned to the pavilion as the gloom was overwhelming. Grinning broadly, he followed Tendulkar in with 185 not out to his name. It seems a very short time ago that questions were being asked about his continuing mastery. This was the perfect answer. Match Report Third Test: England v India Tanya Aldred At Leeds, August 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. India won by an innings and 46 runs. Toss: India. England can usually rely on Headingley for home comforts. So it was a nasty shock that this year the old girl turned against them, embracing instead India - out-of-form, contract-disputing India. It was they who were invited to Geoffrey Boycott's pre-match curry buffet and it was they who breathed in the dank Leeds air, looked up at the furious age-old leaden skies, mastered the demons in the pitch, and served up a win by an innings - something they hadn't achieved overseas since routing a Packer-scarred Australia at Sydney in 1977-78. It was a magnificent performance, built on a sublime first-day century by Dravid which Hussain graciously described as one of the finest he had seen. With that in the vaults, Tendulkar and Ganguly had the licence to play, and play they did - Tendulkar smoothing his way to his highest Test score against England, and Ganguly producing a knockabout hundred that would have been at home in a seaside cabaret. It was the first time all three had made a century in the same innings, though they had come close only two weeks earlier at Trent Bridge with two nineties and a hundred; Tendulkar passed David Gower to go seventh on the all-time Test runs list. The really unexpected part of the tale was that this excellent batting was matched by wise, wily bowling from an attack much mocked even at home. Anil Kumble, who famously struggles away from his dust-bowls, merrily spun his buoyant leg-breaks along to seven wickets and thoroughly deserved his first Test victory outside the subcontinent in 12 years. Agarkar, Bangar and Zaheer Khan did much of the rest - out-Englanding the England bowlers in their mastery of line, length, accuracy and patience. For England it was a big step backwards. Seemingly weary from the start, they were outfoxed on the opening day by the Indians, who Boycottishly refused to play at any balls they did not have to, and then took the opportunity to pile frustration on frustration. There were more runs from Vaughan, though not on the heroic scale that he was increasingly favouring, and that England needed here; there were valiant efforts from Stewart and an innings of angry defiance from Hussain on the final afternoon, but it was not enough after the initiative had been lost so clearly on the first two days. The return of Caddick, which had been sung joyfully from the treetops, made no difference: he was wayward and looked in desperate need of a few rounds on the gallops. It had become rare to see England drop so many catches - four in 35 minutes on a slapdash Saturday morning, including Parthiv Patel three times in his 11-ball innings. The watching Western Terrace, never ones to suffer in silence, vacillated between disbelief and hysteria, and the laughter that followed each drop, and each of the four consecutive fours Harbhajan Singh heaved off Alex Tudor, cannot have helped the mood when England eventually padded up. The game had started slowly after Ganguly, fearlessly going against all Headingley precedent by picking two spinners, won the toss and batted. Sehwag gloved a catch in the seventh over; Dravid and Bangar settled back and worked to rule - the first 50 came up ten minutes before lunch, to much foot-shuffling in the crowd. Dravid was immaculate from the start, watching each ball like a seamstress and ignoring the ones which thudded into his shoulder, helmet or chest. Bangar was an admirable sidekick but his demise was greeted with excitement as the crowd prepared for Tendulkar, Yorkshire's prodigal son, who despite his year here as a 19-year-old had never made a first-class century at Headingley. Now, in his 99th Test, as visitors quaffed champagne in the hospitality box Yorkshire had named after him, he did it, overtaking Don Bradman's total of 29 Test hundreds as he stroked the ball round the ground. But the highlight of the match was not the moment of his longed-for century; it was the silly session late on Friday afternoon when, as the skies darkened, he and Ganguly saw four lights on the scoreboard, disdained them, and ran amok, scoring 96 off the first 11 overs of the third new ball. Together they added 249, an Indian fourth-wicket record against England. Ganguly, swinging his bat like Thor, celebrated his hundred by slamming the next two balls for six. India's total was their highest against England when Ganguly declared. England began brightly, as if not missing Marcus Trescothick at all. Vaughan again dashed on to the attack, but after he drove loosely at the skinny Agarkar, England stalled. All the main batsmen bar Flintoff got a start, but nobody came close to the big hundred the situation demanded. India had batted for two days before losing their fifth wicket; England managed less than four hours. Stewart was admirable in his defence and hit 11 fours with typical flourish, but there is only so much you can do when just one of the last five makes more than a single. England's follow-on wasn't necessarily doomed, but India were showing intensity in the field and somebody was going to have to produce the big innings that had thwarted Sri Lanka in a similar situation at Lord's in May. Vaughan couldn't help for once, Butcher lost patience after a solid start and Crawley completed a double failure, so it was left to the old sweats, Hussain and Stewart. They came together in rich late-afternoon sunshine on Sunday and by the close Hussain had 90, Stewart had 40 and England had a chance. Hussain, reckless at times in his willingness to take the aerial route, was outstanding - 66 of those 90 runs had come in boundaries. He went on to his hundred the next morning but fell soon afterwards, and with him went England's hopes of going to The Oval with a lead still in their pockets. Kumble and Harbhajan twirled and fizzed and showed that spin could be a weapon anywhere in the right hands. Stewart stuck around without ever finding his fluency and Flintoff, who had bowled 27 overs when clearly unfit, completed a forlorn pair. Hussain admitted afterwards that it had been "almost unprofessional" to pick him. Before the match Geoffrey Boycott, Fred Trueman, Ray Illingworth and Brian Close gritted their teeth and posed together to open the new East Stand - though such was the financial mess at Yorkshire that no one had much of an idea who was going to pay for it. But the most poignant moment came on Saturday afternoon when the ground stood in complete silence, in memory of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the schoolgirls from Soham whose disappearance had captured the sympathy of the nation. Man of the Match: R. Dravid
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 31 : 176 v West Indies Eden Gardens, Kolkata , 30 Oct 2002 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64006.html Tendulkar ton saves India the blushes Anand Vasu November 2, 2002 Once again bad light cut short proceedings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Not before India reached 195/4, taking a 56 run lead thanks to a sparkling century from Sachin Tendulkar. The little master chalked up his first ever Test ton at India's biggest venue, the 31st of his career and saved India from slipping into a precarious position. With just one day left, an outright result looks improbable, if not entirely unlikely. To be honest though, it was a day of high excitement. The first two and a half hours in particular kept the crowds on their seats, yelling, shouting and urging the home team on. As many as eight wickets fell in the first session of the fourth day's play. India's spinners helped the hosts claw their way back into the game reducing West Indies from 446/5 to 497 all out. India, responding to a deficit of 139 managed 51/3 at lunch. Sourav Ganguly opened the bowling with Virender Sehwag and watched in dismay as the first ball was creamed to the cover fence. Just two balls later however, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (140 runs, 258 balls, 17 fours, 1 six) cut a long hop straight to Harbhajan Singh at point. Chanderpaul equaled his highest Test score, reaching the same mark he set against India at Guyana in the last series. Twenty-one year old Marlon Samuels cracked his maiden Test century but was out soon after. Samuels (104 runs, 183 balls, 10 fours) poking at a ball from Harbhajan only managed an edge to the on side that Sehwag snapped up sharply. The middle-order has won praise from all quarters for the manner in which he batted. While being effective, Samuels was elegant. His shot selection was spot on for the duration of his stay out in the middle. After the fall of Samuels' wicket the tail folded up meekly. Anil Kumble snapped up Darren Powell (0) and Jermaine Lawson (5) albeit with some help from umpire Asoka de Silva who upheld an lbw shout that would have certainly slipped down the leg side. Harbhajan ended with 5/115 and West Indies were all out for 497. Kumble, with 3/169 managed to salvage some lost pride. In response, India got off to the worst possible start as Sanjay Bangar edged the first ball of the innings - delivered by Merv Dillon to Chanderpaul at third slip. Bangar has been a font of solidity and strength at the top of the order and his dismissal so early on gave the West Indies the perfect boost. Virender Sehwag after cracking two handsome boundaries in a seven-ball ten watched in disbelief as a clever bit of thinking cleaned him up. Planting a fielder at leg slip, Dillon dug a delivery in short on the pads. Taking the bait Sehwag glanced and the ball landed in the Chanderpaul's lap at the aforementioned position. Rahul Dravid, batting beautifully on 17 was cut short once again for no fault of his. When he inside edged Darren Powell onto his pads the loud shout for lbw was upheld by umpire de Silva. A shocking decision, and ironically, almost an action replay of the one David Shepherd handed Dravid in the first innings. The period between lunch and tea was one of consolidation for India. From 49/3 India inched their way to 141/4 at tea. The only wicket that fell was that of Sourav Ganguly, and Tendulkar took charge of proceedings for his part, from his end. Very early in the session Ganguly fell. Bowling over the wicket to the left hander, Cameron Cuffy got a delivery to pitch just a fraction outside the leg stump and Ganguly was rapped on the pad. The ball did not straighten at all and would have certainly missed the off stump. Nevertheless umpire Asoka de Silva saw it fit to send the Indian captain packing for 16. From then on Tendulkar took charge. A flurry of trademark strokes hammered into advertising hoardings around the ground. None better than that copybook on drive where Tendulkar managed to pick the ball up from just outside the off stump and punch it back past the bowler to the on side. It has been said innumerable times in the past, most loudly by his critics, that Tendulkar fails to make runs when India needs it the most. Today, when the chips were down, Tenbdulkar came up with the goods. Not being altogether destructive, or indeed too defensive, Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 114 (195 balls, 17 fours) as the players walked off the field. The first to congratulate Tendulkar was VVS Laxman. It is difficult to reliably define the value of Laxman in this Indian side. When the batting is firing well, he seldom gets a chance to showcase his wares at number six. When early wickets fall, he is under pressure and often has to shepherd the tail. Today, despite the pressure, the Hyderabadi stylist had Tendulkar for company. Realising his role early on, Laxman was content to play second fiddle, scoring a patient unbeaten 30 (105 balls, 4 fours) in a partnership of 108 for the fifth wicket. Actually, there is one way of clearly judging how valuable Laxman is. If he had gone for a first-ball duck, India would have been 87/5. Tendulkar would have had to contend with a deficit of 52 runs, with only Parthiv Patel and the tail for company. The game might well have been all over for India. Back to reality from the land of speculation. The game is not up. Funnily enough, it is still wide open. Match Report Third Test Match: India v West Indies At Kolkata, October 30, 31, November 1, 2, 3, 2002. Drawn. Toss: India. There was no better venue for a turnaround. The last Test at Kolkata had seen one of the most dramatic fightbacks of all time, when Laxman had scored 281 and Harbhajan Singh had spun India to victory over Australia after following on. Here, West Indies sprung a surprise even before the toss: they named a side without a specialist spinner, something unprecedented in almost 70 years of Test cricket at Eden Gardens. The positive intent was followed by spirited cricket, and they might have won but for a backs-to-the-wall stand between Tendulkar and, once again, Laxman. India batted more like the West Indians had been doing. Eight got starts, but only Bangar crossed 50; partnerships sprang up, only to be uprooted against the run of play. The only dismissal actually plotted was Tendulkar's, frustrated into indiscretion by the familiar geometry of a 7-2 field and a negative line outside off. The brightest moments came from a 77-run stand between Bangar and Laxman straight after tea. Bangar moved up a couple of gears, pulling and driving with elegant ease to match Laxman himself. Still, it took 46 off 40 balls from Srinath next morning to get India past 300. Gayle and Hinds responded with grim determination and an opening stand of 172, perhaps feeling in their guts what Hooper had articulated beforehand: that the West Indians were "playing for pride". They used their feet superbly against Harbhajan Singh and Kumble, and easily nullified their leg-stump line of attack. But the partnership of the innings belonged to Chanderpaul and Samuels, who moved West Indies into the lead while adding 195. Chanderpaul equalled his highest Test score, batting with customary assurance against spin - first the grind, then the blast. He smashed Kumble for four fours and a six in two overs, and reduced Harbhajan to an outside-leg line of containment. Samuels had almost been sent home after breaking a curfew at a disco, but now he danced to his maiden Test century. Circumspect at first, he opened out with some gorgeous drives and pulls, his effortless flair evoking West Indian batting of an earlier era. The last five wickets tumbled in an hour on the fourth morning, and a 139-run lead did not look much on a good pitch - until India slid to 49 for three before lunch. The collapse was in part manufactured: Dravid was given out leg-before off an inside edge for the second time in the match, and after the interval Ganguly got his third doubtful lbw decision in four innings. With India four down and 52 behind, an upset seemed in the offing. Then, Tendulkar stepped up. A common criticism of Tendulkar has been that, at the crunch, he crumbles. As if to counter that, he has transformed himself from a spontaneous marauder to a purposeful innings builder. His average has not suffered, but his aura has diminished. In this daunting situation, would he dig in or hit out? He did both, imperiously progressing to 176, his maiden Test century at Kolkata, and occupied the crease for seven hours to save the match. He did this with minimum risk and to maximum effect: unlike lesser batsmen, he looked least likely to get out when most dominant. This was the Tendulkar of old, re-emerging when India most needed him. The Old Tendulkar was accompanied by the New Laxman. After his legendary 281, Laxman had nearly lost his place, playing one graceful cameo after another without building any more monuments. But he had re-invented himself as a dependable No. 6, and here he put together another Kolkata masterclass. He was the perfect support act in a stand of 214 spanning 70 overs, an Indian fifth-wicket record against West Indies. The last afternoon was a disappointment. As India's lead climbed towards 200, Ganguly might have declared and gone for a win. With the series secure, he let it drift. After the outstanding efforts of Tendulkar and Laxman, who remained unbeaten after nearly nine hours, the end was not worthy of the means. Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar. Man of the Series: Harbhajan Singh. Close of play: First day, India 275-6 (Patel 18, Harbhajan Singh 3); Second day, West Indies 189-3 (Gayle 80, Chanderpaul 1); Third day, West Indies 446-5 (Chanderpaul 136, Samuels 89); Fourth day, India 195-4 (Tendulkar 114, Laxman 30).
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 32 : 241* v Australia SCG, Sydney 2 Jan 2004 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64062.html 'One of my best' - Tendulkar Wisden Cricinfo staff January 3, 2004 The glow on Sachin Tendulkar's face was worth going miles to see. It was a few minutes after he had come off the batting crease and he was being interviewed on the field by the ESPN-Star team from the studio. Compliments were pouring in from Wasim Akram and Geoff Boycott, and Tendulkar could not stop smiling while responding with Thank Yous. It was a smile you could recognise easily and identify with. It came from his soul, the horrors had been banished. "I am very satisfied," he said. "I just decided to keep things simple," Tendulkar said when asked at the press conference later if had decided on a game plan. The feature of his innings was a scrupulous denial of scoring options between the arc of mid-off and point. He refused to be baited by balls bowled outside his off stump, biding his time as VVS Laxman uncorked his magic, working the percentages and taking full toll of anything pitched on his legs. "I had got out a couple of times to balls bowled outside the off stump," he said, "so I decided not to play that stroke (the cover-drive). They were bowling consistently outside the off stump, and I decided to leave all those balls. Then they had to bowl to me and I used the pace of the ball. "I would put this innings right at the top of my hundreds. I had a plan and I am happy I could execute it well. I am happy that I was able to maintain the discipline throughout the innings. Things had gone wrong a couple of times with my shot selection, and I knew I had to cut out a few strokes." Though he was anxious to get among big runs, Tendulkar said he hadn't felt out of form during the series. "It's not that I was not batting well, it was just that I was getting out to that one ball. Other times, you would just get beaten, but I was nicking them." Tendulkar said that he had discussed his batting with the senior players and John Wright and they had all assured him there had been nothing wrong with the way he was batting. "I had a chat with Laxman too. It's good to get a view from the non-striker because even though you might feel that you are batting well, your partner might have noticed some things you haven't." The last year, he conceded, hadn't been a good one. Did he despair to see his challengers, Hayden, Ponting, Lara, scoring so many runs while he wasn't? "I don't need to think about what the others are doing," he replied, "I have to see how I can contribute to the team cause. I am happy to have been able to do that here." Australia v India, 4th Test, Sydney, 1st day A beautiful struggle Dileep Premachandran at the SCG January 2, 2004 Sachin Tendulkar first came to the Sydney Cricket Ground as an 18-year-old prodigy. It wasn't the most glorious entrance, coming on the back of failures at the Gabba and the MCG. A return of 78 from four innings had a few sneering at the rave reviews with which he had arrived in Australia. When he walked to the crease, India were 197 for 3, with Ravi Shastri well on the way to an epic double-hundred. Today, the scoreboard showed 128 for 2 when he stepped out of the gate to a standing ovation. There may have been talk of slumps and crisis in the media, but for the average Joe, he's still one of the few players who make it worth travelling miles to the stadium. Back in 1991-92, Tendulkar silenced the doubters with an imperious 148 not out, an innings of the highest quality, preamble to an even better century at Perth. He was never in that sort of form this afternoon, but there was a macabre beauty to the struggle. After the horror patch that he has been through, a sparkling century wouldn't be an appropriate signpost to better times. Instead, like a wounded boxer dragging himself off the ropes and ignoring the sting of the salve applied to his cuts, he coaxed himself around the ring, avoiding the big blows, and landing a few deft jabs of his own. Innings, even careers, can turn on the smallest things. For Tendulkar early on in this knock, the trigger was perhaps a superb legbreak from Stuart MacGill that spun right across his bat before settling into Adam Gilchrist's gloves. Given the wretched run that he has been through - dubious leg before, padding up to a straight one, tickling one down the leg side only to be caught - it was a minor miracle that the ball didn't take the outside edge of his bat. Sporting reversals of fortune are often dependent on such small margins, the width of an outside edge or the thickness of a goal post. Once past that initial ordeal, he did play some handsome strokes, most notably a magnificent cover-drive down the ground off Nathan Bracken. And while he didn't give the Australians a chance, there was none of the dominance that we've grown accustomed to either. But while the headline writers will inevitably concentrate on Tendulkar, it would be harsh to ignore the contributions of the best opening pair that India have had in years. Before this series, all the talk was of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, kings of the opening gambit over the past three seasons. Yet, in six innings over three Tests, the best stand they've managed is 73, while averaging a poor 25. By contrast, Akash Chopra - who appears to have a mental block about going past 50 - and Virender Sehwag have provided India with an utterly solid platform that few expected. Today's 123-run association was their second century partnership in succession, and it took their tally for the series to 448 at an average of 64. While the likes of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly have piled on the runs in this series, it's a moot point whether that would have been possible without such a sturdy foundation. With all the pre-match hype and hoopla surrounding Steve Waugh, you knew it would take an extraordinary effort to steal the limelight. Tendulkar didn't quite manage that, but there was much to treasure in his unbeaten 73. Picture in your mind's eye one of the Renaissance masters - bereft of his usual inspiration - taking out the broad brush and painting a little cottage, and you'll get some idea of what it was like to watch him play. Then again, most of us would settle for a Rembrandt or Raphael doing our walls. Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India. He will be following the team throughout the course of the series. Australia v India, 2nd day, Sydney Masters of control Rahul Bhatia January 3, 2004 Text size: A | A There were two teams that played today, but only one showed up. India rattled up 366 runs in 90 overs against a dispirited Australian attack to end the second day on 650 for 5. This was the highest score by a visiting team in Australia, breaking England's 75-year-old record of 636. A 353-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman withstood the Australian attack, and ruled out a victory for the home team. It was the third triple-century stand Laxman was involved in against the Australians, and the second in the series. Though Tendulkar went on to score a double-century, a closer look at Laxman's 178 reveals telling facts. He scored only 18 runs behind the wicket, preferring the drives down the ground. Relying less on cuts and steers, Laxman went on the attack, scoring most of his runs in a wide arc from cover to midwicket. Even the fast bowlers were driven in front of the wicket. His control was exemplary: of the 298 deliveries he faced, only 14 were out of his control. In comparison, of the 419 deliveries Tendulkar faced, he was not in control of 56: a number much higher than Laxman's, but still a very good one for a man who was supposed to be out of form. Batsmen in control Balls faced | In control VVS Laxman :298 :95.30% Sachin Tendulkar: 419 : 86.60% VVS Laxman on the attack Overall Against fast bowlers Runs behind wicket 18 17 Runs in front of wicket 160 90 Through the entire 2003, Tendulkar managed 153 runs. In his first innings of 2004, he scored an unbeaten 220. It was a knock of attrition, with Tendulkar battling the bowlers as well as his own lean form. His lack of confidence was reflected in the number of runs he scored off the front foot. Only 20% of all his runs came when he played forward, but his rate off the back foot was astounding for Test match cricket. Tendulkar's comfort off the back foot Balls Runs Runs per 6 balls Off front foot 233 42 1.1 Off back foot 185 178 5.7 Continuing the first day's trend, the leg side was a preferred area of scoring for Tendulkar. In a way, this was an innings based on the Steve Waugh school of batting: wait for the bowlers to tire, and then play your shots. The bowlers stuck to a line outside off stump, hoping to induce an error, but Tendulkar was patient. When the bowlers flagged and strayed in line, he put the ball away. Tendulkar's leg-side mastery Runs scored Leg side 169 Off side 51 Half-volleys 70 off 62 balls Match Report Fourth Test : Australia v India Matthew Engel At Sydney, January 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2004. Drawn. Toss: India. In strict cricketing terms, this should be remembered for the way India batted Australia out of the game, ensuring a drawn series, maintaining their hold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and consolidating their presumed new position as No. 1 contenders to Australia's crown. But cricket was a secondary feature of this extraordinary occasion, a mere backdrop. The contest was compelling enough, but it was taken over - hijacked almost - for a farewell the like of which cricket, normally a diffident kind of sport, had never seen. Steve Waugh's 168th and positively last Test (no one would dare attempt a comeback after this) turned into one long wallow, starting with adulatory wrap-around newspaper souvenir supplements and culminating in Waugh being chaired round the SCG by his team-mates. John Williamson's nostalgic anthem "True Blue'' competed with the roars of a record last-day crowd, many waving red rags, Waugh's customary comfort-object. No one had ever left the cricketing stage like this; no one had dared. The show resulted from a benign (though presumably tacit) conspiracy between Cricket Australia, Waugh's personal management, the broadcasters Channel Nine, and the Murdoch press, to whom Waugh was contracted. Most cricketers, especially captains, go when the selectors choose: Waugh himself was forced out of the one-day captaincy in disagreeable circumstances two years earlier. By announcing his retirement date from Test cricket in advance, he controlled the timing. The other parties were able to leap aboard for the ride, and everyone cashed in. The total crowd of 181,063 had been surpassed at Sydney only by the 1946-47 Ashes Test, which lasted six days. The Indians? They just dominated the Test match. The most important decision of the game was made by Ganguly, who called correctly and condemned Australia to the field on a belting wicket, in extreme heat, with a weakened attack and less than 72 hours after the previous Test. The crowd had come to watch Waugh, and could indeed watch him throughout the first two days: standing at mid-off, issuing occasional instructions and - provided they didn't blink - bowling a couple of overs. It was tough for Australia on the first day, which started with a blistering 72 from Sehwag and an outbreak of no-balls from Lee. But there were even more ominous features for Australia. They were set intently, behind the grille of his helmet, and they belonged to Tendulkar. Shrewd observers of the series sensed that he might impose himself in this Test, though no one would have guessed quite how. Tendulkar had thought through his problems to the point of cutting out one of his most distinguished strokes, abandoning the cover-drive and instead just waiting for the chance to hit to leg. He maintained this policy for ten hours 13 minutes and 436 deliveries, scoring an unbeaten 241, his highest first-class score and perhaps the highest ever made by a man still nowhere near his own top form. Twenty-eight of his 33 fours and 188 of his runs came on the leg side. His 32nd Test hundred matched Waugh; only Sunil Gavaskar, on 34, remained ahead. He was also the fourth man to reach 9,000 Test runs, two days ahead of Brian Lara in Cape Town. Tendulkar put on 353, an Indian fourth-wicket record, with Laxman, whose 178 was of a different order: a lovely innings, full of perfectly timed caresses. The crowd never gave the partnership the credit it deserved, partly because they were obsessed with Waugh, partly because the over-elaborate Sydney scoreboard's failings meant only statisticians noted the 300 stand. When Laxman was out, it was 547 for four, which in a normal series would be deemed unassailable. But Australia had scored 556 in Adelaide and lost, and Ganguly rightly decided to bat on and on, 39 minutes into the third day. This infuriated many Australians, including the TV commentators, who had been anticipating the declaration minute by minute the previous evening. It was yet another sign, however, that India were now playing cricket every bit as ruthlessly as Australia. When Ganguly finally gave over, at 705 for seven - India's highest Test total, and the second-highest conceded by Australia - the response was predictably savage. The Australian openers put on 147 and the once-introspective Langer played an innings so impertinently confident that he felt able to reach his hundred with a reverse sweep. At 214 for one, Australia might even have been sniffing first-innings lead. However, the real difference between the teams lay not in the batting, nor in the modest seam bowling, but in the fact that India had a spinner capable of maintaining control while Australia did not. MacGill had offered a four-ball almost every over; Kumble varied his pace while maintaining his line and was rewarded with eight for 141. The third-day crowd were mostly interested in Waugh, who scored a cameo 40, after which they streamed out. Waugh himself was still intent on business and refused to doff his helmet, sensing this was not his real farewell innings. Less noticed, Katich became the fourth centurion of the game next day with an innings of lithe grace and huge promise, thus restricting India's lead to 231. Again, Ganguly was criticised by pundits for not enforcing the follow-on, though again he was right: avoiding any risk of defeat before thinking of victory. Dravid and Tendulkar extended the lead to 442 before Kumble set to work again, sharing the new ball on the fourth evening. Realistically, Australia never had much chance of chasing that. But this match had long since left reality behind. At 196 for four there was some danger of an Aussie defeat, but that presupposed a failure by Waugh. Not here, not today. He never quite got the century all Australia wanted - though his 15 fours were all cheered as if he had - and certainly never glimpsed victory. But he batted with the ease and grace of a man at the peak of his career, flicking the ball to the off-side boundary whenever the spinners dropped short until he got to 80 and was caught, trying to hit Kumble for six, at deep square leg. "It shows that after 168 Tests you can still lose the plot under pressure," said Waugh. Katich was staunch again; Kumble finished with 12 for 279. Their achievements were lost amid the hubbub. Then, cricket being cricket, Waugh finally slipped away, not quite to oblivion, merely to New South Wales v Victoria at Newcastle. Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar. Attendance: 181,063. Man of the Series: R. Dravid.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 33 : 194* v Pakistan at Multan , 28 Mar 2004 ...Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64081.html Former coach looks back at his Indian stint Wright says Tendulkar 'felt let down' at Multan August 1, 2006 A high voltage behind-the-scenes drama was sparked off in the Indian dressing-room by Rahul Dravid's abrupt declaration in the Multan Test which left Sachin Tendulkar stranded only six runs short of a double century, the then coach John Wright has revealed. Tendulkar, batting on 194 in the first Test against Pakistan, left no one in doubt that "he felt let down", Wright said in his just-published book John Wright's Indian Summers, disclosing for the first time the tense moments the Indian camp went through although publicly every effort had been made at that time to play down the controversy. Acknowledging that the team managament had a "hot potato on our hands", Wright said he spent a sleepless night whereas captain Sourav Ganguly, who missed the Test because of an injury, was worried that the issue would snowball and end up dividing the team. Wright says no one could be blamed in particular for the situation which could have been avoided had he himself been able to convince Dravid to declare earlier. "Midway through the final session, Dravid declared, as you do when you're 675 for 5. What Indian captains don't tend to do, however, is declare when Sachin Tendulkar is on 194 not out. The matter became a full-fledged sensation when Tendulkar told a press conference he was disappointed not to get his double century." Wright said had he been the captain, he would have declared a lot earlier, allowing Pakistan to face about 25 overs and with Tendulkar on about 170. But the former New Zealand captain also pointed out that Tendulkar needed to "move on" after tea when things got slow. "Dravid wanted less time in the field, but got caught a bit betwixt and between. At tea he told the batsmen he wanted 15 or 16 overs at the Pakistanis, and after tea a couple of messages went out. As I sat there watching the innings grind on, it crossed my mind that Tendulkar needed to get a move on," Wright continued. "A final message went out saying they had one more over. Then Yuvraj got run out going for a quick single and Dravid called them in." Wright felt there was fault all round. "I should have convinced Dravid to declare earlier and he should have grasped that it's one thing to declare when a batsman's 170 or 180, quite another when he's 194. And Tendulkar should have pushed to get there quicker." Once Tendulkar publicly expressed his disappointment, Wright knew they had a "hot potato on our hands". "I talked to Dravid, who agreed that he had to have a chat with Tendulkar before things got out of hand. That combination of steeliness and serenity, so evident in Dravid's batting, is the mark of the man: nothing fazes him. He's a mature and intelligent individual; all the hype and fuss goes over his head because he can stand back and put the issue in perspective." Tendulkar, Wright felt, "felt let down". "He'd been playing for India since he was 16; he'd stood up for his country in bad times and tough conditions, and often been the only man to do so. Having given so much for the team, over such a long period, he probably thought this was one time the team could give something back to him. Even the greatest have their goals and dreams and milestones, and a double century against Pakistan in Pakistan would have been a memory to treasure. After a sleepless night, I spoke to Tendulkar who confirmed that he'd wanted the team to cut him some slack. Then he and Dravid talked it through and resolved the matter." Match Report First Test Match : Pakistan v India Rahul Bhattacharya At Multan, March 28, 29, 30, 31, April 1, 2004. India won by an innings and 52 runs. Toss: India. From about 10 a.m. on March 28, a regular thud, rather than the roars associated with cricket in the subcontinent, began to emerge from Multan Cricket Stadium, a modern ground situated on farmland 45 minutes out of town. The stadium was virtually desolate, and the thumps, from Virender Sehwag's bat, were to resound for a day and a half as he constructed India's first triple-century in Test cricket. It laid the foundation of a historic victory, India's first in Pakistan in 21 Tests spread over 49 years. It was also, briefly, their most substantial win in a largely wretched 72 years of Tests away from home. Sehwag's 309, and his partnership of 336, an Indian third-wicket record, with Tendulkar, who crafted a meticulous century, carried India to their third-highest total, and second-highest away: 675 for five declared. The highest, 705 for seven declared, had come in their previous Test on a similar pitch at Sydney. Sehwag's glitzy epic was not without luck. He was dropped on 68 and 77 during an opening stand of 160 with Chopra - their third century partnership in as many Tests. Later, he offered two chances behind the wicket off Shabbir Ahmed, one ball either side of the four that took him past the Indian record of 281 held by Laxman. None the less, it was an innings of sustained and versatile violence. He thrashed six sixes and 39 fours in 531 minutes and 375 balls; he went from 99 to 105 with a glided six over third man off Shoaib Akhtar, and from 295 to 301 with a roundhouse blast over wide long-on off Saqlain Mushtaq. That was his 364th ball, just two behind Matthew Hayden's 362-ball treble against Zimbabwe five months earlier. Only while nearing his maiden Test double had Sehwag turned circumspect, perhaps stung by the memory of holing out off a full toss on 195 at Melbourne in December. Yet despite the continued flowering of the batting, India's real success, as Dravid, acting-captain for the injured Ganguly, explained, was in taking 20 wickets on a grassless, crack-free, crumble-proof surface. To do it virtually in four days (Pakistan's last wicket fell 12 balls into the final day) amid Multan's infamous combination of heat and dust was doubly creditable. Two bowlers, in their 15th year and fourth month of international cricket respectively, stood out. Leg-spinner Kumble took seven wickets out of 13 on the pivotal fourth day, making it 32 from his last four Tests, all abroad. Left-arm seamer Pathan not only bagged six wickets in the match but bowled 17 maidens in 49 overs, 24 of them on the same day four, when a hamstring injury to Zaheer Khan left India a bowler short. It was Pathan, too, who surprised Abdul Razzaq with a bouncer as soon as he took guard on the fourth morning at 364 for six: the dismissal provided India with just the push they needed to press for the follow-on. Perhaps the match would have run a different course had Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had scored hundreds in both the previous Tests on his home ground, not been cut short by a poor bat-pad decision by umpire Taufel when 77. It ended a pleasing 160-run stand with Yasir Hameed, who fell ten runs later to a loose stroke, with Pakistan still 432 behind. Their hopes of saving the match diminished with every thrust from Kumble the following day. The final nail was Inzamam's second-innings run-out by a brilliant hit from Yuvraj Singh, swooping at mid-wicket to leave Pakistan 44 for three - 224 short of making India bat again. Yousuf Youhana went on to slash a nothing-to-lose century, his second fifty coming in a mere 35 balls. He and Shoaib added 70 for the ninth wicket, which saw them through all but the last over of the extra half-hour claimed by India as they tried to finish it on the fourth evening. Strangely, the biggest of the game's controversies - dwarfing the umpiring and Pakistan's request for a shaved pitch - came from the victorious camp. Dravid stunned observers by declaring when Yuvraj fell an hour before the second-day close. Nothing sensational - except that Tendulkar was 194 not out. Tendulkar did not take the field that evening, claiming a sprained ankle; at a press conference, he made clear his disappointment and surprise. Back home, some believed Tendulkar had been robbed; others thought his comments were selfish, and demonstrated an obsession with personal milestones. (As it was, the innings put him one ahead of Steve Waugh's 32 Test hundreds, and one behind Sunil Gavaskar's record of 34.) Many in the first group aimed their vitriol at Ganguly, who had no official role as he sat out the game with a back injury, but was seen on television gesturing impatiently. In fact, Tendulkar had played the perfect innings for his team, a discreet, chanceless companion to Sehwag's theatricals. His pacing was perfect too, each fifty coming quicker than the last, and the final 40 at almost a run a ball. But because he was operating without obvious risk, he seemed not to be pushing on. And Dravid probably erred not in his timing, but in failing to communicate with Tendulkar. The two had an honest discussion next morning to clear the air, which would have been beyond some faction-ridden Indian teams of the past. Straight after the victory, while the Indians were off to visit orphaned children, Pakistan's beleaguered bowlers were made to go out and practise on the match pitch itself, which looked good for another five days. Man of the Match: V. Sehwag. Close of play: First day, India 356
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 34 : 248* v Bangladesh at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka 10 Dec 2004 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64111.html Bangladesh v India, 1st Test, Dhaka, 2nd day Tendulkar mauls Bangladesh The Bulletin by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan December 11, 2004 It was another day at Dhaka when history, rather than competition, was the talk of the town. Sachin Tendulkar's glittering hundred, his 34th in Tests, put him alongside Sunil Gavaskar in the century stakes and put India in absolute control of the opening Test. Bangladesh created openings for themselves, especially in the first session, but they closed the door with some shambolic catching that let India off. And India went on to make them pay, as they piled on 348 for 7 by the end of the second day, with a lead of 164. On his way to the summit Tendulkar stumbled twice, only for Bangladesh's fielders to prop him right back up. Habibul Bashar fluffed a regulation catch at first slip while Rajin Saleh juggled and then grassed one at silly mid-off. Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Karthik were also given second lives as the butter-fingered brigade came out in force. Bangladesh had had the better of the first session, with Mashrafe Mortaza unsettling the Indian top order, but ragged fielding gradually eroded their morale. Tendulkar's century wasn't flawless, and edgy moments interspersed gorgeous drives. When he was let off after being foxed by the bowlers, he made the fielders pay. While he was content to play the percentages in the early stages, with controlled square-drives to wide deliveries, he unfurled his range as the day progressed. After reaching the 30s, there were assured front-foot punches. A jaw-dropping back-foot straight-drive followed - done with minimum fuss and maximum efficiency - and he then raced past the 90s with a flurry of fours. On reaching his hundred he joined an elite club of Gary Kirsten and Steve Waugh as the only men to have scored Test centuries against all countries. As stumps approached he improvised with sweeps and glances, including one where he walked across the stumps, met the ball at the very last moment with an angled bat that sent it to the fine-leg fence. By this point it was a walk in the park. Tendulkar's innings was the main ingredient but the Indian innings also contained some delectable touches of spice. Sourav Ganguly skipped to 71 and manhandled slow bowlers along the way, while Gautam Gambhir displayed fine touch before his innings was cut short by a communication breakdown. VVS Laxman performed a most melodious rendition before his voice cracked and Dinesh Karthik had a joyful hitting session towards the end of the day. It was Ganguly's effort, though, that helped put India back on track after the Bangladesh new-ball bowlers had pegged his team back. Tapash Baisya and Mortaza had bowled wonderfully in tandem and reduced India to 68 for 3. Mortaza zeroed in on a narrow channel outside the off stump and the subtle cut that he produced hurried the batsmen into indiscretion. He troubled Virender Sehwag with his zip and gave Rahul Dravid a torrid examination after Baisya trapped Sehwag lbw. Dravid's defence was clumsy, with the moving ball creating doubts. He fell to one such misjudgement, shouldering arms to one from Mortaza that nipped back in and uprooted off stump (24 for 2). Both Tendulkar and Gambhir seized the moment when Mortaza was taken off the attack. Mushfiqur Rahman, the first-change bowler, bled 15 in his first two overs as the batsmen stepped up a gear. Then, suddenly, a fierce punch by Tendulkar was intercepted by Rajin Saleh at point but he stayed his ground leaving Gambhir, who had charged half-way down the pitch, stranded(68 for 3). That fielding effort was a shimmer in the dark, though, as Ganguly and Tendulkar wrested back the initiative. Ganguly began cautiously and survived a few hiccups along the way but he mauled the left-arm spinners. Both Rafique and Manjural were put off their length as Ganguly skipped down the track and lofted them to the straight boundary. Ganguly showed all the qualities that had made him a tormentor of the best spin attacks in the past and he rendered the square fielders redundant as well. The stream of boundaries slowly turned into a torrent as Ganguly eased a few fours of the medium-pacers. But he fell right at the stroke of tea, undone by one that straightened, sneaked through the gate and crashed into his stumps (232 for 4). The rest of the day was about Tendulkar and his gamboling friends as first Laxman and then Karthik thrilled in bursts. Unlike the rest, Tendulkar didn't throw it away and will return with his record-shredder tomorrow. It was fitting that he was joined by Anil Kumble right at the end of the day, as the two men who ruled the first two days of the series walked off amid the fading light. Match Report First Test : Bangladesh v India Amit Varma At Dhaka, December 10, 11, 12, 13, 2004. India won by an innings and 140 runs. Toss: India. That India would win, and easily, was never in doubt. Two of their greatest ever - Tendulkar and Kumble - were chasing records and hungry to do well, perhaps against the weakest opposition of their long and distinguished careers. And when India put Bangladesh in on a Bangabandhu Stadium pitch with a bit of bounce in it, one sensed Kumble would be among the wickets. But even he had to wait, as Pathan immediately hit his stride - and line and length to go with perfect shape into the right-hander - to scythe through the top order. Before the batsmen could come to terms with what was swerving at them, they were 50 for five. But Mohammad Ashraful looked a cut above his team-mates and bolstered the middle order with a crisp unbeaten 60. With the gutsy Mohammad Rafique, he pushed the score from 106 for seven to 171, before Kumble claimed his slice of history, trapping Rafique in front with a typical fizzing slider to give him his 435th Test wicket - one more than Kapil Dev, India's previous record holder, but in 40 fewer Tests. Bangladesh had clawed their way back to some extent, but 184 all out on the first day, with Pathan claiming his maiden Test haul of five wickets, was never going to be enough. Sure enough, the second day was a roaring Indian bat-fest. The fall of seven wickets did not stop them from racking up 348, with Tendulkar drawing level with Sunil Gavaskar as Test cricket's most prolific centurion. An unbeaten 159, his 34th hundred, was not the toughest test of his career, yet he was dropped three times - two of them sitters - before he reached 50. For Tendulkar, who had been battling a painful tennis elbow for at least four months, the century was reconfirmation that a day would come when strength would return to his left arm, and with it the range of strokes. On the third day, India romped to 526. Tendulkar's final contribution was a Test-best 248 not out, from 379 balls and including 35 fours in nine hours 12 minutes. "Forget about the record, forget the double-hundred, the very fact that I could bat this long was a relief and joy," he said. Zaheer Khan rollicked his way to 75, the highest score by a Test No. 11. When India's bowlers were let loose a second time, Pathan, the star of the first innings, just needed to run in and bowl with a strong wrist position, and the swinging ball took care of the rest. From 36 for five Bangladesh could forge no meaningful reply, and despite half-centuries from Nafis Iqbal and Manjural Islam Rana at either end of the innings, they were bowled out for 202, as Pathan secured victory with match figures of 11 for 96. Man of the Match: I. K. Pathan.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 35 : 109 v Sri Lanka at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi 10 Dec 2005 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/226362.html Sachin Tendulkar reaches 35 Test centuries : 'It was a very emotional one for me' Anand Vasu in Delhi December 10, 2005 In relaxed yet sporty clothes, shy grin plastered across his face, under the glare of numerous television-camera spotlights, Sachin Tendulkar was calm and collected, but you could sense the excitement and sheer joy as he answered a volley of questions after reaching his 35th Test hundred. "Landmarks happen. You just go and bat because you want to bat well and get runs for your team. If you chase landmarks then it becomes a problem," said Tendulkar. "The wait was more for the people than for me. After the Bangladesh hundred we have played only four Test matches. It was not that it was 25 Tests and everyone had run out of patience." More emotional than most people have ever seen him on a cricket field, Tendulkar reacted with a long look up to the heavens when he reached the hundred, and admitted it was different from what he had felt before. "That was for my father. I miss my father very much. I'm sure he would have enjoyed every moment of this if he were here. There have been very few moments in my life when I have got emotional. But this time I felt very different." Soon after, though, Tendulkar raised his bat a second time. "It was for the team. This was a special occasion for me. They appreciated it so I acknowledged them. Everyone came downstairs [from the dressing-room] to congratulate me. I didn't say anything, I was finding it difficult to talk. I was feeling shy." From his first Test century in Manchester, way back in 1990, it has been a long journey. "The first century I made when we had to save a Test match. This one was played in a very different situation," said Tendulkar. "It was a very emotional one for me. It is difficult to say whether the first one is important or the last one is important but if I didn't get the ones in the middle I wouldn't have got to this stage." Some batsmen insist that picking a favourite out of centuries is like choosing between your children, but Tendulkar was able to put his finger on his best. "Every century is important. But the hundred against Australia at Perth in 1992 was probably my best. "This was a very important hundred for me, four-and-a-half months after elbow surgery. Mentally it [the break because of injury] was very tough on me but physically I could cope. I got frustrated and impatient, so getting out of it was not a singular effort - my family, physio, trainer ... they all helped." There was a time in the day when it seemed unlikely that Tendulkar would reach his century before stumps were drawn. But a sudden spurt of runs, spurred on by three consecutive boundaries off Muttiah Muralitharan, ensured that he got the monkey off his back. But getting it over with was never on his mind. "No I did not think of that. But when they changed the ball, the new one was harder," he said. "I could hit it easier because it came onto the bat well." Yet he did admit that he had, in his mind's eye, lived out this moment already. "One visualises before every Test the moment of getting a hundred. Similarly I did last night. It is part of my pre-match preparation." On the eve of the match there was plenty of advice for Tendulkar. What did the coach have to say to him? "All we were discussing was not thinking about No. 35 - that it was just another innings, just another century. Coincidentally I got the same advice from my wife. It's to listen to words like these. It helps." And even though he was the man of the moment, Tendulkar still had time to remember an approaching milestone for another giant in Indian cricket. "It [This ground] was always remembered for Anil Kumble's ten wickets, now there are two reasons to remember it. We hope there will be similar reason to remember the Ahmedabad Test, where Anil is playing his 100th match." With No. 35 out of the way, the question of where to next popped up, and Tendulkar's reply was spontaneous. "Back to the hotel!" On a more serious note, when asked what could be expected of him, Tendulkar said, "I can't say what heights I am going to achieve. But what you can expect from me, what is in my hands, is 100% commitment and sincerity and playing for the cause of the team." In all the adulation, Tendulkar has somehow managed to remain remarkably humble. On the day when he broke Gavaskar's 22-year-old record, he said, referring to the little man with the title Mr, "Heroes will always be heroes. Mr. Gavaskar will always be a hero of mine. I would say to him, `Thank you for the support you have given us. Not only me but other batsmen as well. It really helps to have senior cricketers who can speak to you about your game.' I have often gone to him for advice and he has set such benchmarks and standards for us that you needed to have a disciplined and dedicated life to get to a landmark like this." And in that moment there was a hint of how Tendulkar had managed to stay on the straight an narrow path through 20,000-plus international runs, virtually every batting record in the book, the adulation of millions, multi-crore sponsorship deals ... Because at the end of it all, when he goes out to bat, Tendulkar is still just that curly-haired little boy who loves to bat. Maestro reaches 35 Test centuries Tendulkar's journey in numbers A stats analysis of Sachin Tendulkar's 35 Test centuries S Rajesh December 10, 2005 It's taken Sachin Tendulkar nearly one year to go from equalling Sunil Gavaskar to surpassing him as Test cricket's most prolific century maker. Almost exactly a year ago - on December 11, 2004 - Tendulkar scored his 34th hundred, which went on to become a monumental unbeaten 248, his highest Test score, against Bangladesh. Since then, his elbow problem restricted his Test appearances to just six, during which time he managed three half-centuries - once even going as far as 94 runs against Pakistan at Mohali - but the three-figure mark remained elusive till his knock here at the Feroz Shah Kotla, at the venue where Gavaskar had scored his 29th century to level with Don Bradman. A comparison between the progressions of Gavaskar and Tendulkar tells an interesting story. After 60 Tests, Gavaskar was a runaway leader with 22 compared to Tendulkar's 15, but after the next 20 matches the gap reduced dramatically to one. They both recorded their 28th centuries in their 88th Tests - Gavaskar against West Indies at Georgetown in 1982-83, Tendulkar versus England at Ahmedabad in 2001-02. Since then, Tendulkar has kept pace with Gavaskar - both got their 30th hundreds in their 99th Tests, and their 34th in the 119th. (Gavaskar's last century was a 176 against Sri Lanka at Kanpur.) [table=head]Hundreds after... | 20 Tests | 40 Tests| 60 Tests |80 Tests | 100 Tests | 119 Tests | 125 Tests Gavaskar | 6 | 15 | 22 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 34 Tendulkar | 4 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 30 | 34 | 35 [/table] Looking at the table below, it isn't surprising that Tendulkar finally brought up his 35th against Sri Lanka: it's the team against whom he has the best rate of scoring hundreds - this is only his 15th match against them, and he has already racked up seven centuries. The numbers are more disappointing against arch-rivals Pakistan - only two in 13 - but with a tour coming up early next year, Tendulkar has an opportunity to set that record straight as well. [table=head]Versus | Gavaskar 100s/ Tests | Tendulkar 100s/ Tests Australia | 8/ 20 | 7/ 21 England | 4/ 38 | 6/ 16 New Zealand | 2/ 9 | 3/ 16 Pakistan | 5/ 24 | 2/ 13 Sri Lanka | 2/ 7 | 7/ 15* West Indies | 13/ 27 | 3/ 16 Bangladesh | - | 1/ 3 South Africa | - | 3/ 16 Zimbabwe | - | 3/ 9 [/table] *including the ongoing Test Tendulkar has been more prolific in victories than Gavaskar, but Gavaskar has much better stats in matches when India lost the toss, when, surprisingly, he averages almost 14 more than in games when the toss was won. Like Gavaskar, Tendulkar has produced the goods both at home and abroad. An average of 56 overseas, and 54 in Australia, is just another illustration of Tendulkar's ability to perform against the best over a sustained period of time. Apart from the South Africans, who have kept him down to 37 runs per innings, none of the other teams have managed to restrict him to an average of less than 42. [table=head]Criteria | Gavaskar 100s/ Ave | Tendulkar 100s/ Ave Matches won | 6/ 43.97 | 11/ 67.20 Matches lost | 6/ 35.06 | 8/ 36.54 Matches drawn | 22/ 65.64 | 15/ 72.96 1st innings | 23/ 50.90 | 26/ 63.57 2nd innings | 11/ 51.46 | 9/ 46.48 Toss won | 18/ 44.71 | 21/ 67.92 Toss lost | 16/ 58.06 | 14/ 46.59 Home | 16/ 50.16 | 16/ 58.85 Away | 18/ 52.11 | 19/ 56.58 [/table] While Tendulkar has struggled for consistency in the last couple of years, there's little doubt that he has made his starts count much more than he used to. His last five centuries - before this one - read like this: 193, 176, 241 not out, 194 not out, 248 not out. In contrast, only three of his first 14 centuries were 150-plus scores. With plenty of batting still to follow for India, Tendulkar will be setting his eyes on another substantial century when play resumes on the second day. 'Adaptability is his greatest talent' - Dravid 'Sachin has been a great influence on my career,' says Rahul Dravid Rahul Dravid December 10, 2005 I first saw Sachin Tendulkar when I was 14, in an U-15 game between West Zone and South Zone at Cuttack in 1986. I was a substitute; Sachin was playing, and got 60-odd. I saw him again the next year in an U-17 game at Nagpur. A number of things struck me about Sachin: that he was obviously a special talent, that he used a very heavy bat for one so young, and also that his bat was a fine imported Slazenger, the envy of many of us! Within a couple of years, he was playing for India, and taking on Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in Pakistan. In the early nineties satellite television had just come in, and we all watched Sachin's progress with a great deal of interest and took inspiration from him. Here you were, struggling to score runs in a Ranji Trophy game, and there he was, taking on the best attacks in the world, a teenager with the maturity and understanding of a veteran. I believe his success was also beneficial to us in another way. After him a lot more young cricketers started getting fast-tracked into Ranji sides. Previously you would have to wait till you were 19 or 20 at least before you were considered. I got into my state side at 17; Sourav Ganguly did so at much the same age; Vinod Kambli got an early opportunity to play Test cricket ... more opportunities were available to young players than before. Sachin has been a great influence on my career. I made my debut for India in 1996 and after a while settled into the No. 3 slot in both forms of the game, and since he opened in one-day cricket and batted at four in Tests, we've spent a lot of time batting together, during which I've always regarded myself fortunate to have the best seat in the house. In Test cricket, three and four are key positions in the batting order, and it is important that the two men there have games that complement each other. Just his entry would create a stir in the opposition, who would then focus almost entirely on getting him out. This allowed me to go about quietly doing my job at the other end. Like most other great batsmen, Sachin possesses the ability to control where the bowlers bowl to him: sometimes by taking chances and going on the attack against them, like he did against Shane Warne at Chennai in 1998, or even with a more defensive strategy, like leaving balls outside off stump alone and forcing bowlers to bowl straighter at him. Sachin's greatest attribute is his ability to adapt to different situations. It doesn't matter if the wicket is low and slow, or fast and bouncy - he just works out what shots he has to play and goes about it. I remember how once in the West Indies in 1997 we played a one-dayer at Trinidad in which we had to bat first against Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop and Franklyn Rose on a pitch on which the ball was doing all sorts of things. Sachin sized up the situation quickly and unleashed a flurry of strokes to disconcert the bowlers. He was out for 44, by which time he had already hit 10 fours. The hallmark of a great player is how you perform in different situations, and also how you perform when you're not playing at your best - like Sachin's double-hundred in Australia when he was going through a lean trot. He just decided to eschew certain shots and piled up a big score. That is why I have little patience with those who say that Sachin these days doesn't often bat with the dash and flair of old. I've never seen any batsman play in one way right through his career - your responsibilities change, your body changes, the way you think changes. Finally the most important measure of an innings is its value to the side. Many of Sachin's knocks, like that double-hundred at Sydney, even if more restrained and not as pleasing to spectators as some of the blazing innings of old, have been contributions as crucial and significant as any he has made before. In fact, it is interesting to watch the way Sachin still scores at a very high rate in the one-day game, but in a slightly different way from before - without hitting over the top as much as he used to - because he has learned how to work the ball around at will: he achieves the same results with a different method. In particular, the emergence of Virender Sehwag as his opening partner in the one-day game has led to Sachin adjusting his game slightly. I think he sees a young Tendulkar in Sehwag, and wants him to have the license to play freely; besides, he knows that you don't have to go bang-bang at both ends to keep the scoreboard rattling along. Even now, his technique and in particular his balance are impeccable. That flick he plays behind square leg to the fast bowlers, often taking the ball right off his stumps, is all about perfection of balance. No other batsman in world cricket can do it quite like him. As told to Chandrahas Choudhury. This first appeared in Wisden Asia Cricket in August 2004 Match Report Second Test : India v Sri Lanka, 2005-06 Ramakrishnan Kaushik At Delhi, December 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2005. India won by 188 runs. Toss: India. Fortunes swung dramatically before finally settling decisively in India's favour in a Test that will be remembered as the one that saw Sachin Tendulkar keep his appointment with destiny. Tendulkar reaffirmed his status as probably the finest batsman of his generation by passing Sunil Gavaskar to become the record-holder for the most Test centuries. Tendulkar's 35th hundred, in his 125th match - the same number that Gavaskar played to score his 34 hundreds - was the highlight of a game that had more twists and turns than a Grand Prix circuit. It was an innings that, in contrast to his recent approach, mushroomed from the circumspect to the awe-inspiring. The first half of his only Test hundred of 2005 was a lesson in the art of innings-building, but his second fifty passed in a flash, filled with deft strokes. It was a fitting innings with which to break the record, a knock that by his own admission made him "truly emotional", and it was met with equal relief and elation by a doting nation when he turned Vaas to fine leg for the vital single in the gloaming at 4.45 p.m., the last ball before bad light ended play for the day. It was just one of a number of impressive performances in a match in which India's collective strength and Sri Lanka's inability to maintain concentration made the difference. The eventual margin of victory was comfortable, but it does not tell the whole story. Sri Lanka had their moments, notably on the second day, when Muralitharan sent India tail-spinning from 254 for three to 290 all out (finishing with seven for 100, including five for 23 on the second morning) and then made a spirited reply through Atapattu and Jayawardene to reach 175 for two. Then, in what their coach Tom Moody called 45 minutes of madness, they were spun to their doom by Kumble, enjoying his return to a ground where he had taken 38 wickets in four previous Tests, including all ten in an innings against Pakistan in 1998-99. He toiled away for 15 overs before his first wicket, but then took three more in his next six. Tendulkar and Kumble were not the only Indian heroes. With Sehwag out with a throat infection, Dravid asked Pathan to open in the second innings to build quickly on the lead of 60. It was not a reckless gamble: Pathan had struggled at No. 8 against Murali, armed with a soft old ball. But, pitchforked to the top, Pathan fed off the hardness of the new ball and played with refreshing freedom, unflustered even when Murali was hurried into the attack, sharing the new ball with Vaas, who claimed Gambhir as his 300th wicket, in his 90th Test. Without resorting to slogging, Pathan made a rapid-fire 93. Dravid applied himself for 53, then Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni tore into the bowling. Ganguly, fighting for his Test future, made 40 and 39, and shared important partnerships in both innings - but, as it transpired, this was not enough to keep his place for the Third Test. Dravid declared shortly after lunch on the fourth day, setting an unlikely target of 436. Atapattu and Jayawardene again provided most of the resistance, but for the second time in three days Sri Lanka collapsed after tea. Next morning Kumble completed his eighth ten-wicket haul in a Test, and India won with more than three hours to spare. Man of the Match: A. Kumble.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 36 : 101 v Bangladesh at Chittagong (ZACS), 18 May 2007 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/282691.html Bangladesh v India, 1st Test, Chittagong, 2nd day More than just another hundred Before today, it had been over 17 months, 10 Tests and 17 innings - the longest interval in terms of chances to bat - since Sachin Tendulkar's last Test century Sidharth Monga in Chittagong May 19, 2007 "After 17 years, I don't think I have a point to prove," Sachin Tendulkar said at the end of a rain-marred second day at Chittagong. He may just be wrong. Before today, it had been over 17 months, 10 Tests and 17 innings - the longest interval in terms of chances to bat - since his last Test century, against Sri Lanka at New Delhi. His highest score in that duration was 64. Tendulkar also missed a full tour of the West Indies due to injury last summer. The critics sharpened their knives with each passing day, and then Tendulkar, who has always been boyishly enthusiastic for cricket, was "rested" for the one-day leg of this tour. Today, in a brief spell of play, Tendulkar reached his 36th Test century, and it was more than just another addition to his burgeoning numbers. The lack of runs in the recent past made this effort more special, but there was another reason which gave it more meaning - he started this innings yesterday, exactly eight years from the day his father, Ramesh Tendulkar, died when his son was playing in the 1999 World Cup in England. "I would dedicate this to my father," Tendulkar said, "as it was his eighth death anniversary yesterday. So, this one was pretty emotional." Tendulkar had dedicated his last century to his father as well; clearly he misses him a lot. He had been criticised for plenty of things throughout his illustrious career, some fair, some unreasonable. What he can't be faulted for, surely, is his timing. Was it difficult to come back after the way India were grilled after a dismal World Cup? "We were disappointed at not having played well at the World Cup," Tendulkar said. "People's demonstrations didn't matter. It was a huge disappointment [to have done badly at the World Cup], but whatever else happened didn't matter." Tendulkar has also been criticised in the past for going slow when the team needed quick runs to push for a result. When he came in yesterday, and saw Rahul Dravid get out soon after, he and Sourav Ganguly had a mini crisis on their hands. India were playing only five specialist batsmen, of which they were the last two, and there were only 132 runs on the board. The pitch was flat and the bowlers needed all the time to take 20 wickets here, so going slow to consolidate would not have been the best option. But Tendulkar and Ganguly, who scored his 13th Test century today, paced their innings perfectly - consolidating and yet scoring at a brisk rate. Tendulkar had words of praise for his partner, with whom he forged together perhaps the best opening combination in ODI history. "It's always a pleasure to bat with him [Ganguly]," said Tendulkar. "We have been together for so many years now. Sourav is a wonderful player. He knows how to make runs and pace his innings. We had fun in the middle. We tried to keep each other going. The conditions were tough, [but] you have to encourage each other." That the two gave their wickets away immediately after reaching their hundreds suggested the advantage had been squandered somewhat, but their 189-run stand has given India the opportunity to post a significant first-innings total. The focus now shifts to the bowlers, and, of course, the weather. Match Report First Test Match : Bangladesh v India, 2007 Utpal Shuvro At Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Chittagong, May 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 2007. Drawn. Toss: India. Test debuts: Shakib Al Hasan; R. R. Powar. Bangladesh achieved their fifth draw in 45 Tests, to go with 39 defeats and their victory over Zimbabwe. Rain is the norm in Chittagong in May and, after washing away the final one-day international, it chased this Test for all five days. Not a ball was bowled on the third, just 20 overs on the second, and there was only 219 overs' play in all. Dravid tried to make a game of it, declaring at 100 for six on the last afternoon to leave Bangladesh a target of 250 off 43 overs. Though his initiative deserved applause, it was not quite as sporting as some of the Indian media claimed. A sporting declaration gives both teams a chance, whereas this chase was beyond Bangladesh. Their coach, Dav Whatmore, termed it "a very tough call", while Dravid himself said his only hope had been that Bangladesh might be tempted to think it possible - "but they batted sensibly". After Shahriar Nafees nicked to the keeper in the fourth over, Habibul Bashar joined Javed Omar, and a stand of 70 made sure the match was heading nowhere but a draw. The captains agreed to call it off after 28 overs, with Bangladesh 104 for two. The start of the match was far more dramatic. India had claimed first use of a pitch that looked very batting-friendly. Wasim Jaffer never found out. He shouldered arms to the first ball, from Mashrafe bin Mortaza, which, after pitching a shade outside off, came in to hit the top of off stump. It was to be a nightmarish Test for Jaffer: in the second innings, he lasted three balls, this time against Shahadat Hossain, but still failed to score. Adding to his embarrassment, his wife was watching from the stands. Dravid responded to Jaffer's first duck by adding 124 with Karthik, the fourth secondwicket century partnership he had shared after the first wicket fell with no runs on the board. The only other batsman to achieve that feat even three times was Australia's Bill Woodfull. But it was Tendulkar and Ganguly who dominated India's first innings. Both had extra motivation to succeed, having been "rested" from the one-day squad when neither felt the urge to rest, and both hit centuries, only to be caught pulling immediately afterwards. Tendulkar batted circumspectly, hitting only nine fours, to reach his 36th Test hundred but his first since December 2005. The gap of 17 months, ten Tests and 17 innings was the longest he had ever gone between Test centuries. Ganguly, who had been waiting since September 2005, batted more adventurously, striking 13 fours and two sixes. India declared after the third-day washout, and Bangladesh soon ran into trouble. Omar and Habibul fell to R. P. Singh in the sixth over, and only Rajin Saleh batted as if he knew it was a Test match. He survived nearly two and a half hours before he was sixth out at 116, which quickly became 122 for seven. It owed more to bad batting than good bowling - Kumble could not deliver a single ball because of a fever - but the meagre follow-on target of 188 looked huge. Mortaza chose this moment to announce his potential as a genuine all-rounder. He had already taken four wickets; now he batted with refreshing confidence, adding 77, a Bangladesh ninth-wicket record, with new-ball partner Shahadat. When Shahadat was bowled by Tendulkar's googly, the follow-on had long been saved, and India's best chance of a win had gone. Mortaza was last out for a Test-best 79, from 91 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Thanks to Jaffer's pair, Dravid again found himself batting in the first over, but did not last long this time. After flicking Shahadat beautifully, he looked on in shock as Rajin leapt at square leg to pluck the ball from the air one-handed. Next day, Dravid declared again, but Mortaza and the rain had already settled the course of the match. Man of the Match: Mashrafe bin Mortaza.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 37 : 122* v Bangladesh Dhaka (SBNS) 25 May 2007 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/282692.html Match Report Second Test Match : Bangladesh v India, 2007 Utpal Shuvro At Mirpur, May 25, 26, 27, 2007. India won by an innings and 239 runs. Toss: Bangladesh. Test debut: I. Sharma. Mirpur's Shere Bangla Stadium became Test cricket's 95th venue, and the second in Dhaka, after the Bangabandhu Stadium was handed over to football. Bangladesh's first Test there was also their last under coach Dav Whatmore; the team promised him a farewell gift, but he was left empty-handed again as they lost in three days. An innings and 239 runs was India's biggest Test victory. They came back hard after Chittagong to impose themselves on the hapless Bangladeshis, helped by Habibul Bashar unexpectedly inserting them on a belter. The move, heavily criticised in the local media, was explained as "a team decision". It resulted in the first innings in Test history in which the top four all scored centuries. Wasim Jaffer became the 15th player to make a hundred after bagging a pair in his previous Test; fellow-opener Karthik reached a maiden Test century; Dravid notched up his 24th, the innings of the match, and Tendulkar his 37th (mundane by his standards, with only eight fours and a six). Bizarrely, all four took part in an opening stand of 408, five runs adrift of the firstwicket record by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in 1955-56. Jaffer and Karthik put on 175 before Karthik went off just before tea, suffering cramp due to extreme heat. After adding a further 106 with Dravid, Jaffer also succumbed, and had to be carried off the field. Tendulkar took over to add 127 with Dravid, before Mohammad Rafique finally made a breakthrough on the second morning - whereupon Karthik returned to complete his century. The heat took its toll on the Bangladeshis, too, with Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Syed Rasel both having to leave the field in midover, and wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud passing the gloves to Shakib Al Hasan. India finally declared on the second afternoon after piling up a mountainous 610 for three, and Bangladesh's predicament was even stickier when they lost four wickets for seven by their third over. Javed Omar poked at the very first ball, from Zaheer Khan, and edged to third slip, R. P. Singh had Habibul caught behind in the next over, and Zaheer got rid of the leaden-footed Shahriar Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful with consecutive deliveries. It might have been 11 for five or six - both Shakib Al Hasan and Rajin Saleh were dropped just after that. Instead, they put up brief resistance, adding 33, before Rajin fell to Kumble's guile, and Shakib was trapped by Zaheer off the second ball of the third day. Bangladesh were following on before lunch, an overwhelming 492 behind. Again, they lost Omar to the first ball, though television suggested it had not touched his bat on its way to Dhoni's gloves. Omar entered the record books as the 12th man in Test history to get a "king pair" (Adam Gilchrist being the only one with a Test average over 25), and the first one dismissed by the first ball of both innings. The woeful form of Nafees and Habibul continued and, this time, Bangladesh were ten for three by the fourth over. Then came an astonishing counter-attack from Ashraful, driving anything pitched up and pulling anything short in an exhibition of uninhibited strokeplay. Ashraful raced to the fastest Test fifty recorded by minutes - 27, beating 28 minutes by Jack Brown for England at Melbourne in 1894-95 - and the joint second-fastest recorded by balls - 26, only two slower than Jacques Kallis against Zimbabwe in 2004-05. He had 67 from 41 balls and 46 minutes when he flicked Kumble to Tendulkar at short midwicket; an 81-run stand with Rajin had encompassed just nine overs. As at Chittagong, Bangladesh's highest score of the match came from Mortaza, but his 70 off 68 balls, studded with eight fours and three sixes, only delayed the bitter end. Man of the Match: Zaheer Khan. Man of the Series: S. R. Tendulkar. Bangladesh v India, 2nd Test, Dhaka, 2nd day Whither Tendulkar? Sachin Tendulkar notched up a 37th Test hundred today but it wasn't the Tendulkar the world knows Sidharth Monga in Dhaka and S Rajesh : May 26, 2007 Sachin Tendulkar's recent failures to dominate average attacks are often exaggerated by the weight of his reputation: a slow, passive century from Tendulkar would still be a solid knock by someone else, it is said. There must be truth to it but the manner in which he crawled to a century today has left even that argument open to doubt. Today's was a solid, honest Test century - for a debutant, not for someone playing his 137th Test. Coming in at 281 for 0, Tendulkar never looked like he was batting in a side pushing for a declaration on a flat wicket where their bowlers would need the maximum time to get 20 wickets. He ended up with an unbeaten 122 off 226 balls, his strike-rate faster than only Sourav Ganguly among Indian batsmen. What does one expect of a No. 4 walking in at 281 for 0, when the team know they will have to bowl on a flat wicket in extremely tough conditions? Tendulkar has, not unfairly, been put in the same bracket as Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara over his career but surely neither would have scored at a strike-rate of 53.98 in a similar situation? A strike-rate that only increased after what appeared to be a clear message to hurry up, during the tea interval? As the table below shows, Tendulkar faced nearly half the total deliveries bowled while he was out in the middle but scored only 40% of the runs, which is hardly what you'd expect from the leading batsman in the team. Tendulkar's contribution to the score while he was at the crease [table=head] | Runs | Balls | % of runs scored | % of balls faced Sachin Tendulkar | 122 | 226 | 39.35 | 49.23 The rest | 188 | 233 | 60.65 | 50.76 [/table] The contrast is stark when his contributions are compared to those of his partners: both Dravid and Karthik scored far more runs than Tendulkar, though Tendulkar faced more than half the deliveries during each stand. His approach when batting with Karthik was particularly perplexing; Tendulkar was already on 49 when Karthik came in, yet he scored at a niggardly 2.87 runs per over in that second-wicket stand, even as Karthik scored nearly two runs more per over. Ganguly's arrival should have forced Tendulkar to take charge. Instead, he seemed more intent on ensuring that a 37th Test hundred didn't elude him - Tendulkar was on 83 when Ganguly came, and the get-your-century-at-any-cost attitude meant he used up 42 deliveries to go from 80 to 100. In fact, his second 50 runs took four balls more - 102 - than his first. (Karthik, on the other hand, scored his last 107 runs in 128 balls, while Dravid's second fifty took 68.) Only after getting to the hundred did Tendulkar step it up, getting his last 22 off 26 balls. Tendulkar's contributions in each of his partnerships [table=head]Partnership with | Total bat runs/ balls | Runs per over | Tendulkar - runs/ balls | Runs per over | Partner - runs/ balls | Runs per over Rahul Dravid | 124/ 188 | 3.95 | 49/ 96 | 3.06 | 75/ 92 | 4.89 Dinesh Karthik | 81/ 130 | 3.73 | 34/ 71 | 2.87 | 47/ 59 | 4.77 Sourav Ganguly | 31/ 63 | 2.95 | 16/ 31 | 3.09 | 15/ 32 | 2.81 Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 74/ 78 | 5.69 | 23/ 28 | 4.92 | 51/ 50 | 6.12 [/table] That Tendulkar was not really comfortable was evident yesterday too. He had ended the first day with nine from 31 balls: surely he wasn't playing for stumps for the last 13 overs of the day? There is more to it than the numbers, though - and that's the worrying part. A show of intent was missed probably as much as the ability to take control of the game and demoralise the bowlers. It has become a cliché to say how painful it is to see Tendulkar scratch around for runs against bowlers who are good but not exceptional but, on today's evidence, it still stands true. Mashrafe Mortaza kept coming at him with manful short-pitched stuff, because he saw Tendulkar was not comfortable handling it. Even yesterday, he had played at and narrowly escaped tickling the first delivery with the new ball. At times, he ducked too early; on occasions, he took his eye off the ball while swaying away. During the opening spell of the day, he kept Mortaza especially interested. Hook shots weren't even contemplated, it seemed. He scored 19 off 52 Mortaza deliveries. It could have been any other batsman. Mohammad Rafique was not given any opportunity to disbelieve that Tendulkar has history against left-arm spinners. Twice, after Tendulkar had passed fifty, Rafique did him with classical stuff, not the stifling kind. At 52, he edged one past the non-existent slip for four. The next one Tendulkar, well set, did not have a clue about. He was 72 when one pitched on the middle stump and took his outside edge. Rafique was not even required to adopt the defensive approach of bowling over the wicket. Tendulkar couldn't improvise and play a scoring shot when deceived by the slowness of the wicket. Not long ago, you'd describe him as a batsman who had two shots for every ball; here he was struggling to do anything more than nudge it to leg. Thirty-seven of his runs - including 19 singles and five twos - came behind square on the leg side. On the other hand, only 18 of his runs were scored in the covers, with just one four. It just doesn't seem possible that the team plan required Tendulkar to play anchor, after having racked up such a large total without losing a wicket and especially as Rahul Dravid also asserted himself on the game. If it was, it was a flawed one. That they got quick wickets towards the end of the day's play should not change things; it remains that the wicket was not doing anything while Tendulkar batted. The wicket was slow, the weather conditions were tough, no more. But Dravid, Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer all accelerated in the latter parts of their innings. For Tendulkar, the acceleration came only after the century. It was all the more painful to see him make the conditions and bowling look more difficult than they probably were. Worryingly for India, Tendulkar has been batting in this perplexing, defensive mode more often recently, and has done so for successive Test hundreds on this tour: the numbers were similar for his century in the previous match, at Chittagong - 75 balls for his first 50, 92 for his next; 62 runs in the arc from fine leg to midwicket, including 38 singles. Just like the pace of his hundred didn't matter at Chittagong, it might not make a difference here if the weather stays clear and Bangladesh continue to crumble. Against England later this summer, though, the runs he scores - and the rate he gets them at - could matter a whole lot more.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 38 : 154* v Australia SCG - Sydney 2 Jan 2008 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/291352.html Match Report Australia v India 2007-08 Greg Baum At Sydney, January 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2008. Australia won by 122 runs. Toss: Australia. On a melodramatic final day in front of a smallish crowd of just under 11,000, Australia won with just nine minutes of the last hour remaining, when occasional slow left-armer Clarke took three wickets in five balls, helping his side equal the world record of 16 consecutive Test victories which they themselves set in 2001. However, they would never have done so but for a series of umpiring blunders. Most of these went against India, who were so incensed that their board successfully asked the ICC to remove Steve Bucknor from the Perth Test (Mark Benson was not rostered to stand there). Australia's victory was overshadowed by the row that erupted over the allegation that Harbhajan Singh had racially abused Andrew Symonds, the only non-white player in the Australian side. The original decision of referee Mike Procter to suspend Harbhajan for three Tests incensed the Indians, and there was talk of the tour being called off if his appeal was unsuccessful. In the end, wiser counsel prevailed, although the decision to delay the appeal until after the Tests - which left Harbhajan available for selection - smacked of expediency. India's sense of injustice was compounded by three aspects of Australia's overall conduct at Sydney. First, what appeared at the very least to be gamesmanship with their appealing on the final day. Secondly, two incidents concerning Clarke, who refused to walk when caught at slip in the second innings, and then claimed a disputed low slip catch himself on the final day. Ganguly, the batsman, felt the ball did not carry but, after Benson gave him out without consulting Bucknor at square leg, he honoured the pre-series agreement between the captains that the fielder's word would be taken (this was jettisoned after Sydney). India's final gripe concerned Australia's gracelessness and triumphalism in victory, when they celebrated at length after taking the last Indian wicket. And the tourists' rancour deepened when the Australians' word was taken ahead of theirs in Harbhajan's four-and-a-half-hour disciplinary meeting for alleged racial abuse. The match had begun so well for India: they reduced Australia to 134 for six in good conditions for batting. There was some first-day life in the pitch, which gave the Indian pace attack, weakened by the loss of Zaheer Khan with an injured heel, some early encouragement. Jaques was the victim of extra bounce, cutting injudiciously in the third over, and then R. P. Singh swung the ball away from the left-handers from an ideal line to give Tendulkar three sharp catches at first slip. Harbhajan chipped in with a brace of lbws - Ponting was given out by Benson despite getting an inside edge, while Clarke padded up to a straight one. Benson's error was his second involving Ponting: when 17, he should have been given out caught behind down the leg side off Ganguly. A much worse decision - a howler that had a major influence on the match's outcome - came from Bucknor after Australia had rallied to 193 for six. Symonds, then 30, got what he later admitted was a thick outside edge when he tried to force Sharma off the back foot. Bucknor failed to spot it. By the time the excellent partnership between Symonds and Hogg was finally broken, they had put on 173 in 36 overs, a record for the seventh wicket in any Test at Sydney (previously 160, by Richie Benaud and Graham McKenzie against South Africa in 1963-64). Hogg launched the counter-attack with some fine cuts and drives, while Symonds held up an end; then, after Hogg reached a maiden Test fifty 11 years after his debut, Symonds turned aggressor, with some thumping drives as well as two short-arm jabs that brought him leg-side sixes off Harbhajan. Another incorrect decision provided Symonds with another life, on 48, when a stumping off Kumble was referred to the TV umpire. Bruce Oxenford, a former Queensland spinner, failed to spot that one camera angle showed Symonds's back foot behind the crease but in the air when the wicket was broken. Capitalising on his good fortune, Symonds cantered to his second Test hundred. Importantly, Lee stayed with him, using his feet well to the spinners and forcing the pace bowlers off the back foot to complete what was his own fourth Test half-century. Another 114 were added for the eighth wicket and, with Johnson swinging the bat usefully, in all 329 runs were burgled by the last four wickets. Symonds, given a third reprieve on 148 by Bucknor, who inexplicably failed to refer a very close stumping, finished with a Test-best 162 not out, which included 18 fours as well as those two sixes. On a pitch that had flattened out, India batted outstandingly. Dravid, with another painstaking innings, and Laxman laid an ideal platform, putting on 175 for the second wicket. Laxman, driving elegantly through extra cover and on-driving wristily, raced to fifty in 43 balls before consolidating to complete his third hundred in successive Tests at the SCG. Dravid, badly dropped when 18 by Gilchrist off Clark, crept to a rather more sedate fifty from 158 balls. For all Laxman's brilliance, though, Tendulkar's 38th Test century - also his third at the SCG, where he averages 221.33 - was a masterclass, virtually without flaw. Unlike Laxman, he gave no chances in 429 minutes at the crease. Wary of big offside shots, he preferred the leg. That he hit as few as 14 fours (and a six off Hogg) and as many as 66 singles was largely because Ponting stationed permanent boundary sweepers square on both sides of the wicket in an attempt to restrict him. Content to let Ganguly outscore him at first, Tendulkar was left with the tail after Lee filleted the lower middle order during a top-class spell with the second new ball. Harbhajan came in, and Tendulkar - who had 69 at the time - had no qualms in allowing him the strike, which brought out the best in the tailender. Harbhajan responded with his first Test fifty against Australia, which included some pedigree shots. They put on 129, a record for India's eighth wicket against Australia, beating the 127 of Syed Kirmani and Karsan Ghavri at Bombay in 1979-80, then the last two wickets collected another 58 valuable runs. All this ought to have made the game safe for India, who appeared the only possible winners at the start of the fourth day. More bad umpiring decisions, however, allowed Australia to prosper in their second innings. Hussey appeared to have been trapped in front by Kumble when 22, and he should also have been given out caught behind off Singh when 45. He went on to his eighth Test century, before accelerating to allow Ponting to declare 332 ahead, with a minimum of 72 overs to bowl India out. Until Dravid was fourth out, to the first ball of the 34th over, it did not look as if Ponting had left himself enough time. A concerted appeal for a caught-behind, led theatrically by Gilchrist, was upheld by Bucknor despite the fact that Symonds's offbreak had only brushed the front pad, with the bat hidden behind it. India still had a good chance of saving the match, for even though the pitch was offering turn and bounce, Hogg was ineffective and Ponting was obliged to employ his part-time spinners Symonds and Clarke. To lose six wickets to them was carelessness, at best. Ponting admitted that the introduction of Clarke - who once took six for nine in a Test against India, but had managed only two other wickets - was "a last roll of the dice". Clarke responded with three wickets in his second over, two of them caught at slip, to complete the victory that gave Australia a 2-0 lead in the series and maintained their hold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Man of the Match: A. Symonds. I didn't look at the scoreboard' - Tendulkar Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at the SCG January 4, 2008 Sachin Tendulkar admitted that he hadn't looked at the scoreboard when he was in the nineties, not wanting to think of missing out on a hundred yet again. Tendulkar endured seven scores in the nineties in the last year and said he would savour this hundred as a special one. "It was a little different this time because in 2007 I missed a lot of hundreds and I didn't want that to continue," he said referring to his string of dismissals in the nineties, including three on 99. "I wanted to move on and the beginning of the new year is extremely important. It came at the right time so I am happy about that. "I didn't look at the scoreboard, to be honest. I was just sharing my opinion with Harbhajan about how to go on with the innings and build our partnership and continue and that was the prime focus. That kept my mind pre-occupied with a lot of things." Harbhajan joined Tendulkar after a mini-collapse, when India lost four wickets for 52 runs in 14.5 overs. "I had to re-think the strategy as we lost four wickets in that period. We had to plan little different. One big partnership was important." The striking feature of this innings was Tendulkar's decision to trust the tailenders, even if it was No. 11 Ishant Sharma, who's previous 13 first-class innings had produced just 15 runs. "It was our strategy," he said. "For me there was just one fielder at gully saving one otherwise all were virtually on the boundary line or half-way down. To try something stupid and get out would have been unwise. "I thought if runs had come earlier with Harbhajan and RP Singh, the same strategy should be applied. Ishant scored some important 23-24 runs. What eventually matters is the partnership and not who takes the initiative. We had these calculations going our way." Tendulkar's innings was greeted with such a tremendous response that it often appeared he was the home batsman. "I am very happy with the way the crowd have supported us. Australians are known for that, they enjoy good cricket, they enjoy competitive cricket and it makes the players feel it's worthwhile to have the spectators to enjoy the game in the right spirit. They know and understand the game very well. It was truly a pleasure to be out there in the middle and get runs in front of the Australian crowd." Was the SCG, where he now averages 326, his favourite ground? "It is one of my favourite grounds," he said. "I've enjoyed batting here and it has truly been a memorable one. Sometimes you walk on the field and it gives you good feelings. It is one of those grounds." Australia v India, 2nd Test, Sydney, 3rd day Tendulkar gives India 69-run lead The Bulletin by Anand Vasu January 4, 2008 If the second day belonged to the twinkling VVS Laxman, the third was all Sachin Tendulkar's as the brightest star in the Indian batting constellation shone once more at one of his favourite hunting grounds. His unbeaten century played a large part in India taking a lead in the second Test; less than the size of the lead - 69 runs - the fact that they got a lead at all will give them great strength in a series that was threatening to go steadily downhill for the visiting team. There has been something about Tendulkar's batting in each knock in this series that stood out from the rest and it was hard to put a finger on it till the third day. On a day when India stumbled more than once, Tendulkar showed, through a mixture of tight defence, controlled shot selection and dazzling strokeplay, what has made him a batting tour de force over 17 years. While Sourav Ganguly has been the form batsman, and Laxman the man who inevitably defies the Australians, it is Tendulkar who can hurt them the most. On the day, Tendulkar scarcely put a foot wrong and, in a pleasant departure from the norm, he was more than adequately supported by a tail that showed stomach for the pitched battle. The breadth of Tendulkar's innings, which began with him on 9 overnight, and ended when he ran out of partners at 154, put several other things in the shade and made the events of the morning seem a thing of the distant past. Ganguly's confident start, easing Brett Lee through the off side, lofting and cutting the spinners and the subsequent disappointment of holing out for 67 seemed inconsequential. Yuvraj Singh's continued struggle to convert one-day wonders into Test runs as he scratched around for 12 before being trapped by Lee was forgotten. Even the fall of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, yet to convince at the Test level, and Anil Kumble, in quick succession, with India still 118 runs in the red, did not seem to matter. At that stage Tendulkar had compiled a battling 69 but it was then that he decided to change gears, and did so with an ease that belied the gravity of the situation. An upper-cut off Lee, deliberately played over the slips cordon down to the vacant third-man region, signalled Tendulkar's intent loud and clear, and under this protective umbrella emerged Harbhajan. Although no mug with the bat Harbhajan has often been less than judicious in his shot selection, and favoured the big shots a bit too much, but on the day he played a crucial hand. Harbhajan kicked things off with a trademark slash over the slips, but what followed was a revelation. He chipped Lee back over his head for a boundary, met a short ball with a swivelling pull, one knee in the air Caribbean style, belted one through cover and, for good measure, flicked a full-toss through midwicket. The 100-partnership for the eighth wicket came off just 136 balls with Harbhajan contributing 50, one more than Tendulkar. But while Harbhajan's knock was the blindside that the Australians did not expect, Tendulkar's century was the effort that everyone knew and feared. His driving through cover off the back foot, cutting in front of and behind square, and checked punches back down the ground showed that there was no length or line tidy enough to control him when in the mood. When nothing more dramatic was possible Tendulkar merely stepped across his stumps and whipped the ball through square-leg, a shot he has perfected to a degree that he can score runs at will using it. Tendulkar showed what has made him the batting tour de force he has been over 17 years in a mixture of tight defence, controlled shot selection and dazzling strokeplay When Tendulkar drove Clark through cover off the back foot, immediately called "two", and reached his century - a milestone that had evaded him rather frequently in 2007 - the relief was palpable and the applause stirring. To a man the crowd was on its feet applauding as Tendulkar looked to the heavens, helmet in one hand, bat in the other, as if giving thanks. But his work was not done yet. Even when Harbhajan fell on 63, closing the face of the bat early and edging to gully, his stand with Tendulkar terminated on 129, the show went on. Tendulkar, to the surprise of many, did not farm the strike, and instead allowed RP Singh and Ishant Sharma their share of the bowling, stitching together partnerships of 27 and 31 for the last two wickets. When the end of the innings came it was fitting that Tendulkar was unbeaten, on 154, his tally now 455 runs since last being dismissed at the SCG giving him an average of 326 at this ground. Equally significantly, Tendulkar now had scored a century on each of his four tours to Australia, spanning 16 years. India ended with a lead of 69, and even the fact that they could not force a breakthrough in the five overs they bowled at Matthew Hayden and Phil Jaques will do nothing to quell their optimism, nor will they grudge Lee his five-for. This Test has come well and truly alive.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 39 : 153 v Australia Adelaide 24 Jan 2008 ......Scorecard : http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/291354.html Match Report Australia v India 2007-08 Greg Baum At Adelaide, January 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 2008. Drawn. Toss: India. Kumble's hopes of squaring the series - high when his side amassed 526 in the first innings - were stymied by some excellent Australian batting. Indeed, it was India who were under pressure to save the match on the final day, just as England had been the previous season at the Adelaide Oval. However, India did not fall into the ultra-defensive mindset of Andrew Flintoff 's side, and in the end Sehwag's attacking century denied Adam Gilchrist victory in what was his 96th and last Test. After beating Mark Boucher's Test record for wicketkeeping dismissals - 413 - Gilchrist stunned his team-mates and the rest of the country by announcing on the third evening that he would retire at the end of the Australian season. He acted as on-field captain on the next two days when Ponting was incapacitated by a sore back. India won a good toss, but slipped to 156 for four on an excellent pitch that never offered any bowler much encouragement. Tendulkar, helped by Laxman's disciplined half-century, guided them towards respectability with another masterly hundred, his 39th in Tests and his 80th in all internationals. When he was finally out, top-edging a pull off the second new ball, Kumble took over, batting outstandingly for more than four hours for 87, his maiden fifty against Australia. Harbhajan Singh, with his second 63 of the series, played the lead role in an eighth-wicket stand of 107, an Indian record at Adelaide, as Hogg's chinamen proved ineffectual. Australia needed 56 overs to dispose of the last three wickets, which put on 167. R. P. Singh went off with a hamstring injury after bowling only four overs, but in any case the ball did not swing for him or Pathan as it had at Perth. There was some reverse-swing but, as temperatures climbed to 33°C on Australia Day, the home batting proved hard to shift on a flat pitch. India did not break through until the 53rd over, when Jaques's vigil was ended by a crude heave. Hayden reached his third hundred of the series from 181 balls, two fewer than Ponting, whose century was his 34th, but first in a Test since December 2006. Ponting ended up batting with a runner, and stayed six and a half hours for his dogged 140: his fourth-wicket stand of 210 with Clarke guaranteed a draw, at least. Clarke was the slowest to his hundred, his sixth in Tests, reaching it from 209 balls with only six fours. Untroubled by the spin of Kumble or Harbhajan, Australia were content to edge their way slowly past India's first-innings total. Hayden later explained that a soft ball and the Indians' line wide of off stump were factors in Australia's sedate (for them) scoring-rate of 3.11 an over. Makeshift opener Pathan fell in the second over of India's second innings, and they would have been more worried by the end of the fourth day had Clarke at second slip not dropped a sitter off Lee when Sehwag had made only two. It proved a critical miss. Dravid was forced to retire hurt next morning when Lee, once again Australia's outstanding bowler, broke the middle finger of his bottom hand with a lifter, but Tendulkar's wicket was the only one to fall before lunch, and that to a run-out, trying a non-existent single to Johnson at short midwicket. Sehwag, who had just completed his hundred, out of 128, dropped anchor in a stay lasting six minutes short of six hours: it was his 13th Test century, the last nine of them all in excess of 150. By tea India were 173 ahead with only four wickets down, and there was no chance of a result. The performance of Hogg, who was treated with complete disdain and given only five overs before tea that cost 42, underlined just how badly Australia were missing the retired Shane Warne. Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar. Man of the Series: B. Lee. Australia v India, 4th Test, Adelaide, 1st day Tendulkar does a Don in Adelaide Sachin Tendulkar was attacking in Melbourne, authoritative in Sydney, and innovative in Perth but this was the combination of them all Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at the Adelaide Oval January 24, 2008 There's a statue of Don Bradman at the Cathedral End of the Adelaide Oval, where he appears to be dancing down the track and lofting the ball straight over the bowler's head. The bat is above his left ear, his knees are bent and the eyes are looking upwards, watching the ball soar into the horizon of his home ground. It was fitting that Sachin Tendulkar chose the venue to bring up an immaculately-crafted hundred, the kind which is said to have put Bradman so far ahead of the rest. If anyone missed Tendulkar's innings in the first three Tests they should have simply landed up here. He was attacking in Melbourne, authoritative in Sydney, and innovative in Perth but this was the combination of them all. It had the moments of adrenaline-fuelled strokeplay, a hint of chance, a dash of inventiveness and tons of intelligence. Bringing out his percentage game against a high-quality bowling attack, he stood alone. It wasn't an innings with any distinct shade, rather one that covered the entire spectrum. Walking in to a standing ovation, he didn't score off the first 18 balls. Soon after he had eased into first gear, he set the stage with a flurry of fours. The first was a simple, yet glorious straight drive off Brett Lee; the fourth was hammered past Mitchell Johnson, the bowler. The skies were clear but it would have been fitting if a rainbow hung over the arena. Bradman rated his 254 at Lord's as his finest innings, simply because each stroke went exactly where he intended. It was interesting to hear Tendulkar talk about the first couple of straight drives here, saying how the ball travelled precisely where he wanted it to go. "These are phases which come and go," he said, "and you know when you're hitting the ball well. You need to wait for that moment." It wasn't a flawless innings. He was in trouble against Brad Hogg, padding up without offering a stroke, and had his nervy moments while facing Lee and Johnson. A few moments before tea, with Johnson bowling the 53rd over, he was bounced twice before being beaten on the move. The next ball, pitched on the same length like the previous one, was left alone. The final ball, straighter and swinging away, was edged short of first slip. Through the innings, he showed the ease with which he could adjust. By paddle-sweeping Hogg, he altered his line towards the off stump. Soon he tapped it away to the off. Against Lee, while facing a brilliant late-afternoon spell, Tendulkar subtly changed his stance after each miss, shifting an inch or so either way. Good balls were followed by a little nod, as if to suggest that he was enjoying the battle. Through the innings, he showed the ease with which he could adjust. By paddle-sweeping Hogg, he altered his line towards the off stump. Soon he tapped it away to the off. Against Lee, while facing a brilliant late-afternoon spell, Tendulkar subtly changed his stance after each miss, shifting an inch or so either way. It was an innings where the good balls were put away, amply illustrated when Hogg said his "best ball of the day" had been struck for six. Stuart Clark saw a good away-goer race past gully, simply because Tendulkar had known exactly when to open to the face of the bat. What he also did was to bring out a shot that he's rarely played in recent Tests: the charge against the spinners to launch them back into the stands. It used to be one of his signature strokes and often came with an air of dominance, dismissing the good balls with quicksilver footwork. Twice he stepped out and smashed the spinners over their heads, revealing yet again how he could change his game depending on the situation. He signed off with a cheeky ramp over the slips, making full use of Lee's pace and bounce, and rounded off an innings which had almost everything. Australia v India, 4th Test, Adelaide, 1st day 'I was determined to get a big one here' - Tendulkar Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at the Adelaide Oval January 24, 2008 Sachin Tendulkar said he was happy to have notched up his first hundred at the Adelaide Oval, one where he hadn't made much of an impact earlier. Returning to the city where he met Don Bradman in 1998, he brought up his sixth hundred in Australia and second of the series. "I knew that Adelaide hasn't been a great ground for me," he said after his unbeaten hundred at the end of the first day. "In 1999 I scored 65 runs here and that was my best, so I was determined to get a big one here. It also happens to be Sir Don's home ground. I wasn't thinking about that while batting out there but am very pleased to have got a hundred at this venue." Tendulkar admitted that this was one of his most complete innings, talking about how certain balls went exactly where he intended. "The first straight drive off [brett] Lee gave me a lot of confidence," he said. "I middled it and the shot went exactly where I wanted it to go. In the next over I repeated it [against Mitchell Johnson]. So I took it from there. "There are days when you are moving well, days when you're not. There are also days when you middle the ball and days when you don't. You need to wait for that moment. I've felt those moments off and on in my career. Any hundred is special but when the team really needs one, it means more. Today there were big shots in between and defensive ones too. It was important we [Laxman and him] just stayed there and played according to the merit of the ball. We needed to play out the good spells properly." Tendulkar has received an overwhelming reception in Australia, entering to standing ovations and being cheered throughout. No other Indian batsman has been accorded such a warm applause. "It's truly special," he said, "and sometimes I need to look at the scoreboard to figure out whether I'm 100-plus or zero. It means a lot to me and would like to thank each and every person for treating me like this. It makes every trip of mine very special." Like in the first two Tests, Tendulkar was particularly severe on Brad Hogg but denied having "targeted" him for punishment. "Any bowler can get you out, you don't want to take anyone for granted," he said. "It all depends on the flow of my innings. If I pick the ball early enough, I will put it away. There were patches when he bowled well and patches when I felt I could put the ball away. Whenever I got the opportunity I made it count. That was my strategy." Tendulkar went from 86 to 100 in a sequence that read 4,2,6,2, smashing the part-time spin of Michael Clarke. "I thought the wind was behind me and wanted to use it," he said. "I knew if I middled the ball, it would clear the field. Even if I don't middle it the wind would work. "I was very positive at that stage and if the ball was there to put away, I was prepared to do that again," he said off the six that took him to 98. "When I played that off-drive [to get to 100], I played inside out, though it was not a half-volley. I had that chance to force the ball. I got the time to force it a little bit." He was pleased to have weathered the old-ball burst from Lee - "he has been their stand-out bowler" - and thought India would need to bat as long as possible to increase their chances of leveling the series. "I think to put up a big total in the first innings would be the key. Later on I think the wicket might have some big cracks. Ideally we would like to score as many runs tomorrow. The first session will be very important." Australia v India, 4th Test, Adelaide, 1st day Tendulkar ton lights up keen contest The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran at Adelaide Oval January 24, 2008 India 5 for 309 (Tendulkar 124*, Sehwag 63, Laxman 51, Dhoni 6*) v Australia Scorecard and ball-by-ball details How they were out It was less than two years ago that a small minority booed him off at the Wankhede Stadium in his home town. On Thursday at the Adelaide Oval, he replicated his feats as an 18-year-old, scoring his second century of the series as India endeavoured to take advantage of winning the toss. Sachin Tendulkar's 39th Test hundred was one of his finest, and it rescued India from the tight corner they found themselves in when Sourav Ganguly was given out midway through the afternoon. Tendulkar's 126-run partnership with VVS Laxman wrested the initiative, but a superlative spell of old-ball bowling from Brett Lee righted the balance on a surface where even totals in excess of 550 haven't been enough to guarantee victory in the recent past. Having batted in fairly circumspect fashion immediately before and after tea, the batsmen went on the offensive against Brad Hogg, selected ahead of home-town hero, Shaun Tait, for this game. Laxman started it with a elegant drive, and a six and a four either side of the sightscreen from Tendulkar in the same over forced Ricky Ponting to reassess his bowling options. Off went Hogg and on came Lee, with Michael Clarke pressed into service at the Cathedral End. Laxman greeted Lee with a delighful cut past gully for four, but he should have gone two balls later when a careless waft flew to Adam Gilchrist's right. He fumbled it, and Laxman, then on 37 and with the score at 240, would go on to add another 42 with Tendulkar. By then, the master was in rampant mood. He had taken 77 balls for the half-century, but he needed just 56 more to reach a unique landmark. A powerful straight hit for six off Clarke got him to 98 and when he threaded a drive beyond mid-off's despairing dive, the crowd rose as one to acknowledge a fantastic effort. Soon after, he survived a half-shout when he tried to run a Hogg delivery down to fine leg and the ball might have gone off the face of the bat into Gilchrist's gloves. But so mild was the appeal from behind the stumps that Billy Bowden wasn't convinced. Across the 22 yards, Laxman had been largely stifled by Lee's pace, but Hogg's left-arm spin was much more to his liking. Two swats through midwicket took him to 50 (95 balls), but Gilchrist redeemed himself for his earlier lapses soon after, holding on to a simple chance down the leg side after Laxman got himself into a terrible tangle against a Lee bouncer. Unsure of whether to pull, he ended up taking his eyes off the ball, and it merely lobbed up off the glove to end what had been the defining partnership of the day. It was some reward for Lee, who steamed in at close to 150kph on a hot afternoon, reverse-swinging the ball at will to find a way back into the game for his team. Tendulkar's innings had started in inauspicious circumstances after he walked out just before lunch following the dismissal of Dravid. It took him 18 balls to get off the mark but when he did, it was worth waiting for, a magnificent on-drive off Lee. That seemed to lift an invisible weight off his shoulders, and Mitchell Johnson was then taken for three fours through the off side in an over that saw India go past 100. Lee did strike him a painful blow in the ribs, but the real alarm came when an attempted cut off Hogg fell just short of Clarke at backward point. It helped India that Tendulkar found his rhythm just as Virender Sehwag was losing his. With the bowlers maintaining tight lines and Ponting setting astute fields, his scoring was restricted, and the frustration finally got the better of him when he had a statuesque flirt at a Lee delivery that thundered down at 149.1kph. Too late on the shot, he could only find the edge through to Matthew Hayden, restored to first slip after missing the defeat in Perth. Tendulkar's intent against Hogg was unmistakable, with cuts, sweeps and a huge shot that soared over midwicket for six. Stuart Clark came on to try and prise out another wicket, but it was to be Hogg that got lucky, as Asad Rauf upheld an appeal after Ganguly had been struck in line a long way forward. At 4 for 156, India were in danger of squandering the advantage. Earlier, with a perfect blue sky overhead and a great batting surface underfoot, India had rattled off 51 in the opening hour, only to be reeled in before lunch. Dravid's wicket, on the ground where he inspired an Indian victory in 2003, was a big blow, but it also vacated the stage for Tendulkar to arrive to another standing ovation. With Wasim Jaffer dropped so that Harbhajan Singh could be accommodated, the decision to open with Irfan Pathan was only a moderate success. He clipped the first ball he faced from Johnson for four through midwicket, but then played and missed a few times before sparring at one that just left him a touch. By then, India had 34 on the board, with Sehwag making a typically brisk start. There were a couple of fortuitous edges through the slip cordon and an inside edge off Johnson that flew past off stump, but those were counterbalanced by two contemptuous flays through the covers when Lee erred in length. Clark came on in the tenth over, and Australia managed 14 before drinks, just a reminder that teams can do it when faced with the threat of fines or suspensions. He and Johnson stemmed the tide somewhat, and the Indians made up for the lack of boundaries with some aggressive and purposeful running between the wickets. Dravid survived an excellent leg-before shout from Johnson when he was on 3, and the Indian masterplan was being implemented beautifully until a Johnson delivery that slanted across Dravid took the edge through to Ricky Ponting at second slip. Sehwag reached his half-century from just 68 balls, but it was Australia that inched ahead in the afternoon until Tendulkar flipped through his back pages and came up with the sort of innings that had 1992 or '98 stamped on it. Hayden dropped Dhoni off Johnson just before stumps to complete a pretty ordinary day in the field for the world's best side. Lee and Johnson had been outstanding at times, but others needed to step up if they were to deny Tendulkar a triumphant Australian swansong.
ludhianvi Posted December 25, 2009 Author Posted December 25, 2009 Century # 40 : 109 v Australia Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur, 6 Nov 2008 Scorecard: http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/345672.html Match ReportS India v Australia, 4th Test, Nagpur, 1st day Tendulkar shines on see-saw first day The Bulletin by Jamie Alter November 6, 2008 Almost everything Sachin Tendulkar did today - from opening his account with a brush off the pads for four, to punching gloves with VVS Laxman at lunch to strutting back after tea - pointed to a batsman full of intent. His efforts paid off, despite a run-out chance on 74 and drops on 85 and 98 off the persevering debutant Jason Krejza, as he scored his 40th Test hundred to lead India's recovery, after a pre-lunch flurry of wickets, to 311 for 5 on the opening day in Nagpur. India lost debutant M Vijay, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag in 29 deliveries towards the end of the first session before the two in-form veterans shored up the innings. For nearly three and a half hours, Tendulkar and Laxman batted gracefully for 146 runs, their stand the highlight of India's day. Tendulkar looked at ease since replacing Dravid - out for a duck - driving straight and impregnable in defence. He was the early aggressor in the partnership with Laxman, unfurling a slog-sweep over midwicket and a lofted on-drive in one Krejza over to raise India's 150. While the faster men were driven through cover, flicked to midwicket quite fluently or on-driven with laser-like precision, the spinners were tackled with excellent footwork. Laxman, not at his most silky and sublime, collected his runs slowly and mechanically. As in Delhi, where he stroked 259 unbeaten runs, he stood firm, as has become his trademark. Even when the ball stopped on him, Laxman relied on those supple wrists and worked Krejza over the infield. The only phase when he was troubled was during Brett Lee's second spell, when the bowler obtained a bit of reverse-swing. The scoring rate dipped with each session, from five - after Sehwag had blazed away - to four and under, but the objective rarely wavered. The pair scurried hard singles and dispatched anything loose - of which there was plenty - and almost always picking their mark whenever they went aerial. Tendulkar slowed down as tea approached, perhaps mindful of his mistakes in Mohali and Delhi. His teatime 62 comprised eight fours, seven of which were muscularly hit on the leg side. He still outpaced Laxman on resumption, adding another 47 in the final session. A fierce sweep from outside the off stump and over wide mid-on took Tendulkar into the eighties and he should have stayed there. Tendulkar waltzed down to Krejza, didn't get to the pitch of the ball, and Mitchell Johnson dropped a comfortable chance running back from mid-off. The next delivery, Laxman coolly went past fifty with a drive wide of sweeper-cover, but a loose shot against Krejza, making room to cut, was snapped up on the second attempt by Brad Haddin. Proximity to his century seemed to have fired up Tendulkar, who dashed out, very untypically, against Krejza on 98 and looked on as Lee spilled a running catch at mid-off. Having spent 11 deliveries on 99, Tendulkar raised his bat in the warm Nagpur air after raising his hundred - and tenth against Australia - with a spanking cut. He hardly played a shot thereafter and fell lbw to Johnson for 109 with 15 minutes to go. A 98-run partnership between India's new opening pair occupied much of the morning session before Australia fought back, led by Krejza's double-strike. Sehwag took care of the new-ball threat from Johnson, driving and scooping him through backward of point, slashing him over third man, and whipping him delectably across the line. A genuine outside edge off Johnson, which bounced low in front of Matthew Hayden at first slip, when Vijay was on 11, was the nearest Australia came to a chance early on. Sehwag's panache was complemented by Vijay's solidity on perhaps the easiest track to make your debut as a batsman. Allowed to drive on the up mid-way through the first session, he also tucked the straighter deliveries for singles that kept the score ticking. Vijay was shaping well, and India had the ideal platform, when Shane Watson struck. Sehwag looked set for a hundred, hitting nine fours and a six in his 66, but couldn't capitalise on his good start, and dragged a turning delivery from Krejza back onto his stumps shortly after Dravid fell. One down in the series, with a highly creditable draw in Delhi following a drubbing in Mohali, Australia were aiming to salvage their bruised pride. Evenly split in pace and spin, but mellowed by another under-performing display from Lee, Australia relied on Krejza to handle the bulk of the bowling. He came in under a degree of pressure and showed enough stomach for a fight after he was mauled in his first three overs. The Tendulkar drops would have hurt, but Laxman's wicket was reward for an encouraging debut. Lee, steady of line, lacked in speed. Watson lacked variety, and though he mixed up his pace he remained innocuous after removing Vijay. Cameron White, employed only reluctantly, turned his legbreak painfully slowly and never threatened. Johnson obtained disconcerting lift but his tendency to pitch too full made it easy for the batsmen. Over the next four days, Australia will need to be far more productive in their attempt to avoid their first series loss since 2005. India v Australia, 4th Test, Nagpur, 1st day Losing five was too many - Tendulkar Cricinfo staff November 6, 2008 Sachin Tendulkar has said India were in a decent, but not brilliant, position after ending the first day of the final Test in Nagpur on 311 for 5. Tendulkar, who stabilised the Indian innings with his 40th Test hundred, felt losing five wickets was too many and "three would have been okay". The situation when he began his innings was reminiscent of India's first innings in Mohali where a terrific start had been eroded by quick wickets. Today India went from 98 for 0 to 116 for 3 and were in danger of allowing Australia to bounce back after Virender Sehwag's half-century forced them on the defensive. "It was important that I got going because we had lost a couple of wickets and even Sehwag got out after that," Tendulkar said. "I think it was just about keeping the head cool initially because when I walked in it was a critical stage. We had to make sure that we [VVS Laxman and I] had a good partnership and took the game away from Australia because the momentum was with them [Australia] initially." Tendulkar and Laxman's efforts succeeded and they regained the advantage by adding 146 for the fourth wicket. Tendulkar went after the debutant offspinner Jason Krejza, slogging him over midwicket and lifting over mid-on. He fed off the deliveries that Mitchell Johnson bowled on his pads, flicking with impeccable timing towards the square-leg boundary. The shot of the day, however, was a trademark on-drive against Lee which bisected the gap between the bowler and mid-on. Tendulkar, however, was fortunate to get a century. On 74 he survived a run-out chance; on 85 he mis-hit Krejza to mid-off where Johnson dropped the catch; on 96 he lofted Krejza once again to long-off where Brett Lee couldn't hang on. Tendulkar played out 11 dot balls on 99 before reaching his hundred by cutting Krejza to the point boundary. "I can say he [Krejza] was a bit unlucky," Tendulkar said. "He had a first wonderful day. Today I can also thank God [for reaching the hundred] . I am delighted at getting the century." The 40th century eluded Tendulkar twice in this series. He was out for 88 in Mohali and 68 in Delhi and on both occasions he was batting with fluency before falling against the run of play. Tendulkar, however, said although he missed out on hundreds, he had made vital contributions, such as the patient 49 in Bangalore which helped India save the Test. "I know I am batting well, but I was not getting to the three-figure landmark. But I don't think that is everything. I have gone in at crucial [stages] at almost four or five times and I have been able to play. That is very satisfying, when you deliver when the team needs the most." Tendulkar was dismissed in the last half-hour of the day, playing across the line to Johnson, who was bowling with the second new ball. That lapse, and the catches that were offered before his century, seemed to indicate a drop in concentration, but Tendulkar did not agree. "I don't think I lost my concentration," he said. "Yes there was a patch in between but later on I felt I had sort of again changed the momentum and I just wanted to be there till the end today." Tendulkar said that the pitch was a "perfect track" but what was noticeable, even in the first hour of play, was how quickly the bowlers' follow-throughs left their mark on the surface. Krejza got a few deliveries to spin and turn on day one and Tendulkar said it will definitely help the spinners more. "The wicket is playing good. It is on the harder side and it is quite good. The spinners are getting bounce so I think in a day or two it will be difficult to play the spinners." When play ended on the first day, Harbhajan Singh made his way out to the middle, possibly to inspect the surface on which he hopes to fulfil the responsibility passed on to him by Anil Kumble. India v Australia, 4th Test, Nagpur, 5th day India reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy The Bulletin by Jamie Alter November 10, 2008 India 441 (Tendulkar 109, Ganguly 85, Sehwag 66, Laxman 64, Dhoni 56, Krejza 8-215) and 295 (Sehwag 92, Dhoni 55, Harbhajan 52, Watson 4-42, Krejza 4-143) beat Australia 355 (Katich 102, Hussey 90) and 209 (Hayden 77, Harbhajan 4-64, Mishra 3-27 ) by 172 runs That it happened in the same city where Australia famously conquered the final frontier four years ago was poignant. India regained the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy, their first series win over Australia in eight years, after they bowled Australia out for 209 to win by 172 runs. It was a dramatic day, with an energetic India following up three early wickets with dropped catches to allow Matthew Hayden score a pugnacious 77 and give Australia a whiff of victory. India's spinners held their nerve, however, and relentlessly plugged away with precision and hostility to snuff out the seven wickets required to regain the trophy squandered in 2004. India confidently stepped into a new era with their captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, winning his third Test in a row. India began the day well. Simon Katich had played the horizontal shot a couple times, once connecting with a swing to the deep square-leg boundary, but trying to work a short ball across to the on side once too often, he skied Ishant Sharma into orbit. Dhoni didn't for a second take his eyes off the swirling ball - 29 for 1. Zaheer Khan produced an edge from the first delivery bowled to Ponting, squared up on the back foot, but the ball didn't carry to Rahul Dravid at first slip. One classy on-drive later, Ponting was wastefully run out for 4. He dabbed and set off for an extremely ambitious single and Amit Mishra, screaming in from mid-off, threw down the stumps with a brilliant underarm pick-up and fling - 37 for 2. Ishant couldn't believe Michael Clarke wasn't given lbw by the umpire Billy Bowden in the next over when the ball incriminatingly thudded into his left pad - replays showed it would have clipped leg stump - and Zaheer had to grit his teeth when the batsman twice edged wide of second slip in three balls. Hayden also chopped through the slips, looking to score off almost every delivery against the new ball. India missed a big opportunity when he was on 30. Harbhajan Singh came in after 12 overs and cursed under his breath when Dhoni dropped a regulation edge as Hayden tried to cut the second ball for four. The dismissal of Clarke for 22, nibbling at a lovely delivery as Ishant plugged away on an exemplary length, seemed to have nailed it decisively India's way at 82 for 3. Then Dravid, at slip, dropped Hayden on 36 when the batsman went for another powerful reverse-sweep. To add to the mess, needless overthrows and misfields in the circle allowed Australia easy runs as they set about chasing a big score. It was evident that Hayden had victory on his mind. Swatting away almost everything the spinners tossed him, Hayden rediscovered the rhythm that had eluded him for much of this series. He continued to pick his spots with powerful sweeps - the shot with which he made his name in 2001 - and some deft reverse-sweeps. Harbhajan was swept for consecutive boundaries, both shots bisecting two men in the deep, and a six off Virender Sehwag over mid-on set the pulses racing. The run-rate had now gone well past five an over. Then Mishra struck with a superb piece of wrist spin to dismiss Michael Hussey. Mishra fizzed up a topspinner on nearly a perfect length and extracted bounce, which drew an edge to Dravid at slip. This time he held it cleanly and Mishra erupted. The worst came four deliveries later for Australia. Harbhajan floated down an airy, turning delivery and Hayden, having just smashed a four through midwicket, shuffled across and was struck beneath the knee roll, plumb in front. A flatfooted Brad Haddin then scooped Mishra to mid-off, feeding Sachin Tendulkar his 100th catch in Test cricket, and the end was nigh. Shane Watson nibbled a cut off Harbhajan into Dhoni's gloves for 9, Jason Krejza was stumped when two-thirds down the track to Mishra, and Brett Lee edged Harbhajan to short leg. In a touching tribute to Sourav Ganguly, who signed off in this Test, Dhoni let him captain the side as the final rites were being administered. When the last wicket fell just before tea, Mitchell Johnson trapped lbw by a Harbhajan doosra, Ganguly and Dhoni embraced at the centre of India's raucous celebrations. Ganguly had played a key role in shaping cricket's most enthralling current rivalry back in 2001, and he can leave the game knowing that it has been passed on into worthy hands. Dhoni led his team off in style, while people made room for Ganguly to say his final goodbyes. There was no overly emotional reaction from Ganguly; bar one fling at Lord's, his touch had always been too nuanced for that. For Indian fans this win may not be as emotional or emphatic as Rawalpindi in 2004 or Jamaica in in 2006 - where India broke elusive and painstaking barriers - but there's no denying the significance of this Indian autumn.
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