The Tendulkar-Ganguly partnership

[The Outsider]

was Test cricket at it's superb best. They divided their roles perfectly as the defender and the aggressor, made sure Tendulkar faces bulk of the bowling from Akhtar and sees him out while Ganguly keeps on taking the odd risk to keep the runs coming specially against Kaneria who was turning the ball in to him. This was the experience of 200+ test matches coming together in a pressure situation and taking the side to a win. Tendulkar and Ganguly might get out first ball in the morning and end the Test with an average of 16.5 and 28.0 but would have won the match for India. Masterful test cricket batting.

[Anakin]

You just pointed out the folly of mindless stats without context as well.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Ram]

Absolutely. And Attn Bumper: You were asking for proof of Sachin's technical prowess right ? Well he ya go ! The way he handled Shoaib was just amazing, defending his 150 k inswingers with ease and composure. And the OP made an excellent point about the averages too. If and indeed they do end-up with match averages of 16 and 28, we would have some of our own posters calling this a failure for them, but what a vital match winning role they have played !

[Guest BossBhai]

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[The Outsider]

Relax, BB. Match is in the bag.

[Bumper]

Absolutely. And Attn Bumper: You were asking for proof of Sachin's technical prowess right ? Well he ya go ! The way he handled Shoaib was just amazing, defending his 150 k inswingers with ease and composure. And the OP made an excellent point about the averages too. If and indeed they do end-up with match averages of 16 and 28, we would have some of our own posters calling this a failure for them, but what a vital match winning role they have played !

Good performance under pressure, but please dont overrate the effort. There are many who make this sound as if only Tendulkar's experience could have done it, easily forgetting that the youngest of them all, Wasim Jaffar, played the best innings of the day under more dire circumstances. Yes, good innings, but he must do more in the series. I wont accept a string of poor performances in the series inspite of this innings (Mind you, there are 4 others who have scored equally well, pls credit them as well). Ultimately an avg of 45, as you agreed, is what matters! If he does that you dont have to justify his performance. It will speak for itself.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Ram]

Good performance under pressure, but please dont overrate the effort. There are many who make this sound as if only Tendulkar's experience could have done it, easily forgetting that the youngest of them all, Wasim Jaffar, played the best innings of the day under more dire circumstances. Yes, good innings, but he must do more in the series. I wont accept a string of poor performances in the series inspite of this innings (Mind you, there are 4 others who have scored equally well, pls credit them as well). Ultimately an avg of 45, as you agreed, is what matters! If he does that you dont have to justify his performance. It will speak for itself.

Fair enough, Lets see after the series.

[Predator_05]

That entire day was the best exhibition of test cricket i have seen in years - just for entertainment. Shoaib bowling magnificently with the Indian batsmen looking confident as ever taking him on...this was some fantastic cricket. Long live Test cricket. That is why i stayed up 'til 600 AM watching it - believe me, that doesn't happen very often.

[Laaloo]

yeaa dude i got some sleep during lunch break from 1 to 1:45 and then watched the match hopefully todays session only last 30-45 mins

[kabira]

Its toughest to bat when ball is 20 to 50 overs old. Most wickets have fallen in that period and this too batted in that period. In his entire stay, tendulkar was beaten only one and thats about it. When he was beaten, more like he poked the ball he should have left, dravid immediately comes to him and advises him to take long stride forward. When Tendulkar started to open up bit at the end of the day, Ganguly comes to him and must have told him not to get out now, this may be last over of the day. Trio has immense respect for each other

[The Outsider]

Ganguly also walked down to Tendulkar when he was trying to play Kaneria off the backfoot in his first over to him.

[ludhianvi]

A match winning partnership. The pressure could've have really built up if the partnership was broken or runs did not flow.