January 2011, Newlands– 3rd Test match India v/s South Africa
Sachin 146(314b, 17*4s, 2*6s)
There are
many qualities that differentiate Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar from the rest. The
ability to score at will against the best of the bowlers is the top most of
those qualities. Pacers and spinners alike, he has always came up trumps
against them. In fact better the opponent, more was Sachin’s eagerness to do
well. And that is what the Proteas discovered in the New Year test of 2011.
India
struggled against South Africa in the first test of the series and succumbed to
a morale shattering defeat. But then the Indian backlash was fierce and the score-line for the series read 1-1
after the second test. So it all boiled down to the third test of the series.
Sachin was in good touch throughout the series and the pace trio of Dale Steyn, Morne
Morkel and Lonwabo
Tsotsobe were dealt with the broadest bat they had bowled to.
In the 3rd test at Newlands,
Cape Town, India won the toss and invited South Africa to bat on a damp pitch in
overcast conditions. After an initial stutter, the broad shoulders of Jacques
Kallis pulled the innings together. His master class 161 helped South Africa to
post a challenging total of 362 in the first innings. India needed a good
start. But the mercurial Virendra Sehwag and ever-dependable Rahul Dravid fell
before the scorecard read 30. In came the ‘Little Master’ to join Gautam
Gambhir for the rescue operations. Sachin did not take long to get started. On
the second ball he faced, he tucked a ‘short off good length’ ball from Dale Steyn
on the on-side and strolled across for a single. Steyn and Tsotsobe maintained
a tight line and did not give any easy opportunities to score the runs. Both
batsmen reciprocated with an equally patient game. After some time, Steyn
tailed in a ball into the pads of Sachin; a sleek flick greeted the cherry and kissed
it through the mid-wicket for the first boundary by the batsman. Sachin was on his way. Couple of
overs later, Tsotsobe bowled a delivery from over the wicket and Sachin tried
to execute a cover-drive on the up. The ball moved outwards and took the
outside edge. But the rub of the green went in Sachin’s favor and the slip
fielder failed to judge the trajectory of the ball. The ball sailed over for a
four through the third-man region; this was all the luck that Sachin needed.
After a few quiet over, Sachin took on
Morne Morkel. In a single over, an over-pitched delivery on the leg side was
flicked and another full delivery was driven down the ground; in both the case
the results were the same, a masterful four. The signs were ominous. Paul
Harris from the other end struck Sachin on the pads and made a confident
appeal; the appeal was turned down and in the very same over, Sachin went
inside out to play the tweaker through the covers for another boundary. After
that Sachin went into the accumulation mode and played out the day 2 without
any further addition to the tally of boundaries. India finished the day on
142/2 with Sachin one short of his half-century.
Day 3 started with one of the classiest
battle between the ball and the bat. Steyn bowled the first over with venom and
subjected Sachin to some breathtaking out-swingers. Two of those deliveries
took the outside edge and one of them beat him fair and square. Just when it
started to look like it might not be Sachin’s day, Sachin re-adjusted his
stance and stood outside the crease to counter the swing.
Steyn failed to pick up the change in
tactic and ended up bowling a full delivery. Sachin creamed it through the
covers for the first boundary of the day. The contest was on. The out-swingers
kept on coming, some of them troubled Sachin and some of them frustrated Steyn;
after all these kind of spells against lesser batsmen fetch you five wicket
hauls. With Steyn bowling a dream spell, Sachin decided to release pressure
from the other end. He decided to cut loose. Off two consecutive balls of Tsotsobe,
he mercilessly hammered two boundaries off the back foot. The first one was a
powerful pull on the on-side and the next one was an artistic square cut
through third-man. A few overs later, the left arm seamer was dealt with a
majestic straight drive and the ball raced to the ropes. Sachin had muscled
back the control into India’s favor from the South African seamers.
The partnership of Sachin and Gambhir had
taking India to the shores of assurity. But Protease clawed back into the game
when Gambhir’s knock was cut short by Paul Harris and the southpaw fell for a well-made
92. This started the procession and one after the other Indian batsmen kept on
perishing to the disciplined bowling effort. But Sachin stood firm from the
other end and continued with the frantic accumulation of runs. By the time he
reached to 94, India had lost 5 wickets with a deficit of nearly 130 runs.
Sachin waited patiently for the scoring opportunity to complete his century.
When he was on 94, Morkel bowled a short one to test Sachin’s nerves in the nineties.
Sachin responded with a ‘Devil may care’ hook shot; the ball took a top edge
and flew over the ropes for maximum. The 51st century for the living
legend came off 213 balls with thirteen fours and a six. The very next ball was
pushed through the square point for another four. It was evident that Sachin
was in a mood to step up the tempo. Sachin spanked Morkel through the off-side
for a four, bossed the same bowler with an elegant straight drive for another
boundary and bullied Harris for a six over long-off.
By the time Sachin fell to Morkel for 146, India was 20
short of the South African total. This colossal innings spanned over seven
hours. In the process, Sachin faced 314 deliveries; he also collected 17 hits
along the carpet and 2 from the aerial route. This innings helped India to
surpass the South African total and set up a lively contest on the last day of
the match.
This was not a dominating Sachin innings;
rather it was a dogged one which oozed class and application. He respected the
bowlers when they were on top and he was prepared to look ugly to counter the
edge in the bowling. In the same time, he never missed out on any opportunity to play
the strokes and maximize the outputs from such shots. This knock remains as
the last test century scored by the ‘God of Cricket’. India failed to win the match but earned a respectable draw.
/********************************************************************/
If you LIKE it, Please SHARE
