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Famous win that won’t be cherished
Sachin
moments |
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Tendulkar’s anonymity on last day at Eden Gardens
Mumbai put Punjab on backfoot
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Famous win that won’t be cherished
Kolkata, November 8
Yes, it was a great victory, primarily for one reason — India's two debutants were the two best performers in the match. Rohit Sharma lived up to the immense promise he's held out for years; Mohammed Shami came out of obscurity, bowled with good pace, greater control, and was made lethal by his ability to reverse-swing the ball.
Rohit made 177 runs; Shami picked up nine wickets for the match. Ravichandran Aswhin, batting like a top-order man, made 124 runs. Rohit and Aswhin added 280, using 435 balls in their partnership. The victory wasn't that great, too, for one reason. The West Indies seemed to be a wrong team playing Test cricket. They're the world champions in Twenty20 cricket. They played this match much the way they would have played a Twenty20 tournament. They survived 78 overs in the first inning and 54 in the second. They couldn't last two sessions today. They have only two men — Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels — who are Test class. The others are Twenty20 smashers, keener to loft rather than drive down the ball. They do a good job of it in Twety20. But that's child's play; in Tests, they needed resolve and patience too. They didn't have them. Darren Sammy is a fine man and a talented cricketer, but his bunch just didn't seem interested in Test cricket. Sammy's most talented man, Chris Gayle, doesn't really care for Tests; as captain himself, he'd said four years ago that he would not be “sad if Test cricket dies out”. Gayle is a likeable man too, a gifted player, the most talented man in his team. But he seems disinterested in playing Tests. His body language suggested that today, too. He lazily hung his bat out to begin with, but then began smashing the ball, hitting seven fours off the first 34 balls; he attacked the 35th, from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, to get another four; it was a wide ball, though, and his pull shot was extremely injudicious. Caught by Kohli. Kieran Powell (36) was trapped LBW by Aswhin, Darren Bravo (37) played a careless shot. The first three men falling in their 30s is terrible in Test cricket. The only other man who got into the 30 was, inevitably, Chanderpaul. Inevitably, he remained unbeaten on 31. He's a patient and sticky batsman. West Indies need about five more like him. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had got the invite for this series last month. The WICB, meanwhile, had arranged for a team-building trip for the boys to Miami. We can try to figure out what team-building in Miami might mean — a bit of drink and fun and sun and water, right? That sounds like a good holiday. West Indies might have been better served if they'd be working instead; if they'd actually cancelled that Miami trip and come over to India, its sun and sand and the wicked pitches. Perhaps it's good that Sachin Tendulkar's final two Tests are in India; there's a possibility that if those Tests were played in South Africa, as originally planned, India may have been at the wrong end of a similar thrashing there. Curiously, the charge against the West Indies — lack of interest in Test cricket — would have been made against India then. As it was when we lost 0-4 in England and 0-4 in Australia, in 2011 and 2012. But, all things considered, it was a good victory today at the Eden. A good victory, a famous victory, but what good came of it at last, it's difficult to say.
Scoreboard West indies 2nd inns MOM: Rohit Sharma
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Sachin
moments
It is a mixed moment for me. We are used to seeing Sachin Tendulkar come out to bat after the fall of second wicket. That we will miss. But we are also proud to witness history of any player playing 200 Test. That is something phenomenal because nobody has done that before. He is a real ambassador for the game, said Praveen Amre, a former India player. Amre remembered his debut ODI at the Eden Gardens when he and Tendulkar won the match for the team. “When I made my (ODI) debut in 1991 against South Africa in Kolkata, Sachin was at the non-striker's end. I was a bundle of nerves as it was my first match. He told me that we needed to see off Alan Donald's spell as he was bowling well. At that age itself, he knew how to read the game and the wicket,” Amre said. Amre also cherishes the time when India won the Hero Cup semifinal against South Africa, thanks to Tendulkar's miserly last over. “I salute him for the way he took the responsibility in the Hero Cup semifinal. No other cricketer will take that step because your reputation is at stake.” “But he liked that challenge and that is the reason why he is a champion. He likes to go there and meet the challenge and that was the beginning — in Hero Cup — when he bowled that over and we won that match. I was in the playing 11 and cherish it because he went out there with a lion's heart and took that responsibility for the team and we became the champions," he said.
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Tendulkar’s anonymity on last day at Eden Gardens
Kolkata, November 8 Tendulkar embodied youth, confidence and strength. His advent to the wicket stopped a nation, emboldened it to dream and hope. The man who batted as Tendulkar yesterday was a poor substitute. He was beaten by a young (though excellent) spinner. He made the great mistake of getting rooted at the wicket and pushing his bat far out in defence. Now that’s not the way to defend against spin on the back foot — you keep the bat close to yourself, your wrists flexible and ready to deflect the ball, say the experts. If this is Tendulkar, let go of him, for he’s already gone. The mind is not the same. The body, the shell, is not the same. Yet, it’s impossible to let go of the obsession of a lifetime, the schoolboy who made us re-imagine Indian batsmanship, a man central to our sporting interest for the quarter of a century. This Kolkata Tendulkar had just one stellar moment in the whole match, when he took a wicket on the first day. He bowled a mean googly, a terrific legspinner, a terrific straight one — was it Shane Warne in disguise? This man was busy if ineffectual over the last two days, bustling about in the field, signing autographs for the ballboys, advising the bowlers from mid-off. And then there’s the wave — a slight shake of the hand has been exciting passion and causing joy in the stands he’s closest while fielding. That, surely, can’t be the extent of Tendulkar’s contribution in a team performance? The real Tendulkar could not be seventh-best or ninth-best in his own team, could he? Maybe the real Tendulkar — he of the quicksilver feet, the flashing blade, the unwavering competitiveness — would be seen in his 200th Test in Mumbai. That Tendulkar was a humble man but deeply proud and confident of his abilities. He had the ego of a great champion; he’d not let anyone humiliate him on the field without a stinging riposte in the next innings. Maybe the real Tendulkar would, for the one final time, stamp his class on a Test, in a match in his hometown Mumbai. That’s a very unlikely possibility, though. The last time he played here, he was humiliated, twice, by Monty Panesar. Panesar was good in that series. But the master’s feet were frozen, his heart almost visibly palpitating. One even fears to even hope for such a magnificent thing as Tendulkar in his pomp; it’s a forlorn hope, doomed to die stillborn. Tendulkar is gone. Don’t hark back to the young genius who was a person other than the lovely ancient signer of autographs at the boundary line in Kolkata.
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Mumbai put Punjab on backfoot
Chandigarh, November 8 It did not require the medium pace of Abhishek Nayar or the guiles of Zaheer Khan. Five-match old Vishal Dabholkar, a left armer with inoccuous looking flighted deliveries, wiped off home team’s lower order in double quick time to put his team on top. Mumbai have got a massive first innings lead and two more days to go for the kill. Punjab, with two of its star cricketers, can, at the most, try to salvage a draw. That too appears bleak as the hosts will have to bat fourth on a spin-friendly track that they laid out for the visiting team. After posting 282 in 91.2 overs, thanks to 111 by Wasim Jaffer, his 49th first class ton, Mumbai put Punjab in a spot of bother with pacers Zaheer Khan and Javed Khan picking up openers. It was now the turn of spinners and they played their part to perfection. Dabholkar (6/38) removed last four batsmen within a span of just 22 runs to return with his career best figures. The highlight of the day was the fierce contest between Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. Zaheer tried his best to beat Yuvraj with his pace and swing but the left-hander survived the onslaught with thin edges and two streaky boundaries. Zaheer’s overzealousness to get a wicket showed as he overstepped the crease a couple of times to generate extra pace. Yuvraj’s determination however gave way as he tried to cut Suryakumar Yadav incoming delivery only to see umpire give him LBW. Skipper Harbhajan Singh played only nine balls, scored five runs with one boundary. Punjab, in no time, folded up for 155 in 63.5 overs, giving Mumbai the upper hand in the game. In the second innings, openers Kaustubh Pawar (21) and Aditya Tare (11) denied the home team any wicket. Brief Scores: Mumbai 282 in 91.2 overs (Jaffer 111, Harbhajan 4/90) & 35/0; Punjab 155 in 63.5 overs (Yuvraj 33, Dabholkar 6/38 Haryana:329 in 136.1 overs (Sunny 123, A Barot 64, A Wakhare 5/68); Vidarbha 94/3 in 37 ovs (H Badani 35*)
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Chennai, November 8 The hype surrounding the match between the ageing five-time champion Anand and 22-year-old world number one Carlsen, comparable to the historic clash between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972, will come to an end when the two rivals take on each other in the opening game at the Hyatt Regency Hotel tomorrow. Carlsen has the advantage of playing white in the opener but that may not count much as both players get six white and black games in this 12-games November 9-28 contest. Anand has seen similar situations before while Carlsen is playing his first match in a World Championship. So, while the Norwegian enjoys the tag of a favourite, his mannerisms thus far have suggested that he is gullible like any other youngster in a certain sense. Twirling in his chair, scratching his head while answering questions during press conference here yesterday, Carlsen gave the impression of someone tense but exuded confidence once the tete-a-tete was over. — PTI
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Kolkata, November 8
