Mumbai, November 12
The economic might of Sachin Tendulkar is immense. Barrack Obama suggested that he impacts the economy of the US — a light-hearted super-exaggeration, clearly; but Tendulkar’s impact on the economies of individuals and the cricket industry is profound indeed.

This extends to the media and the experts. Publications across India are scouring for experts to providing a final analysis of Tendulkar’s final Test matches. But no one is available. Everyone is taken. Imran Khan? Taken. Steve Waugh? Taken. Wasim Akram? Sorry, already committed.

But Brian Lara is available, want him? Lara, though, is a big man, Tendulkar’s contemporary and, in the eyes of many, the Mumbaikar’s superior as a batsman. Lara, thus, would cost a packet — $3,500 for a special column, or $1,500 for a daily column.

What about someone a little less expensive? Mark Waugh is contacted by a Mumbai magazine, but he politely declines the invitation to write for them, without even getting into a financial discussion. Gary Kirsten, the former India coach? Sorry, not interested.

Tendulkar has been analysed minutely since the age of 15. Everything that had to be said about him has been said. Only newer hyperboles remain. Yet, more soundbites and printed words are being desperately sought to feed the final frenzy of Tendulkar’s playing career.

Tendulkar’s last two Test matches being held in India — rather than in South Africa, as could have been the case — may not provide for a great contest. But for the reasons of economics — and sentiment — it’s a masterstroke.

The biggest masterstroke was made by a TV channel when it signed up Sachin Tendulkar’s older brother, Ajit, to provide exclusive details of the personal and sporting life of the great man. Ajit was the man who shaped the career and the mind of the teenaged Tendulkar. He’s an invaluable man to have for a TV channel for he provides unparalleled and unmatchable exclusiveness.

In the past too, Ajit has worked with the media. He’s written a book on his brother, and he’s been contracted with a few other TV channels to throw a light on the life of his famous brother. He does it for a price, of course, and you can’t really blame him for gaining financially from his brotherly exclusivity.

So, you can’t get Ajit Tendulkar — he’s taken, too. What about Nitin Tendulkar, the anonymous Tendulkar? Nitin is the eldest of the Tendulkar siblings. He has worked for Air India and is interested in writing poetry, and he prefers to exist far away from the limelight. He’s the media-shy types, and seems to be living in the US — so, not accessible.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) is set to lose a massive amount because India’s visit to that country was abbreviated to make time for the two Tests against the West Indies. CSA’s broadcasting partner, Ten Sports, will lose money, too, because a shortened, post-Tendulkar series will attract a smaller viewership and lesser revenues.

But Star India, broadcasting partner of the BCCI, is delighted. Star India has increased its advertising rates for the series. Normally, the advertisement rates are in the range of Rs 30,000- 50,000 per 10 seconds during a high-profile Test series. For this series, though, Star was demanding Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh for a 10-second slot. Tendulkar batted 41 minutes in the first Test. His impact on the match was negligible. The economic machinery of which Tendulkar — the boy who only wanted to play the game — is the heart churns on regardless.

Mumbai, November 12
A petite batsman reaches a remarkable numerical landmark in the Mumbai Test; he’s getting on in years, is in the twilight of his career, but his wicket is the one that the opposition prizes the most.

Yes, you’ve got it right — we’re talking about Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, not Sachin Tendulkar of west India.

There are 22 players in a cricket match; in the hype over Tendulkar’s final Test series, we’ve often forgotten the essential fact that cricket is a team sport. Yet, it’s virtually impossible to escape getting entangled into the mesh of sentimentalism around the greatest players.

Chanderpaul is not among the greatest players. He has made 10897 runs from 149 Tests at an average of 51.89. In conditions where batting is a challenge, he’s done rather well — he averages 66.61 in England, 55.80 in India and 42.05 in South Africa.

In the fourth innings of a match, when batting conditions are the toughest, he averages 44.64; to provide a point of reference, we can note that Sachin Tendulkar’s fourth innings average is 36.93 and Rahul Dravid’s 40.38.

While Chanderpaul can be called a great player, he can’t be bracketed among the greatest, despite good numbers.

One reason is his ungainly batting style, especially the open stance, which is extremely irritating to watch but extremely effective. “As a cricketer you do whatever makes you comfortable when you step into the park,” Chanderpaul said today in response to a query on his batting set-up and stance.

He’s tenacious, but not attractively inventive. “I know we have had a lot of players in the past who played a lot of shots,” he said. “But I have also looked at a lot of other players and try to find a way you can fit in and a way you can add value to the team. I figured out that might be the best way for me.”

Chanderpaul, 39, goes into his 150th Test match with impressive performances in the recent years. His averages in the last three years have been 56.28, 53.83 and 98.70; this year he averages 67 from three Tests.

“Not every day does someone get to play his 150th Test match so it is a milestone for me and I am looking forward to it,” he said. “Also Sachin is played his 200th Test so it will be an honour to be part of it.”

Tendulkar’s 200th and final Test overshadows Chanderpaul’s 150th, but the West Indian is not complaining. “It has been a privilege to be here to watch Sachin play in his 200th Test match. We have watched him over the years, played against him. It is always a joy to look at him bat,” Chanderpaul said. “There is so much to learn from a legend like him. He is a master of batting, his art, his skills.”

Chanderpaul has got into the spirit of the times — he’s joined the largely lopsided, uncritical Tendulkar Fest on in India. But then, probably no West Indian is in a position to talk belligerence right now, for their performance in Kolkata was abysmal.

Cricket is a personal sport within a team sport; despite the loss in Kolkata, thus, Chanderpaul, can look forward to his milestones. He’s 1,056 runs short of Brian Lara’s record of Test runs. He said it’s not going to be easy to catch the West Indian master. “It will be good to get there but it will take a lot of work to get there,” he said. “A thousand runs might not look a lot. Sometimes they don't look a lot but sometimes they can be a lot also. If I do I will be happy.”

Sold out

All the tickets for the second Test have been sold out. Well, only 5,000 of the 32,000-capacity stadium were up for sale, on a website. Great demand for the handful of the tickets available caused the servers of the website to crash yesterday. But the website was brought back to life and soon after noon today, the last tickets were sold. Only 5,000 were for sale, but it’s a regular practice in India. In Kolkata, the number was the same. The MCA sells 4,000 tickets for every Test at a subsided price to the Garware Clubhouse; around 9000 tickets are sold to Bombay, PJ Hindu, Parsi, Islam and Catholic Gymkhanas, the five founding gymkhanas. Then, each of the 329 member clubs can buy up to 25 tickets each. This takes the total to around 21,000. Then there are tickets to be given to the BCCI, the former Mumbai cricketers and the sponsors. This leaves little for the ‘general public’. This has been the norm, but it’s being paid attention to this time around because it happens to be Tendulkar’s last Test series.

Chennai, November 12
Defending champion Viswanathan Anand today gave his Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen a scare despite playing with black pieces even though the third game of the World Chess Championship clash ended in a long-grinding draw here.

The third game today turned out to be a hard fought affair lasting 51 moves after a rather sedate start that had seen the first two games ending in draws without any real excitement.

Midway into the third game today, Anand appeared to have seized the initiative with some 'spot on' manoeuvres, but world number one Carlsen saved the situation with his counter play.

Later at the post-game conference, Carlsen conceded that he felt "scary" though he averted the danger.

"I was worse, and then I probably made it more worse. I missed some simple things in the middle game, may be I had enough play and it was not a disaster but it was scary," Carlsen said.

After the third draw on the trot, the deadlock continues with none of the two rivals refusing to blink so far, but what happened at the Hyatt today was probably a clear indication that a rough battle is now shaping up.

The scores stand at 1.5 points for both players and the five-time champion Anand will have the advantage of playing with white pieces in the fourth game tomorrow.

Carlsen showed his intentions of a bloody battle when, contrary to the popular belief, repeated the Reti opening.

"I was expecting that Carlsen would jump from one opening to another," said Grandmaster R B Ramesh, who is a part of the live commentary team here.

As is typical of the Reti opening, the changes to several set ups is possible. Carlsen went for a position akin to the English opening that was more of a Sicilian Dragon with colours reversed.

The Middle game took a major turn when Carlsen deviated his attention to the King side by a queen sortie but Anand was alert enough.

With some 'spot on' manoeuvres, the Indian ace then seized the initiative pushing the white queen to the edge of the board only to see Carlsen avert the danger with his counter play.

As the game progressed, Carlsen got back in his groove and got his counter play in form of a thematic central break through. Thereafter, the Norwegian was pretty much at ease as the game quickly changed shape once again.

Anand knew there was sufficient play for both sides when he allowed liquidation to a position that had Bishops of opposite colours. The Indian had a small weakness on the king side that could be easily covered. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 12
At a time when there’s a glut of tributes for retiring Sachin Tendulkar, mostly shallow and symbolic though, the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) has come up with perhaps the most apt and meaningful gesture to the legend.

“The HPCA has decided to build 200 playgrounds across the state within two years as a mark of respect to Tendulkar. We hope that we might get someone like him from these playgrounds,” said HPCA president Anurag Thakur.

The HPCA chief said the village panchayats or clubs, which have some vacant land, could approach the cricket body or its district units for the construction of playgrounds.

“The association will provide infrastructure and kits for free to the youngsters at these playgrounds. The kit and equipment will have pictures of Sachin imprinted on it. We will ask Sachin if we could have his autograph imprinted on it; that will mean a lot to the kids,” he said.

The association has already earmarked budget for the project, ranging from a minimum of Rs two lakh to Rs 15 lakh per ground.

Thakur, who’s a BCCI’s joint secretary too, admitted that it was sad to see the general public being denied tickets even as there are vacant seats inside the stadiums. “Something should be done about it,” he said.

London, November 12
The message from Novak Djokovic could not have been more emphatic as he retained his title at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday with a crushing victory over Rafa Nadal.

Nadal deservedly ends the year as the world No. 1 after an incredible comeback from injury but the way the Serb ran him ragged in a 6-3 6-4 victory at the O2 Arena was an ominous smoke signal ahead of next year. Djokovic provided a one hour, 36 minute masterclass in power and precision and if anything the scoreline flattered Nadal, who spent most of the match dancing to his opponent's tune.

After a week of sell-out crowds at the spectacular London arena alongside the River Thames it was appropriate that the world's two best players should meet for a 39th time — the most of any modern-day rivalry. Nadal was bidding to land the title for the first time to cap a year that saw him roar back to the top of the rankings with 10 titles while Djokovic was finishing the season like a steamroller, winning 21 successive matches since losing to Nadal in the US Open final.

Apart from a few jaw-dropping rallies, however, the fireworks were confined to those that lit up the court as Djokovic got his hands on the trophy named in honour of the late ATP executive chairman Brad Drewett, who died this year.

"I think at the beginning he was playing much better than me, the first three games no doubt," Nadal said. "After that I didn't see the difference."

Djokovic hit 19 winners to Nadal's nine, committed less errors and served much better than his opponent, who threw in some costly double faults when he was broken early in the second set. — Reuters

Mumbai, November 12
Drawing an analogy with Sachin Tendulkar's masterful strokeplay, Australian great Adam Gilchrist today termed the iconic cricketer's retirement “class timing, as usual” and said his contribution to Indian cricket goes way beyond the mountains of runs he has scored.

“Now, it's perfect as he would be playing the 200th Test match in his home ground. I think he has identified that it is the right time to go. He has not overstayed. As usual, a classic timing,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist said that the modern day's greatest batsman timed his retirement well as his mere presence over the last couple of years was enough to help the youngsters.

“The way Sachin has been contributing to the Indian team it's not always just about the runs. The learning effect, the education and knowledge that he passes on to young players is really great,” he said. — PTI

Ranchi, November 12
India finished on top of the table with 52 medals at the second South Asian Junior Athletics Championships though they shared the honours on the second and concluding day with Sri Lanka here today.

The hosts secured 20 gold, an equal number of silver, a dozen bronze medals. The Indians got more medals but one gold lesser than the inaugural edition held at Colombo in 2007.

Sri Lanka, who shared with India the 16 gold on offer today, improved their previous performance by winning 10 gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze medals (total 34) to finish second. Bangladesh were third with three bronze while Pakistan were fourth with a lone bronze medal.

As expected, Indian sprinter Archana Suseentran and distance runner P U Chitra completed a double by pocketing the gold in 200m (24.32 secs) and 3000m (9:51.13) respectively. — PTI