Sachin, page 11
Five weeks before the home ODI series against Zimbabwe, India had suffered one of their worst losses ever in an ODI, when they were bowled out for 54 by Sri Lanka in the final of the Coca-Cola Cup. When India won the Test series against Zimbabwe 1-0, some of their confidence seemed to have returned. They won the first two ODIs, lost the third at Jodhpur and then won the last two to claim the series 4-1. Curiously, the only loss came in the match in which Sachin Tendulkar scored his only century of the ODI series after a century in each of the two Tests.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Batting first, India lost Sourav Ganguly early. Then Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were engaged in yet another century stand, but the middle order let the team down.
Tendulkar’s brilliant 146 was not only his longest ODI innings, it came at almost a run a ball (153 balls) with 15 fours and two sixes. He looked his old self after several months of giving the feeling that something was missing.
He was delicate and elegant; his late cuts were vintage stuff, and he was savage in his disposal of bad deliveries. A colossal six over long of brought him his fifty of just 37 balls in 39 minutes. With him at the wicket in such a mood, India reached 100 in 15 overs. Tendulkar’s 27th ODI century was achieved of 93 balls and despite a slower second fifty, he continued to torture the Zimbabwean bowlers. His only error - and reprieve - came when Grant Flower dropped him of Nkala at 135.
But once he left, the Indian middle order once again lost the plot and it was Zaheer Khan’s 32 not out, including 27 with four sixes in the final over from Henry Olonga, that took India to 283 for five.
Zimbabwe seemed to be heading for a third defeat at 52 for three, but then the Flower brothers - Andy (77) and Grant (70) - revived their hopes. Grant Flower had earlier taken three wickets in the Indian innings. Their 158-run stand in 30 overs set Zimbabwe on the road again. Mluleki Nkala’s 36 of 27 balls brought them to the doorstep of victory, which was finally achieved when Olonga scampered for a single of the penultimate ball of the innings.
Did you know…
» This was Zimbabwe’s first victory over India in India in 12 matches.
» Sachin Tendulkar’s 27th ODI hundred in his 261st match was his 11th on home soil and that gave him the record of most centuries in home matches, beating West Indian Desmond Haynes’ record of 10.
PARALLEL LIVES
Viswanathan Anand: Sachin Tendulkar was widely acknowledged as the best in his field and Leander Paes had achieved No. 1 ranking in world doubles the previous year. Anand, despite being among the top three for a long time, finally attained the status of world champion in 2000. He won the World Championship matches played in India till the semi-finals and then in the final held in Tehran, Iran, he outplayed Alexei Shirov 3.5-0.5 to be crowned as the FIDE World Champion.
Earlier, he had won the FIDE World Cup in Shenyang, China, beating Evgeny Bareev 1.5-0.5 in the final.
Besides these two successes, Anand also won the World Blitz Chess Cup Warsaw and the Wydra International Tournament at Haifa to emphasize his superiority in the Rapid format. He won the Leon title for the second time in a row and claimed the Fujitsu Siemens Giants Rapid title too. He was also runner-up at both Wijk aan Zee (to Kasparov) and Dortmund (to Kramnik), the two biggest events in classical chess.
Leander Paes: After the terrific success of 1999, it was a rather low year for Paes. He and Mahesh Bhupathi played together only in a few tournaments and without much success at the big ones. Paes partnered with Sebastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French, losing in the first round on both occasions. He teamed up with Mahesh Bhupathi for the US Open but once again lost in the first round. Paes, who was given the honour of carrying the Indian flag at the Olympics Colomboey and Bhupathi had a disappointing second-round exit to Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde at the Games.
THIS ALSO HAPPENED IN 2000
The world awaited with great interest and some anxiety the dawn of the new millennium.
There were numerous air crashes around the world that year. On 30 January a Kenya Airways flight crashed near Cote d’Ivoire due to a mechanical fault, killing 170 people. A day later, an Alaska Airlines flight crashed of the coast of southern California, killing 88; the crash was caused by a faulty stabilizer. On 19 April, an Air Philippines flight crashed into a hill near Davao, killing 131, and four days later, on 23 April, a Gulf Air flight crashed near Bahrain, killing 143. In India, on 17 July, more than 50 people were killed when a Boeing 737 passenger plane crashed near Patna.
The Sydney Olympics opened on 16 September and were a big success. Many termed these as the best-ever Games, though back home in Australia, there were protests that the native Australians had not been given their due.
On 6 October, Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic resigned, and on 13 December, Al Gore conceded the presidential elections in USA and George W. Bush was named president.
In the the first year of the millennium, a highly damning statistic emerged on India in the UN’s State of the World Population report: on an average, 24 women in India were raped in a day and 14 killed to protect their family’s honour’. The report also said that forty per cent of the female population was subjected to domestic violence.
On the political front, former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was convicted on charges of corruption on 29 September.
In the first two weeks of November, three new states - Chattisgarh carved out of Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal from Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand from Bihar - became the 26th, 27th and 28th states of India.
CHAPTER 11
2001
The Coming of Age of Indian Cricket
More than a decade had passed since Sachin Tendulkar first took the field against Pakistan and even though he was only 27, with lots of cricket left in him, no one was quite sure how far or for how long he could continue. The wear and tear on his body and the excessive travelling had brought on back problems, yet he kept making runs.
It was a little over 10 years since he had scored his first century in a Test match as a 16-year-old in England. Now at 27, he had 51 centuries: 24 in Tests and 27 in ODIs.
The millennium year had fetched him five centuries, after 20 in the two years preceding it. In 2001, the team may have had its ups and downs, but the run-scoring machine never seemed to tire. Tendulkar once again had more than 1,000 runs – 1,003 to be precise, in 10 Tests. There were three hundreds and six fifties too. In the shorter version, he played only 17 matches – half of what he played in 2000 – but he scored 904 runs with four hundreds and three fifties, at an average of just under 70 runs per innings – the best ever in his career.
Tendulkar Dominates As India Wrap Up Series
‘The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility - all make for a one-in-a-billion individual’ - Glen McGrath in the Indian Express, 5 October 2008
THE SITUATION
It was one of the most engaging series ever and one that would mark the coming of age of Indian cricket. The team suffered a 10-wicket loss in the first Test - despite Tendulkar top-scoring with a half-century in both innings (76 and 65).
In the next Test, India were as good as finished when they were asked to follow-on after Australia took a 274-run first-innings lead. V.V.S. Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) played what was surely India’s best-ever cricketing duet with a 376-run stand in a total of 657 for seven declared. That partnership turned the tide. India had turned the deficit into a 384-run target for Australia.
With Harbhajan Singh at his spinning best - 7 for 123 in the first innings and 6 for 73 in the second - India emerged victorious by 171 runs. They levelled the series and then won the third Test at Chennai by two wickets to wrap it up. Harbhajan once again had 7 for 133 and 8 for 84 in the third Test, ending with a total of 32 wickets in the three Tests.
Indian cricket was never the same again.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Sachin Tendulkar’s two fifties in the first Test failed to save India at Mumbai. In the second Test at Kolkata, while V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid redefined Indian cricket and took them to their greatest-ever win, Tendulkar made just 10 each in the two innings.
The third Test at the Chepauk stadium at Chennai saw the Tendulkar versus Glen McGrath contest at its very best, with Tendulkar coming out the victor. Shane Warne, also in the team, finally had to accept that he would never dominate Indian batting in the way that he dominated all the other teams in the world.
As India took the field, the series score was 1–1 and the team was walking with a swagger. Matthew Hayden’s 203 was the cornerstone of Australia’s first-innings 391 not out. Harbhajan had claimed seven for 133.
India’s reply was even better. Five of the top six batsmen scored 50 or more – Tendulkar was the pick with 126 of 230 balls with 15 fours and two sixes. S.S. Das (84) and Sadgopan Ramesh (61) put on 123 for the first wicket and then V.V.S. Laxman (65) and Das put on 88 for the second wicket. Then Dravid (81) – yes, that man again – and Tendulkar added 169 for the fifth wicket. India made 501 in all. McGrath was the pick of the bowlers with three for 75, Warne suffered at two for 140.
McGrath’s battle with Tendulkar was the highlight of the Test. India began the second morning at 211 for one. But McGrath sent back S.S. Das (84) of the first ball and a little later, Laxman (65) followed at 237. Sourav Ganguly (22) was fourth out at 284.
McGrath fed Tendulkar short-pitched deliveries but the master batsman refused to fall for them. Every now and then, he smashed McGrath through the covers, prompting him to glare in despair. Tendulkar seemed to be in a world of his own, his concentration unwavering.
Steve Waugh kept Warne away and instead used Colin Miller, who bowled both seam and of -spin. Here, Miller bowled seam. Tendulkar waited patiently till Warne came on, then he went after him, pulling, sweeping and driving him to all parts of the ground. His only lapse came against Miller, when he struck one to point, but Michael Slater failed to latch on to the ball.
Another evocative memory of this landmark innings is his treatment of Warne, whom he hit for three fours in a single over. After twice being glanced towards fine leg, Warne in desperation sent down a bouncer. Tendulkar sent it careening to third man with an upper cut that would have done Muhammad Ali proud.
While Tendulkar was doing all this and more, Dravid was in an unusually aggressive mood. He flicked McGrath to go past 50 and then smashed a straight six of Gillespie.
If McGrath’s bowling figures read 6-4-5-2 in the morning, Gillespie’s read 7-4-15-2 in the evening. India, who were 453 for four at one stage, were reduced to 477 for nine as Gillespie and Miller picked wickets in a bunch. They were finally out for 501 on the fourth morning.
Australia were dismissed for 264 in the second innings with Harbhajan getting another five-wicket haul – this was his fourth in three Tests and in five full innings. India, needing 155 for a win, were made to fight by McGrath, Gillespie and Miller, who was playing his last Test for Australia.
A battle it was, but the hosts scraped through for a two-wicket win. More importantly, the series was won by India 2–1. Steve Waugh’s dream of beating India in India remained just that – a dream.
It is well known that Sachin credits his elder brother, Ajit Tendulkar, for having brought him to cricket and appropriately, he dedicated his 25th Test hundred to his brother.
Did you know…
» This was Sachin Tendulkar’s fourth century in five matches and seven innings at Chepauk. He surpassed Sunil Gavaskar’s record of three hundreds.
» Harbhajan Singh had his finest series ever with 32 wickets in three Tests. Twice, he had 10 wickets in a Test. The next best for India were Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan with three each. Glenn McGrath (17), Jason Gillespie (13) and Shane Warne (10) were the best for Australia.
» V.V.S. Laxman (503), Rahul Dravid (338) and Sachin Tendulkar (304) were the batting superstars for India, while Matthew Hayden (549) and Steve Waugh (243) waged the battle for Australia.
Tendulkar Goes Past 10,000-mark in ODIs
You take Don Bradman away and he is next up, I reckon -Steve Waugh, rediff.com, 27 April 1998
THE SITUATION
India had won the first ODI and lost the second, but for many, attention was focused on an incredible landmark that loomed in front of Sachin Tendulkar. From the time the ODI series had begun, the 10,000-run mark in ODIs for Tendulkar had been awaited. He was 101 short when the series began. He made 35 in the first match at Bangalore, which India won by 60 runs, and managed 32 in the next, which India lost by eight wickets at Pune. So, Indore it was to be - the city of C.K. Nayudu and Mushtaq Ali, whose imperious batting styles had fashioned India’s early days in international cricket.
After Indore, India lost the next two ODIs and with that, the series: 2-3. Tendulkar took 62 in the fourth match at Vishakapatnam, but it was not enough.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Sachin Tendulkar may not consciously be chasing records, but Tendulkar followers have come to expect them. After waiting through the first two ODIs against Australia at Bangalore and Pune, they saw their expectations met in the third at Indore.
When Tendulkar reached 35, he became the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in ODIs. His mentor, Sunil Gavaskar, had done it in Tests, and now it was his turn.
Tendulkar’s 28th ODI hundred was yet another extraordinary display of patience and aggression. His first fifty took 66 balls and the next fifty came in 28. Overall, his 139 was of 125 balls and his innings lasted till the 46th over.
On a wicket that had uneven bounce and on which the ball often kept low, fluent stroke play was tough. Tendulkar cut loose only after reaching 50.
It was Glenn McGrath who eventually dismissed him, caught by Damien Fleming while going for a pull shot of a rising delivery.
An out-of-touch Sourav Ganguly dropped himself down the order and sent Rahul Dravid to open with Tendulkar. Dravid (15) left early at 32, but in came V.V.S. Laxman (83), and Tendulkar and he put on 199 in 30 overs. It was a stunning display of stroke play, though their running between the wickets often had Indian supporters holding their breath and praying.
Despite India slipping from 231 for one in the 38th over to 299 for eight in 50 overs, the target was always going to be tough for Australia. They were all out for 181 runs in 35.5 overs.
And yes, Tendulkar was Man of the Match.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman in ODI history to reach 10,000 runs.
» Sachin Tendulkar’s 28th ODI century came in his 266th match and 259th innings. It also fetched him his 38th Man of the Match award, the ninth against Australia.
» Glenn McGrath became the third Australian to get 200 wickets when he bowled Vijay Dahiya for no score.
In-form Tendulkar Helps Himself to Another Century
‘He is a genius. He has a shot for every ball. The only way to stop him is to keep him of strike - Wesley Hall in the Doordarshan documentary Tendulkar at 25, August 1998
THE SITUATION
India’s dependency on Sachin Tendulkar and their failure to snatch victory in the final stages of a tournament - tri-series or otherwise -continued. Tendulkar had scored unbeaten fifties (70 not out and 81 not out) in two of the previous matches. Both times, he was Man of the Match. The century came in the last league match, by which time both India and West Indies were assured of a berth in the final.
In the final, Tendulkar fell to a fourth-ball duck and despite Samir Dighe’s fighting 94 not out, India lost by 16 runs to West Indies.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Despite it being a flattish, batting-friendly pitch, India put West Indies in after winning the toss. It was a match that would have no bearing on the tri-series, with both sides having qualified for the final. But it was a rehearsal for the final and an opportunity to check out the opposition once more. India came through with flying colours, but once again, because of Sachin Tendulkar.
West Indies made 229 with Darren Ganga and Wavell Hinds making fifties. On a wicket such as this, it was never going to be a very tough target.
Sourav Ganguly and Tendulkar opened the innings in their chase of 230 for a win. India reached 50 in the eighth over and Tendulkar reached his personal fifty of 49 deliveries while Ganguly took 80 balls to get his fifty. They put on 133 in 26 overs to set the tone. Ganguly made 62 before he got out, but Tendulkar continued. On a pitch that was a delight for the batsmen, Tendulkar picked boundaries at will. He hit a dozen fours and one six while compiling his 29th ODI century of just 131 balls. It gave him his third Man of the Match award in four games of the tri-series.
Tendulkar’s fine form boded well for the final. Alas, he failed, and so did India, though they had not lost a match until then.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar’s 29th ODI century was his 17th on foreign soil, which bettered Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar’s record of 16 away hundreds.
» Sachin Tendulkar was involved in a century partnership for the 47th time in his career, beating Desmond Haynes’ record of 46 century stands.
» Sachin Tendulkar won his 41st Man of the Match award, his sixth against West Indies.
Tendulkar, Ganguly Sizzle but Team India Fizzles Out
You know when he is playing, the Indian side is a hell of a lot better side - Graeme Pollock, PTI, 8 October 2001
THE SITUATION
On his previous sojourn to the African continent, Sachin Tendulkar had sustained a hairline fracture on the big toe of his right foot in Zimbabwe. That had caused him to miss the ODI series and then the Test series against Sri Lanka. It was the first time he had missed a Test series since his debut in 1989-90 in Pakistan. His return now meant that a great deal of attention was focused on him.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
South African skipper Shaun Pollock put India in to bat and immediately, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar went about hammering the daylights out of the bowling in the very first match of the triangular series.
