Sachin, page 2
RELIVING THE CENTURY
By the time the Sydney Test ended, Tendulkar was on his way to stardom. With an unbeaten 148, he broke Neil Harvey’s record of being the youngest to score a Test century in Australia. Already he was being spoken of in the same breath as Sir Don Bradman.
Shane Warne had just one wicket to his credit after conceding 150 runs. He would go wicketless in his next Test. Over the next two decades, Warne’s exploits on and off the field would be the stuff both cricket writers and gossip columnists would make a living off, but his baptism by fire came at the hands of Tendulkar, who in the same two decades was to rewrite every batting record in the books.
At Sydney, Australia managed only 313 runs despite David Boon’s 129 not out. The Indians put on a batting display that was to be their best of the entire series. Ravi Shastri (206) and Tendulkar (148 not out) gave India a chance of pulling of a stunning win with their 196-run stand for the fifth wicket as the Indians piled up 483.
Though Shastri played the innings of his life before providing Warne his only success in the Test, it was Tendulkar’s brilliance during his 213-ball knock that had the veterans’ jaws dropping in awe.
Tendulkar played a perfect innings, allowing neither the opposition nor the situation to affect him. His running between the wickets was excellent – he and Shastri even ran four. He dealt with each ball on merit and in one sequence, with his score at 90 and the tea break minutes away, he dispatched an errant long hop from Warne to the boundary. Soon after, he waited till the very last micro-second before playing an exquisite late cut to reach 98. Minutes later, a brace saw him complete his second century.
Trailing by 170, Australia were struggling at 114 for six – still 56 behind – when the Indians began to miss a specialist spinner. They had dropped Venkatapathy Raju to give Subroto Banerjee his Test cap. The doughty Australian skipper Allan Border (54 not out), aided by Merv Hughes (21), got the hosts to 173 for eight in the second innings. When the match was called of as a draw, Border had Warne (1 not out) for company at the wicket.
But for the 94.1 overs lost due to bad light and rain, and the absence of a specialist spinner in the line-up, India may well have had a great win in a series where everything else had gone wrong for them.
Did you know…
» Shane Warne made his Test debut in the same match at the SGC that Sachin Tendulkar scored his second Test century in. Warne had one for 150, his sole success being the wicket of Man of the Match Ravi Shastri.
» Ravi Shastri’s 206 was his highest score and the last of his 11 centuries in Test cricket. Unfortunately, a few days later, before the next Test, a knee injury ended his tour. He played only four more Tests and by the end of the year he had retired from Test cricket.
Gem of an Innings in a Lost Cause
‘It’s a great pity that an innings which deserved a crowd of over 100,000 is being watched by such a small crowd - Richie Benaud in the commentary box
THE SITUATION
Sachin Tendulkar’s century at Sydney had restored India’s confidence somewhat after the mauling they had received in the first two Tests. A draw in the third was followed by a narrow 38-run loss in the fourth. India may well have won that match but for an incredible number of lbw decisions (eight) that went against them. When they came to the final Test at Perth, it was once again Tendulkar who was the star, albeit in a lost cause.
The Indians had come into the Test series ill-prepared, having played just one first-class match before the first Test. They were outplayed all through. But in Tendulkar they had found a shining star.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
The Age reported that when Merv Hughes of the handlebar moustache returned to the pavilion at the end of the third day’s play, he opened a can of beer, turned to his captain and said, ‘This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB.’
A prophetic remark, for the ‘little prick he referred to was Tendulkar and the skipper, Allan Border. Border was 130 Tests down and by the time he played the last of his 156 Tests in 1994, he had a tally of 11,174 Test runs. Though this was only the sixteenth Test for Tendulkar, he would in time go on to compile more than 15,000 Test runs.
That day (3 February 1992), for almost four hours, Tendulkar held at bay four Australian pacers on a WACA wicket that was considered the fastest and bounciest wicket in the world. The ball was whistling past his ears, but he paid no heed to the sound, or to the sledging of the Aussies, as he scored 114 in a display of grace, technique and power that screamed for attention.
His sizzling 114 of 161 balls contained 16 fours, a good number of them courtesy the square cut. When he came out to bat, India were 69 for two, and when he left 228 minutes later, they were 240 for nine. On the third morning, as he ran out of partners, he went on a rampage. His second fifty came in 55 balls. His ninth-wicket stand of 81 with Kiran More (43) helped India to keep the deficit down to 74.
With Tom Moody (101) making a comeback in the Test, and Dean Jones (150) shoring up the Australian second innings, India were faced with a target of 442 in the fourth innings. They were never in the race despite an 82-run stand for the first wicket – the best of the series. They were dismissed for 141, losing the match by 300 runs and the series 0–4.
Interestingly, it would be many years before Australia went into a Test again with only quicks.
Did you know…
» Kapil Dev took his 400th Test wicket when he trapped Mark Taylor leg before in the second innings. He became only the second bowler after Richard Hadlee to take 400 Test wickets. Two years later, Kapil broke Hadlee’s record of 431 Test wickets before retiring with 434 wickets.
» Krishnamachari Srikkanth took five catches in the first innings to equal the best by an Indian fielder. The record is shared with Yajuvendra Singh (v England in 1977, and Mohammad Azharuddin (v Pakistan in 1989 – the match where Tendulkar made his Test debut).
Stilt in His Teens but Already Laden with History
‘In my several years of international cricket, Tendulkar remains the best batsman I have ever bowled to. It’s been a pleasure to bowl at the master batsman even though one hasn’t always emerged with credit from the engagements - Allan Donald, Outlook, 4 December 2006
THE SITUATION
It was a historic series for both India and South Africa. India became the first team to officially visit South Africa which had been banned from international cricket in 1970. For the first time in South Africa’s cricket history, a non-white player, Omar Henry, was included in the team, and he played the first Test in Durban.
Also in the Durban Test, TV video replays were tried out by the South African Board for the first time to settle diffcult decisions. Tendulkar became the first Test player to be declared run out after square leg umpire Cyril Mitchell referred the appeal to ‘third umpire’ Karl Liebenberg. The Durban Test also saw Praveen Amre, who studied in the same school as Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, score a century on Test debut.
The first Test at Durban was important for reasons other than cricket. But by the time the Indians arrived in Johannesburg for the second Test of the historic four-Test series, cricket was back in focus.
The Johannesburg Test ended in a draw. South Africa won the third Test at Port Elizabeth, and drew the last at Cape Town for a 1-0 series win.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
The Johannesburg Test was significant because it was the hundredth Test match that South Africa were playing.
South Africa batted first and were down to five for 73, when Jonty Rhodes was seemingly run out by a direct throw from Javagal Srinath. He was on 28. In the previous Test, Tendulkar had been adjudged run out on the basis of the TV replay watched by the third umpire. This time, however, on-field umpire Steve Bucknor refused to use the third umpire. TV replays showed that Rhodes was at least six inches short of the crease when the direct throw broke the stumps. He went on to make 91 and rescued South Africa, taking them to a total of 292.
India, in reply, were 44 for three when Tendulkar came in. He was in line to become the youngest batsman to score 1,000 Test runs and break teammate Kapil Dev’s previous record of 21 years and 27 days.
Even as the Indian batting perished to the depleted South African attack, Tendulkar waged a solitary battle. He hit the superfast Allan Donald each time the bowler wavered in line. He smashed any deliveries that were short and wide outside the of stump to the boundary. By the time stumps were drawn, he was 75 not out with 13 fours, of which only two were on the leg side.
When play resumed on the third day, the South Africans bowled perfectly but Tendulkar was up to the challenge. In the first two hours of play he made just nine runs, content to stay at the wicket. His first fifty came in 105 minutes, of 84 balls, with 10 fours. The remaining 61 came in 270 minutes, of 186 balls, with nine fours, showing that he could both defend and attack, as the situation demanded.
When he was on 98, Tendulkar belted debutant Craig Mathews three times in a single over. He reached his fourth Test century and when he got out for 111 (India: 212) he had more than half of the team’s runs. India ended at 227.
Tendulkar’s century was the only three-figure knock of the Test. India needed 303 to win on the final day but chose to play safe and the game ended in a draw.
Did you know…
» When Sachin Tendulkar scored 33, he became the youngest batsman to get 1,000 Test runs. He was 19 years and 217 days of age.
» Nelson Mandela, President of the African National Congress, was among the 21,000 fans at the stadium on Saturday, when Tendulkar got his fourth Test century, his first in South Africa.
PARALLEL LIVES
Viswanathan Anand: Only 22 years of age, Anand won the category 18 Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament, the worlds highest rated tournament at the time, on 6 January 1992, the same week Tendulkar got his second Test century. Anand finished ahead of Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk.
Anand’s win in Reggio Emilia signalled his rise as one of the top players in the world. By the end of the year, he had added another category 18 event, the Alekhine Memorial title, ahead of Karpov, becoming one of the top five players in the world.
Leander Paes: In 1992, Paes, then 19, in the company of Ramesh Krishnan, reached the quarter-finals of the doubles event of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. They lost to Goran Ivanisevic and Goran Prpic of Croatia. A win in the quarter-finals would have assured the Indians a bronze medal, which would have been India’s first Olympic medal since the hockey bronze of 1972. Interestingly, Leander’s father, Vece Paes, was a member of that team. Earlier, Paes, who had won the junior Wimbledon title in 1990, also won the Junior US Open in 1991, becoming World No. 1.
THIS ALSO HAPPENED IN 1991–1992
In 1991, South Africa repealed its Apartheid laws and was slowly accepted back into the international community. India became the first country to invite them over for a cricket series in late 1991, and in 1992 India visited South Africa.
The Soviet Union collapsed in the period between August and December 1991 and in November 1992, another country from behind the Iron Curtain, Czechoslovakia, split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, effective as of 1 January 1993.
At the beginning of 1992, Europe broke down trade barriers and a month later, the Maastricht Treaty was signed to form the European Union.
On 6 December 1992, barely 10 days after Tendulkar got his third ton of the year, right-wing activists demolished the Babri Masjid, a sixteenth-century mosque in Ayodhya. This led to riots in various parts of the country, including Tendulkar’s hometown, Mumbai. Over 1,500 people were estimated to have been killed.
CHAPTER 3
1993
A Century at Home
Strange as it may seem now, the 1992–93 three-Test series against England was Sachin Tendulkar’s first proper series at home since he made his Test debut in 1989. He had in the meantime played 21 Tests, of which only one – the one-of Test against Sri Lanka at Chandigarh in November 1990 – was at home and he had made just 11 runs in 92 minutes in that Test.
He scored two centuries during the year, both in Test cricket. The first was at home against England, the other against Sri Lanka at Colombo. By the end of the year he had six Test centuries at 20 years of age. But he was yet to reach three figures in the 59 ODIs he had played.
Century at Home at Last As England are Pounded into Submission
‘Although he is still two months short of his 20th birthday, Sachin Tendulkar formally announced at the Chepauk Stadium yesterday that he has long outgrown the brief impetuosity of his teenage years. The serious business has now begun in earnest, as if anybody ever doubted that it would… Tendulkar, even at such an early stage of his career, can anticipate nothing less than his eventual coronation as the most prolific Test run-scorer in history…
‘Illness, injury, even sheer boredom could intervene over the course of his next 20 years. But there are fewer doubts about Tendulkars durability than the survival of Test cricket itself… Indian cricket became synonymous with Sunil Gavaskar as he set his record of 10,122 Test runs. Tendulkar s talent is such that he could score 15,000…’ - David Hopps in the Guardian, 13 Feb 1992
THE SITUATION
The first Test at Eden Gardens saw Tendulkar oblige fans with a fifty in the first innings and he was at the wicket with Test debutant and childhood friend Vinod Kambli when the eight-wicket win was achieved.
In the second Test at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, Tendulkar achieved his first home ton. It was also the first time he had a century in a winning cause.
He got another score over fifty (78) in the third Test at Mumbai and Vinod Kambli got a double hundred in the same match.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
England were already battered and bruised by the time they came to Chennai for the second Test. Ted Dexter, the Chairman of the England selection committee, quite infamously and to the mirth of many, declared that the poor health of some England players had prompted them to commission a study of air pollution in some Indian cities.
Just before the Chennai Test, skipper Graham Gooch pulled out due to sickness that was presumably caused by Chinese food and extra prawns. Alec Stewart took over as the captain. As the Test progressed, Mike Gatting and Robin Smith had to leave the field just as India began their batting domination.
The illnesses also prompted England to set up what came to be known as ‘Bob’s Bistro’. Manager Bob Bennett, physio David Roberts and chaplain Andrew Wingfield Digby began to prepare the team’s food. The menu comprised corned beef, baked beans and naan.
Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and elected to bat. It was a fine start, as Navjot Sidhu (106) and Vinod Kambli (59) put on 108. Then Tendulkar joined Sidhu, who got his century before the end of the first day. Tendulkar ended the day’s play on 70.
He duly got to his hundred on the second day after batting for six hours and hitting 24 fours and one six. By the time Sidhu left, the pair had put on 147 runs, more than two-thirds of those coming from Tendulkar’s blade. Then Tendulkar put on 118 with Praveen Amre. The Shardashram School trio, Tendulkar, Amre and Kambli, had two century partnerships between them. India declared at 560 for six after two days and 165 overs.
Tendulkar was stunning in his stroke play. As he neared his century on the second day, he seemed to have shifted gears. Facing the music was Devon Malcolm, who in a space of five balls was dispatched to the boundary three times to bring up Tendulkar’s first century at home. The strokes were textbook perfect in their execution, causing the bowler to despair. At one point, he literally swatted Ian Salisbury for a six.
England made 286 and 252 and lost by an innings. Indian spinners Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan took 17 of the 20 wickets as England suffered their heaviest defeat and only their second by an innings. Tendulkar picked up the Man of the Match award for his hundred and the two catches he took in the second innings.
Did you know…
» Kapil Dev, when he reached 35 in the course of his 66 not out, became the first to score 5,000 runs and take 400 wickets in Test cricket.
This was Sachin Tendulkar’s first century in an Indian win.
Tendulkar’s Sixth Century Ends India’s Seven-year Itch
‘Without question, he is the most unifying figure in the entire country. Arguably, he is the most universally popular Indian since Mahatma - Nick Bryant, BBC South Asia Correspondent, 23 March 2006
THE SITUATION
India had never won a Test abroad with Sachin Tendulkar in the team. In fact, it was seven years since India had won an away Test, the last being way back in 1986 at Leeds. Tendulkar came into the Indian side in 1989. Of his 26 Test appearances, 21 were outside India, yet he had never experienced the joy of seeing India win a Test abroad.
The first Test of the series at Kandy saw just 12 overs of action as rain washed away the match. India won the second Test, drew the third, and took the series 1-0.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
In the second Test, at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and elected to bat. After the early loss of Manoj Prabhakar, Vinod Kambli, intent on matching Tendulkar century for century, as it were, scored his third century (125) on the trot as India piled up 366. Tendulkar made just 28 but shared a 68-run stand with Kambli.
Sri Lanka made 254, thanks primarily to skipper Arjuna Ranatunga’s 88. Anil Kumble, with a haul of 5 for 87, destroyed the hosts, giving India a 112-run lead.
Armed with a handy lead, India were of to a record start of 171 between Navjot Sidhu (104, following his 82 in the first innings) and Manoj Prabhakar (95).
