INDIA v PAKISTAN
SuperSport Park, Centurion, 1 March 2003
So often has Sachin
Tendulkar pounded the bowlers into submission, and dominated top-class attacks
to win matches off his own explosive bat. But has there been something like
this? Consider the scene. It is a high-voltage match in the World Cup, no less,
against arch-rivals Pakistan, who desperately need a win in order to qualify
for the next stage. And the target is 274. This is not for the faint-hearted,
or for those with ordinary ability. But then, it is really just the sort of
challenge that the greats of sport revel in. Tendulkar once again rose to the
occasion, stamping his pedigree on cricket’s big show of 2003.
He said he came
out to bat with a blank mind. He also stated that the moment he stroked Wasim
Akram through the covers right off the sweet spot, he knew it was going to be
his day. It took just three deliveries for the genius to realise what a beauty
of a wicket it was and that his own Midas touch was intact enough to enable him
essay yet another glittering innings. His partner Virender Sehwag too dared to
square-cut the last ball of that opening over off the front foot for another
four.
The pacy Shoaib
Akhtar came on at the other end and promptly hurled a wide down the leg-side.
The fourth ball was fast and short outside the off-stump, and Tendulkar got
under it. His furious slash and the speed of the ball sent it sailing into the
stands at backward point. The incensed, though seemingly chastened, speedster
pitched the next one up but the direction was just a bit awry on the other
side, and the little blaster whipped it to the square-leg boundary. The last
delivery looked a good one but Tendulkar, now master of the situation, drove it
past mid-on for another four. He had established ascendancy in a matter of two
overs. Akhtar was taken off after one over that cost 18 runs. The stands were
abuzz. This was indeed going to be electric.
The fifty came up
in five overs. Waqar Younis dismissed Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly at 53 off
successive deliveries. Tendulkar was in a different zone, zooming to his own
fifty in 37 balls. He treated every bowler with disdain, flicking Waqar,
executing a sweetly timed straight drive off Abdul Razzaq, and crafting a
skillful on-drive to Shahid Afridi’s leg-spin, to recount a few of his dozen
exquisite boundaries. His only real blemish was when he drove a bit early and
Razzaq grassed the ball at mid-off.
Mohammad Kaif helped add 102. Tendulkar
got cramps but refused a runner till he was almost immobile. “Only I know how
hard I have hit the ball and where it will go. A runner cannot anticipate
this,” he explained. A man with immense faith in his own prowess would not risk
someone ruin his precious innings. Now hobbling, he fended at a vicious Akhtar
bouncer and was caught on the off-side for 98. He had faced just 75 deliveries
and hit 12 fours and a six. India were already 177 in the 28th over,
with the bowling decimated. Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh ushered in an easy
win. Writing in The Times of India, Wasim Akram saluted the maestro: “He has a
great eye, but on this pitch, he seemed to have all the time in the world to
select the right shot and play it to perfection…..he showed that he is capable
of unforgettable strokeplay, which makes him the larger-than-life figure he
is.” It was another page in the saga of Sachin Tendulkar.
Pakistan: 273 for 7
wickets (50 overs)
India: 276 for 4 wickets
(45.4 overs)
(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted
on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).
Follow his blogs:
Indra Vikram
Singh’s books are available at attractive prices on Amazon:
The Big Book of
World Cup Cricket 1975-2011
Published
in India by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-4-3
Crowning Glory
Published
by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-6-7
Don’s Century
Published
in India by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-5-0
A Maharaja’s Turf
Published
in India by Sporting Links
ISBN
978-81-901668-3-6
Indra
Vikram Singh’s forthcoming books:
Indian
Spring, on India’s triumph in the cricket World Cup 2011
Wonder Down Under, special souvenir on the cricket World Cup 2015
