Mumbai: A Sachin Tendulkar century, in the eye of his fans,
surpasses almost every other experience the world has to offer. The effect is
rather more pronounced when it’s scored before his home crowd at the Wankhede
Stadium. And at what time the manner of its achievement is as exquisite and
chanceless as it was on Friday, it’s time to start thanking one’s stars for
being in the surrounding area of the maestro while he’s at work in the middle.
Tendulkar’s unconquered 140 against Rest of India failed to
give Mumbai the all-important first innings lead in the Irani Cup, but it
showcased the best of his batting, skills upon which repeated, recent failures
had cast a miasma of doubt. Was he too old? Had the predictable drag of time
arrested his apparently ceaseless flight into an even grander greatness? Agreed
the bowling on display – although consisting of four players with Test
experience – be not of the highest quality. That took little away from
Tendulkar, who batted like he hadn’t in a long time, claiming ownership of two additional
records on the way.
Super show
He joined Sunil Gavaskar on 81 first class centuries – the
most by an Indian – and crossed 25,000 first class runs. It was a knock of
special radiance, studded with all that he has come to be known for: off-side
punches; the cheeky row sweep; the adventurous upper cut; a pair of
dead-straight drives; the freedom that marked the first half of his long
career.
Alongside this exhilarating performance, Rest of India went
diligently about their business: removing batsmen from the other end in
addition to dismissing the hosts for 409 as Tendulkar remained intractable. The
visitors lost a careless Shikhar Dhawan in the five overs they had to contend
with before close, at which point they stood 144 ahead, nine wickets in hand,
two more days to go. Mumbai’s tardiness allowed for just 79 overs to be bowled
on Friday, in spite of play being extended by thirty minutes.
Well begun
Mumbai resumed on 155/2 in the dawn and night watchman Shardul
Thakur edged Ishwar Pandey to gully on the first ball he faced. Tendulkar
walked in and drove Pandey - second ball - crisply through cover for four. S.
Sreesanth, balanced in the vicinity of 130 kmph, seamed into Tendulkar’s pads,
beating him, peppering him with short balls, eliciting an expected response
from the local hero: a backfoot drive on the up, all the way through wrap andto the fence.
My focus is always on cricket: Sreesanth
Mumbai raced in the first session, adding 155 for the loss
of Thakur, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma for a duck. Rahane was unlucky. He
had be untroubled all his innings, slog-sweeping Pragyan Ojha for six to enter
the 80s, before an umpiring error broken his stay. Rahane tried sweeping
Harbhajan Singh from outside off stump, inside-edged on to his pad and was
adjudged leg-before intended for a well-made 83, having added 73 with his
senior partner.
More records
Tendulkar was severe on Ojha. He loft him inside out for a
six and followed it with a four on the leg side. Another six, this time a
slog-sweep next to the turbaned off-spinner, bring him his fifty. Harbhajan
picked up his second scalp – Rohit for a 12-ball blob – when the batsman
botched a sweep into Ojha’s hands at bottomless mid wicket.
Abhishek Nayar (1) edged Abhimanyu Mithun to slip
immediately after lunch allowing another southpaw, Ankeet Chavan, to spend time
with Tendulkar. The two added 103 for the seventh wicket – Chavan drawing on
the imposing presence of his ally to help himself to 49.
The holder of several world records then came into his own.
He paddle-swept Harbhajan, laced Ojha through cover, before successive fours rotten
the latter took him into the nineties. Tendulkar survived a third-umpire
mediated stumping call on the next liberation and yet another screaming
off-drive against Sreesanth saw him on 99.
The entire gathering – now number at least a couple of
thousand - rose collectively as Tendulkar reached his 81st first class century
with a solitary and crossed 25,000 runs with a masterly off-drive to a
Sreesanth half-volley. The marker netted, Tendulkar cut loose with a skin
complaint of hits, his disdain equally distributed crossways Rest's bowling
spectrum.
The end began with Chavan’s dismissal - caught behind off
Mithun – and the remaining were swept away in a hurry, Mumbai conceding a
deficit of 117. This still left time for Rest of India to face five overs, in
the first of which icebreaker Shikhar Dhawan’s pull was plucked out of nowhere
by a diving Nayar at shord mid-wicket. Rest ended on 27/1, 144 runs ahead, and
with the reassuring thought that, come what may, they already have first
innings lead – an almost invincible deal in Indian domestic cricket.
Rest of India: 526 (1st Innings)
Mumbai: 409 (1st Innings)
Wasim Jaffer c Ambati Rayudu b S Sreesanth 80 (126)
Aditya Tare c Manoj Tiwary b Ishwar Pandey 6 (9)
Ajinkya Rahane lbw b Harbhajan Singh 83 (183)
Shardul Thakur c Manoj Tiwary b Ishwar Pandey 4 (16)
Sachin Tendulkar not out 140 (197)
Rohit Sharma c Pragyan Ojha b H Singh 0 (12)
Abhishek Nayar c Murali Vijay b Abhimanyu Mithun 1 (12)
Ankeet Chavan c Wriddhiman Saha b Abhimanyu Mithun 49 (89)
Dhawal Kulkarni c Murali Vijay b Pragyan Ojha 10 (38)
Javed Khan c Abhimanyu Mithun b Harbhajan Singh 8 (15)
Vishal Vishwas Dabholkar lbw b Pragyan Ojha 0 (1)
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