Different Strokes...

As I write this blog, India is struggling in Guwahati, and yet I am sitting in front of a computer multi tasking between my office and personal work. Call it responsibility or 'i dont care about them any more' attitude this has been the way i have been watching cricket for the last few years. A glimpse here or there, while the match is going on, and checking out the highlights if the match is good enough.
Even, the 175 two days back was watched now and then in office, and I only caught the magic in the highlights package and Youtube. May be I have reached the saturation point?

I dont think so, bcos i wouldnt be writing a cricket blog then!!!!!

But there used to be a time, when I used to watch every match, follow every ball, and keep tab of the records, the score, so much so that I could recall even the most trivial facts about the match.

And a Tendulkar century would be watched without commentary live(sentiment!) with the TV on mute, watched again in the highlights package, and also when the match is telecast again as a whole, so much so that we could actually, tell his scoring pattern and the wagon wheel better than the statistician. And, some stroke will always be the first to come to my mind when I talk about a particular Tendulkar century or innings...If I say 98 against Pakistan, I am sure you would be replaying the upper cut of Shoaib( not to his face, but the ball, though that would have been good too!!!!). So here are some stand out strokes which I get in my mind.....

143 Sharjah '98

The first thing coming to mind is Sachin standing in the middle of the pitch alone, with sand storm blowing all around him nonchalantly looking the other way when all others were scurrying for cover, but this is about his stroke of the night...

The straight six of a potential Steve Waugh yorker was an out of the world shot, but my shots of the night were this.....

1.Short fine leg up Deep square leg in position...Tom Moody bowling...he is just been intentionally edged to through 2nd slip for four...So what does he do he bowls a slightly fuller but not drivable length( not drivable for Tendulkar either!!!!) in cutter....but Sachin moves forward two steps in a flash, the ball is still not drivable and outside off stump, Sach puts his front leg across and waits for the ball to come to his body and flicks( it was not even a flick just a little push) into the minutest gaps for four... Check Moody's face on Youtube after that shot....

2. Steve Waugh positions a short point in Mark Waugh...he stations himself at point and there is just a pencil thin gap....Tendulkar cuts the next ball exactly in that gap right between the diving brothers...so much so that it eludes both of them....

3. I will just mention the inside out cover drive he plays after the target for the finals is achieved, and let Hesh explain it better....I wouldnt want to spoil his party!!!

155 Chennai '98

Tendulkar is tired...the lead is substantial, Aussies waiting for the declaration, Azharuddin is charging the bowlers at the other end, the field is defensive, and Taylor brings in Mark Waugh bowling off spinners....

First ball is patted back straight to the bowler, the second is cut through 3rd Man for 4.... Taylor brings in a short third man, the next ball , a perfect off spinner is just cut finer left of the short third man for 4....Taylor brings the third man finer, Waugh bowls the same delivery, there was not even any movement from Sachin the ball is late cut for 4.....Taylor gives up and brings himself at slip.....Absolute Magic!!!!!


139 vs Aus-

This was the match in which Tendulkar crossed 10,000 runs in one day cricket...Many shots stand out but the best was this....

The pitch is two paced, and by the 30 over mark there is uneven bounce with many balls keeping low...Steve Waugh brings in Damien Martyn, bowling medium pacers....He is able to swing the ball...and the odd one is keeping low....He pitches one middle and off short of good length and the ball shoots up low zooming towards the off stump...but by then Tendulkar was in the form of his life...( literally he was in 143 mood!!!!) he doesnt even blink...uses just half his bat and flicks ( yes, flicks ) the ball through third slip!.... for four... This shot will test any good writer his vocabulary... I would try to do justice...Imagine a typical Azhar flick through mid wicket and square leg...slice the shot down to half and hold the image....imagine the ball coming down at off stump and play that image again...the ball is hit with the edge of the bat and the ball goes through 3rd slip for four...Gilly had moved down to the middle stump, and Martyn did a classic double take, but Tendulkar was looking exactly at where the ball went!!!!

76- Mumbai 2001

Its a signature straight drive but whats special about this? India in a spot of bother, Fleming suddenly reversing the ball, troubling Mongia with some good balls, Gilly standing up so that the batsman couldnt go out of the crease to counter the swing, and Tendulkar kept quiet by Mcgrath for quite sometime. Mongia somehow gets a single and Sachin on strike. The next ball, reverse swinging into the stumps that Waqar would have been proud of is on driven with barely minimum movement between the non striker and the stumps, but this is not the shot I am talking about.
Fleming has a conversation with Waugh and a 3rd slip springs in, Fleming runs bowls the ball again fully, again reverse swinging but swinging out, Sachin moves the same way, bat comes down for the on drive which if completed would have been going to the third slip positioned, but at the last moment, nothing special opens the blade little bit and drives it between the umpire and mid off...and the follow through is magic....he does not look at the ball, he looks at his feet and how its positioned, plays a shadow shot of how he did that even as the ball is reaching the boundary...Genius knows no boundaries!!!!!!

136-Chennai

Mongia going beserk, hit Waqar for a six, Tendulkar in a lot of pain, every single block puts pressure on his back and brings grimace to his face and everybody who is watching him. Wasim bring himself and Mongia hammers him straight over the head for 4, plays the rest of the balls and takes a single of the 5th ball giving Sach just one ball to face. Watching this on television, I heave a sigh of relief, not that I didnt believe in Sachin handling Akram...but its always better to be safe than be sorry.... but back of my mind, the ball Akram is going to bowl was creeping its way through the mind...good length, shaping up to be a half volley swinging away, a guy with back pain couldnt reach out and will snick it to the waiting catchers behind the wicket, I was practically yelling, leave the ball leave the ball every second when Akram was running into the crease. The ball is exactly the same, I hold my breath in fear, but Tendulkar shows the difference between ordinary and genius, a little walk as the ball is released...the half volley materialises out of nowhere, and a half cover drive thats it..it was just that...the drive stopped when the pressure would have come on his back...and that was enough for the ball to race to the boundary!!!!!

13 vs Kenya 2003

Ya you read it right...13 it was...Ganguly scored a century and Yuvi 50, but the shot of the night was a magical back foot straight drive, so ramrod that it missed the off stump by a whisker.....I generally dont show any emotions when Tendulkar is starting early(another sentiment!!!) but I remember myself blabbering with astonishment at the shot while a small part in my brain was reminding me of the sentiment, admonishing me for my outburst...but that shot was worth it!!!!!

41 vs Pakistan 1998

The famous '314' match where Ganguly scored a century again, but Tendulkar started it all....Pakistan had a peculiar ploy of bowling there spinners around the wicket to Tendulkar, and had some success too, Afridi had bowled him around the legs....India had a good start, 50 runs in 6 overs with Tendulkar hitting Azhar Mehmood for 4 continous fours the previous over, and Saqlain is introduced around the wicket with a slip in place. Sitting in my living room, I was straining in my seat to see whether the ball was an off spinner or a doosra and check the turn, but Tendulkar didnt give me a chance because he had danced down the track and had picked it as it bounced of the pitch giving it no chance to turn, and hit it over the bowler's head for six!!!!


65 Calcutta 96

Heart breaking yes...but we only knew the menace in the pitch once Tendulkar departed such was the mastery of the innings.... One shot still stands out in my mind.... A squarish deep mid wicket...who could cover both square and straight a short mid wicket to counter the flick...and a mid on to counter the straight drive with Dharmasena turning the ball(would you believe it???) but he is accurate in his spot, and Manjrekar keeps picking the short mid wicket and the mid on or if he beats them both the deep fielder. Tendulkar shows him how its done....

A one and half step down the track...and a half flick half drive, eludes the diving short mid wicket fielder, mid on tries to cut but the ball isnt straight enough for him and is also picking up speed so he gives chase, the deep runs to his left to cover but couldnt do as the ball isnt square enough for him to cut...the two guys are just two feet from the ball when it crosses the boundary ropes!!!!

104 Benoni '97

Another pressure match, another match where we needed both run rate and a win against Zimbabwe, Sachin scoring a century on a difficult wicket to set the pace for Jadeja and Robin Singh to finish it off. Streak bowling a good length delivery bouncing just more than expected... Sachin starts his favorite back foot cover drive...realises the ball is bouncing more and swinging away, just changes the position of the bat...one second the bat is coming down vertically the next second its horizontal but the arm is coming down the same way, cuts it over point for boundary.... for a flat one bounce four!!!

94 vs Rest of India

I watched this match live at Chepauk, and barely 5 minutes after I entered the stadium, the second wicket fell with Sachin walking to bat against virtually the Indian team minus him. I was sitting exactly square of the wicket, not the best place to watch cricket at Chepauk but definitely the cheapest, but was able to get a good look at the lengths bowled, and one particular moment stands out...Harbhajan bowling to Tendulkar was joking with him after one quiet over... Didnt know what transpired, but the next Harbhajan over first ball was hammered for four, courtesy a flat batted sweep through the vacant square leg region. Ganguly, moves the short fine leg to square leg and moves a guy to deep fine leg..but sort of squarish. The next ball is paddled fine through the vacant fine leg for four. Ganguly, has a brain wave again, brings the fine leg back close, moves the deep square leg again...pulls back the mid wicket deep, puts a fielder close right in between those two fielders( i dont know what to call that position but it was blocking my view of Sachin perfectly so i had to move!!!!) Harbhajan bowls, Sachin waits for the ball to turn, and plays a slog sweep but over fine leg to the right of deep square leg with that noname position fielder watching with his mouth open!!! Harbhajan wasnt smiling anymore!!!!


P.S: I have left some of the more sensational shots for Hesh to describe, as he is better in this than me, but if he does miss any half volley..watch out for my second innings on this topic!!!!!