cricket fans

Tendulkar’s 50th ton: An essay in patience

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Sachin Tendulkar scores yet another century.

What’s the big deal?

Oh, it’s his 50th one. Is this the best of the lot?

Not by a long shot.

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Indian cricket: Tendulkar seeks the next level, Gambhir bats for Kirsten

 

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It’s true that geniuses and champions are never satisfied with what they have achieved.

They are always thinking of the next level, the next summit, the next goal.

They dare not rest on their laurels.

There’s always the next mountain to climb, the next peak to scale.

And so it is with Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

14,000 Test runs in test cricket, over 30,000 international runs and 49 Test centuries to his credit.

Yet, the gentleman talks about yearning to reach the next level.

"I’m really focusing now on how I can get to the next level as a batsman. How can I get even more competitive? How can I get even more consistent? How can I get better?"

What else does Tendukar have to say in his interview to The Guardian?

On dreaming, Tendulkar has this to say:

"Life would be flat without dreams. I think it’s really important to dream — and then to chase those dreams.”

2010 has been Tendulkar’s best year in recent times, reminding us of the young Sachin, unburdened by the cares of the team and varied niggling injuries.

Tendulkar is also back at the top of the ICC rankings, the first time since 2002.

It is said that all’s well with the world when Tendulkar is in full flow and so it is for cricket fans.

The full interview will be published this Saturday.

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Very, Very Special Laxman does an encore

On Laxman

Cometh the hour, cometh the man!

How trite it sounds, how repetitive , how boring.

But there is nothing trite about VVS Laxman,nothing monotonous and his sublime touch has cricket fans transfixed and spellbound.

He has always seemed the bridesmaid,never the bride.

Even though he has that very,very special 281 and that blinding, blistering 167, both against the Aussies, one at Kolkata, the other at Sydney in 2000 when he opened the innings at the outset of his career.The 167 denotes a period when the selectors persisted and insisted that he take up the opener’s role.

This at a time when although the Indian team had a multitude of contenders to the middle order , finding a regular opener to see off the new ball was an exercise in futility. Laxman, however, put his foot down and signaled his intention to stake a place in the middle or not play at all. For a lesser light it would have meant a premature eclipse to a budding career, but neither Laxman nor his claim to greatness could be denied, would be denied.

The 2001 home series against the Aussies cemented his place in the pantheon of cricketing greats. Laxman will always be identified by that defining, unbelievable, edifying knock against an Aussie side that seemed nigh invincible.

Steve Waugh’s kangaroos were made to bleed from a thousand cuts by a cavalier Laxman; the Eden loss also ended the Australian team’s run of sixteen victories on the trot. Interestingly, Australia’s world record of sixteen consecutive victories , was ended by India twice over. There really is something about an Aussie-India series; it brings out the best and sometimes the worst in both sides. A rivalry to match and perhaps surpass the Ashes.

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