The diminutive batting genius must have enjoyed his cricket yesterday as he unfolded a tremendous all-round performance.
The 'crowd-friendly' wickets have proved beyond doubt that there was hardly anything for bowlers in the tracks. Save for one all the four matches have produced runs in the vicinity of 300. After all, people pay hard-earned money and sweat all day to enjoy fireworks from the batsman. Tall total and a healthy chase are all that matter in the one-day variety.
It was very intriguing to hear Azhar and Steve were on the same frequency. This match was played on the fourth pitch and judging from the previous matches it was only logical that first use of the track could be helpful. At the end of the day it appeared to be a good toss to lose from Azhar's point of view. Each of them wanted the other side to bat first. But why? Sri Lanka put New Zealand in to bat because they wanted to chase and were sure of their bowling strength and the weakness of the Kiwis against world class spinners.
Steve Waugh did not have that potential at his command, yet he decided to put a very strong batting line up in sunny conditions to bat first. His front-line bowlers strayed too much and after their initial successes were put in proper place by master batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Fleming and Kasprowicz accounted for 116 runs in 19 overs out of India's huge total of 307 for eight.
Two quick wickets must have given the Aussies a genuine hope of contending the Indian run-machine under control.
But Sachin had nobler ideas. With an unsure Rahul Dravid on the other end he set upon the task of rebuilding the Indian innings from a scratch. Saurav was never quick in turning around in the initial stages of his innings and he could very well leave the ball. But it must be said in all fairness that the agile wicketkeeper Gilchrist took a brilliant diving catch from almost the leg slip position. Azhar played across but the decision was a bit too much for him.
Tendulkar suddenly opened up and played shots in the covers that could only come from his bat only. Even within the first 15 overs he did not take to the skies but sent the Aussies on errands all around the wicket. His innings was like a master craftsman executing an exquisite piece of showpiece. His 79-ball century, 19th of his short career as a cricketer, will be remembered by the capacity crowd and millions of TV viewers across the world for a long time to come. Rahul Dravid came out of his shell gradually and rendered Sachin unqualified support to the extent that he lost his wicket on wrong call from the little master.
Ajay Jadeja, a very popular figure in the local cricketing circles had also his share of success and, with Sachin, took India to an invincible position. Scoring 300 plus runs under lights was a difficult task on any wicket.
During the last few days we had seen some very rough decisions from the umpires, specially Steve Bucknor of the West Indies. A very respected figure here in Bangladesh, Bucknor's decision against MacMillan on Monday and a couple of lbws yesterday could be rightly contested. One had the feeling that Steve Bucknor is not the same that one knew him to be in 1992. His habit of raising the fingers so late gave the creeps to the bowler and made the batsman look like a fool.
The Australians tried to make the match an even contest but irresponsible batting by Mark, Ricky and Steve took the wind out of the sail.
Here again the genius of Tendulkar came into play. When their regulars clobbered, Sachin did the most wise thing by bowling his slow spinners right on the spot. It was not easy to take liberty and whoever tried that, perished.
Once again he proved that cricket was a thinking game.