Sachin and Sourav hold a masterclass at Paarl
Krishnamachari Srikkanth - 26 October 2001
It was a vintage performance from Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly
that guided India to an easy win over Kenya in the land of vineyards,
Paarl, on Wednesday. The match was so one-sided that I could not help
but wonder how we had lost to the same Kenyans in Port Elizabeth
exactly a week before.
The fate of the match was sealed the moment Sourav won the toss. As
all of you would no doubt have observed, India seem to do rather well
when they bat first. It is only while chasing a decent total that we
turn into nervous wrecks. Our middle-order being inexperienced and
brittle doesn't help matters; they seem to run out of ideas the moment
Sachin and Sourav fail.
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On Wednesday though the two
master batsmen were determined to put the Kenyan bowling to the sword.
By the time Sourav was out after a world- record partnership for the
first wicket, the match was over as a contest. The two men had earlier
gone past the Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes century partnership
record.
I feel the two great Bajans would be happy to know that their record
has passed on to two batsmen as illustrious as Sourav and Sachin. The
Indian duo compare more than favourably with their West Indian
counterparts who dominated the one-day game in the eighties.
What I particularly like about Sachin and Sourav is the fact that both
are attacking batsmen of the highest order. This means the bowlers get
no respite. The men who bowled to Greenidge-Haynes were luckier
because they could at least trust Haynes to keep to the straight and
the narrow. The latter was content to push for the singles and twos
while Greenidge enjoyed himself. It is nowhere as predictable with
Sachin and Sourav at the crease - when one partner turns conservative
the other takes off while on other occasions both make merry. The fact
that they are a left- right combination only adds to the misery of the
hapless bowlers.
In the match at Paarl, it was Sachin who was the slightly more
dominant partner. He was looking good for many more when he hit a low
full toss from Thomas Ododyo straight into the waiting hands of mid-
off. No wonder he was furious.
Whenever I see the little champion I can't help but be reminded of the
16-year-old boy I met during India's 1989 tour of Pakistan. What
impressed me most then was his enormous self-belief. I was his captain
and remember jokingly remarking to him, "One day you will become
great. Don't forget your captain then." The little man has fulfilled
all my expectations and is now one of the all-time greats of the game.
Sourav too played a fine innings and went past a few landmarks on his
way to a hundred. The Indian skipper has adapted well to the task of
opening the innings and is now one of the finest one-day batsmen ever.
It was also good to see Virender Sehwag lay into the bowling in the
end. The Delhi lad has a great sense of timing. If he could play as
well against top teams like South Africa, India would be well-served.
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I don't want to set great store by
the performances of the bowlers against a very ordinary Kenyan batting
side. All I hope is that they turn in their best performance against
the South Africans in the final on Friday. Durban has the reputatioin
of being one the fastest pitches in the world and I hope that our
quicks especially will do well on the day. I can't, however, help
feeling that it would be best if the turn of our bowlers arrives in
the latter half of the day. As I said earlier India are a much better
side when they bat first and so my ideal scenario would be for the
Indians to win the toss and for Sachin and Sourav to hold centrestage
yet again.
It has been a a long and frustrating title-drought for us and we are
up against a formidable South African side. My gut feeling though is
that Friday would be the day when India taste championship victory at
long last.
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