Monday, February 25, 2002 Watching Sachin Tendulkar bat in Test cricket these days is like watching a man who knows his destiny and who will let nothing distract him from realising it. At Nagpur on Saturday he reached his 28th Test century - one more than Allan Border and one short of Don Bradman - with a workmanlike clip to square leg off Travis Friend, acknowledged the cheers in a businesslike manner, and buckled back down to the task in hand. Next stop: 200.

He fell 24 short, succumbing once again to a left-arm spinner bowling wide of leg stump. The moment he hit the shot - an attempted inside-out lofted drive that caught the outer half of his bat - he knew he had done himself in, and halfway down the pitch he let out a shrill cry, berating himself. Yes, 176 would have pleased most people. But for Tendulkar, to borrow a punchline from Pepsi, "Yeh Dil Maange More" (the heart asks for more).

Sachin's Nagpur knock took his average past Ken Barrington's 58.67 and after 90 Tests, Tendulkar's stands at 58.87, behind only Eddie Paynter (59.23), Herbert Sutcliffe (60.73), George Headley (60.83), Graeme Pollock (60.97) and The Don (99.94). Of these, only Bradman and Sutcliffe played more than 50 Tests: Pollock played only 23, Headley 22 and Paynter 20. In his last 32 matches, Tendulkar has 3489 runs with 13 centuries at an average of 69.78. Bradman isn't a target for Tendulkar, but he has removed the only obstacle that could have prevented him from being No. 2. That obstacle was his own impetuosity.

For much of his early career, Tendulkar batted with joyous abandon. No bowler was good enough to be respected, no conditions were insurmountable, and no ball was unhittable. He gave us some thrilling exhibitions of uninhibited strokeplay: 59 on a seaming track at Sialkot in his second Test when only 16, 114 on a lightning-fast pitch at Perth, 169 against South Africa at Cape Town. But he was also a batsman who was easily bored, prone to give it away when the world was at his feet. For his first 50 Tests, that average hovered around the 50 mark, enough to guarantee him greatness, but the world knew he could do better. His 11 centuries contained no doubles, and only four scores above 150. He was selling his genius cheap.

The Tendulkar you see today is hell-bent on maximising that genius. Being the hunter is no longer good enough for him, he is willing to condescend to be the gatherer. The plan now does not preclude him from granting the odd session to the bowler, as long he is in command of the plot. The new Sachin gives fewer thrills to the spectators, but also fewer chances to the bowler.

He still plays every shot in the book, but he has perfected the percentages. His huge repertoire of dazzlingly attacking strokes has been complemented by the little nudge, the soft push, the smart clip and the cheeky paddle-sweep. Though it's less of a spectacle, the runs still come at a fair clip and with amazing consistency.

When the mood takes him or the situation demands, he still rewards you with snatches of audacious, untempered, inventive strokeplay. Sometimes it lasts a whole innings (155 against South Africa at Bloemfontein last November), sometimes a session (50 runs in 55 balls against England's packed off-side field at Ahmedabad earlier this year), and sometimes just a few moments - three boundaries off Shane Warne, two hit over the slips, one fine over leg slip at Chennai last year. But mostly you see a batsman who is at peace with himself and the world - a batsman who has achieved complete mastery over his craft.

Sambit Bal is editor of Wisden.com India and of Wisden Asia Cricket magazine. His column appears every Monday.

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