It'll take Tendulkar to triumph
Sriram Ranganathan
Whenever I think of the South African tour (Tests more than one-dayers,
personal preference), I always hope this will be Tendulkar's series. The
series where he finally settles the argument about whether he is indeed
great or just labeled so by his fans.
For years, more often than not, his fans have had to live with the
frustration of seeing the little master at the losing end of the matches he
has played in. How can this man be great when his team's performance is, at
best, mediocre? His individual brilliance not being in doubt, does Tendulkar
have it in him to lead us to a series victory in South Africa, the
performance of the rest of the team notwithstanding?
If the other guys back him up well, well and good, but if they don't, then we still win. Is that an
unfair expectation? Should Sachin Tendulkar be labeled great if he scores a
scintillating ton but his team loses? Once, no problem... twice, still no
problem... but almost always?
It seems unfair on the face of it, but then I look at the person from whom I
am expecting so much and it immediately seems to be not too much of an ask.
Tendulkar is a genius; he is one of the greatest to have graced the game,
compared by many with the great 'Don'. Is it too much for us to want
something special from him, something we never expect or hope for from the
others in the team, however good they might be?
Countless have been the brilliant innings he has played, ranging from his
hundred at Perth to his ton at Chennai against Pakistan. One of the main
features of most of his knocks have been - if the opposition has not been
Bangladesh, and if we are not playing at home, then India loses.
Wisden released its "most valuable knocks" list and the little master is not in its
top 100... is that possible? Is that correct? Fair? Does Tendulkar still
deserve the tag of "the greatest" that we in India confer upon him without a
second thought? Let's forget the 'Don' when we say this ... let's just say we
are talking about one of the greatest after the 'Don'?
Tendulkar is one of the few players in this team, others being Dravid and
possibly Laxman and Das, who have the game to score on the bouncier pitches
of South Africa. His record there might not be near the greatest but the
fact remains - he can do well there ... he has the game.
From the pull, cut, hook, driving on the up to straight bat defence, he has everything that is
needed on the South African pitches but all that will, for the Indian cause,
be of no avail unless we win. A Sachin hundred will just heat up the debate
and it is only a Sachin match-winner that will settle the issue and satisfy
his critics and fans alike.
The South Africans have a superb bowling attack and it needs a special
person to score consistently against them. If not Tendulkar then who? With
Nehra and Zaheer being fit (cross fingers) for the Tests, our bowling should
be pretty decent coupled with the fact that the South African batting is
similar to the Indian one in the sense that they are pretty strong on paper
but, errrrr.... "They are like a cycle stand, push one and the entire lot
falls down" ... pardon me, Mr. Sidhu.
In this series, the way I see it, victory will depend on the batsmen more
than the bowlers since both teams have good bowling attacks (the Indian
attack, though less potent on paper than the South African biggies, would be
helped a lot by the... you know ... cycle stand syndrome). Here is where the
stand-up fight will be between Tendulkar-Dravid-Laxman with
Ganguly-Ramesh-Das as back up against Kallis-Gibbs-Kirsten with Klusener and
party (they bat pretty deep unlike our team where the batting ends at 6).
Looking at this list, I can see only Tendulkar, and if the mood takes him(it doesn't often but when it does, my word, watch out world) then Laxman as
the match-winners from the Indian side. Considering Laxman's inconsistency
and his penchant of getting out after looking the most comfortable batsman
in the world, the onus is squarely on Sachin. He gets a big one and, more
importantly, stays to see out the storm, then India will win. If Sachin
fails to fire, then it will require one heck of an effort from the rest of
the players to get home dry.
This is not India, where Devang Gandhi can play off the back foot as easily
as he can eat "Roshagulla". This is South Africa, where if you are an Indian
batsman then you need to be "something special" to be a match-winner.
Dravid, one of the better performers of the last tour there (he was pretty
good, actually) is one who can give a lot of support but I somehow cannot
see him as the guy who runs away with the match. If anyone can do that then
Sachin can. We can depend on the Ramesh-Das-Ganguly- (cameo by some tail
ender) to get runs in India, not so in South Africa where at best they can
be a support cast. I hope, I pray and what more can I say - Go Sachin.
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