Tendulkar's finest ODI hundred

Written by Jaideep Varma

Sunday, 02 March 2008

Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 117 on Sunday is the most important ODI hundred of his career. In one fell swoop, he overturned a lot of things that have sadly got associated with a batsman of his caliber. This was his first ODI hundred in Australia, his first big contribution in a final since Sharjah 1998, his first big innings chasing for about 30 matches – and finally, a very rare occasion where he stayed right till the end and finished the job.

It can be argued that his twin centuries in Sharjah 1998 were better qualitatively, but given that this was outside the subcontinent, and given the context of this hard-fought Australian summer of cricket, this innings would be my pick for his finest. He played absolutely brilliantly – solidly assuring his teammates in the pavilion that he wanted to anchor a win, avoiding the careless flash that has characterized most of innings under pressure since quite a while (especially chasing) and yet managing to play some stunning and innovative shots without compromising their percentage value. This is what this man is capable of doing on a consistent basis, if he just puts his mind to it.

His first ODI hundred in Australia is not “correcting an aberration” as commentators (like Harsha Bhogle and Ravi Shastri) put it, but actually against the grain. Against host countries, he still has just one ODI century each in South Africa and England, and none in West Indies and New Zealand. This is a significant fact that is glossed over, but actually takes the sheen of the awesome-sounding figure of 42 ODI hundreds overall.

Very few people have criticized him over the years; perhaps they know it brings down their market value if they mess with his reputation. However, Sanjay Manjrekar (in my opinion, one of the clearest thinkers in the game) has, several times (like this, for instance) and he has got under Tendulkar’s skin often. His latest piece, just a few days before the final, annoyed Tendulkar immensely. If that led him to play an innings like this, well, all we can say is – bring more on, Mr Manjrekar.

On this website too, we have dwelt enough on this, and what the reasons could be, and we have been dubbed anti-Sachin for it (as can be seen in the mostly logic-challenged emotional responses, passing off for comments). But his innings today actually underlines a lot of the points made over the last eighteen months. Does Sachin Tendulkar get over-extended in any way, when he plays an innings like this under pressure? Obviously not - not for the talent he has, and the stature he occupies in contemporary cricket. So, why have such innings, requiring a sense of occasion and responsibility, eluded the most gifted player of the last 3 generations at least?

Could it be the absence from this team of his illustrious and gifted peers – Ganguly and Dravid (and Sehwag too, from the current eleven)? Suddenly, Dhoni’s youth-oriented team has just him as the sole elder-statesman role model and that seems to have brought a pre-2000 approach back into his game. Suddenly, he is taking on a responsibility in ODIs that he had borne for most of the 1990s, that of being India’s only consistent match-winner (well, relatively speaking, anyway). It’s almost as if the presence of Ganguly, Dravid and Sehwag (and Laxman, in tests) and their superior match-winning performances (since 2001, when they counted) had him conscious of his obviously superior talent that somehow did not translate to a more exalted status than the other 4, when it really mattered to the team (like the significant test victories since Kolkata 2001, and there have been many). Perhaps it made him over-anxious to compensate in other ways – to be statistically superior, or play spectacular cricket and have “oohs and aahs” emanate from cricket grounds everywhere.

The hype around him, of course, did not reflect his lack of match-winning propensity (like advertising testimony fees for example – Tendulkar has been top of the heap for a long, long time). But perhaps Tendulkar has felt an ache about this, and no amount of stats-related achievements, or endorsement-led pay-cheques can give him the same level of satisfaction as taking his team to famous victories. That changed today, and one just hopes this marks a new phase for this great player – one where the team benefits the most from his genius.

His status in the team is not likely to change – Ganguly and Dravid are not going to come back to ODI cricket, and Dhoni’s young team has done enough to convince everyone that Indian cricket is in good hands. Let’s hope Sachin Tendulkar’s future contributions underline that even more.

(Click here to know more about Jaideep)

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