
|

The return of the destroyer
© Getty Images
|
|
Rahul Dravid later referred to it as a Tendulkar special, and he's seen a
fair few in a decade of batting alongside him in international cricket. As
good as Tendulkar had been at Peshawar, it had been the innings of an
individual working his way back into form, rather than that of a man
determined to stamp his authority on proceedings. In front of a packed house at the Gaddafi Stadium, he rolled back the years with a wondrous effort that merged the virtues of experience, grit and panache in equal measure.
Mohammad Asif's first spell, in helpful conditions, was as good as any you
could hope to see, and you had to peer extra hard to make sure that it was
batsmen of the quality of Tendulkar and Dravid that were managing to
survive by the width of an outside edge. Asif was spot on with his line
and length, and yet Tendulkar's judgement, especially in choosing which
deliveries to leave, was so precise that it evoked as much awe as the
sublime cover-drive that he later played off Umar Gul.
At 14 for 2, there was no margin for error and it would be a gross
distortion of the truth to suggest that either Dravid or Tendulkar was in
complete control during their 72-run association. Their defiance,
interspersed with some gorgeous drives from Tendulkar, spanned 99 balls,
and set the stage for those that followed. Had Yuvraj Singh or Mahendra
Singh Dhoni walked out to face a ball that was seaming around
prodigiously, the match may well have taken a different direction. But by
seeing the shine off the white ball, not to mention the considerable
threat posed by Asif, Tendulkar and Dravid smoothed the path to victory.
There has been much innuendo about Tendulkar's batsmanship in recent
times, with many suggesting that the destroyer of old had given way to a
nudger and accumulator. After the initial circumspection however,
Tendulkar took out both bludgeon and rapier, driving, pulling and cutting
with immense power in an enthralling 105-run partnership with Yuvraj.
After Dravid's departure, Yuvraj's silken shotmaking helped him to play at
a pace that suited him, and the cascade of boundaries that followed was
all the more impressive for the fact that he was clearly struggling with
cramps.
It's one thing to set a game up, and quite another to finish it, and
Tendulkar's departure - caught off his old nemesis, Abdul Razzaq - left
the game wide open. When Dhoni walked out, 99 were needed at over a
run-a-ball. But nerves seem not to be a part of the Dhoni make-up. After
giving himself a few balls to settle down, Dhoni was in his element,
smacking Gul through extra-cover with the merest hint of a flourish. Two
straight swipes off Razzaq - one of them one-handed, and bearing his
audacious imprint - changed the complexion of the game, and a couple of
overs that saw the hapless Rana Naved-ul-Hasan carted for 29 pretty much
ended the match as a contest.
It was somehow appropriate that he applied the finishing touch with the
swivel-pull that was once the signature stroke of the inimitable Kapil
Dev, another with the ability to utterly transform a game regardless of
the situation. He was perfectly complemented by Yuvraj, who eased off once
Dhoni started belting the ball, knowing that at least one of them needed
to be there at the end.
The resounding victory, India's 11th successful run-chase on the trot, was
marred only by some dreadful catching in the early stages of the Pakistan
innings. Shoaib Malik, dropped by Gautam Gambhir at second slip when he'd
made just 12, went on to bludgeon 96 more, and poor S Sreesanth will look
back on a day when he might have had three or four wickets instead of
unflattering figures of 0 for 74. Compensation came in the shape of Irfan
Pathan, who used the conditions beautifully for another three-wicket haul.
This, though, was to be the batsmen's day out, and how fitting for India
that it was the oldest pro - perhaps second only to Vivian Richards in the
ODI batting pantheon - that led the way. Endulkar? More like the end of
such trash talk.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo