The inventor

Shane Warne's nightmares featuring Sachin Tendulkar, it is reasonable to assume, have their origins in one stroke played on the fourth day of the first Test in Chennai in 1998. Australia had taken a 71-run first-innings lead and Warne the wicket of Tendulkar for 4. Tendulkar came in to bat at number four with India only a handful ahead and Warne switched to round-the-wicket as the decibel level rose to a crescendo. The pitch, scorched and scuffed, was an ally; mid-on, midwicket, square leg and fine leg in place, Warne fizzed in, aiming at the rough around the leg stump. This was the battle that was going to decide the Test, and perhaps the series.

Unlike in the first innings, when Tendulkar had given Warne the charge from the first ball, he allowed himself a few deliveries to size up the situation and pushed around for few singles, before pulling out a stroke that irrevocably altered the equation. Warne flighted one wide outside leg, Tendulkar danced down the pitch but was still a couple of feet away from the ball when he essayed a slog-sweep, right knee half bent and bat creating a trajectory not found in coaching manuals. The ball squirted just over the outstretched hands of the midwicket fielder and into the fence. Tendulkar had taken the risk and had triumphed. From then on, the leash was in Tendulkar's hand and the collar around Warne's neck. India scored 318 off 73 overs, Tendulkar hit up 155 with four sixes and 14 fours and Warne went for 122 runs for one wicket.

Warne had a plan for Tendulkar. Tendulkar not only foiled it, he made it look asinine. It captured the very essence of Tendulkar's genius.

Tendulkar's greatness does not merely lie in his batting average - fine as it is - but in his magnificent adaptability; his ability to tailor his game to different conditions, different bowlers and different lines of attack; his breathtaking imagination and audacity, his faith in his ability to execute his plan. He is easily the most classically orthodox batsman among the contemporary greats - Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Steve and Mark Waugh - but his infinite capacity to invent the unorthodox when the situation demands it makes him not only the most complete batsman of his era but also the most versatile.

Shaun Pollock and Co. learnt this the hard way on the first day of the opening Test against India in November. Sent in to bat on a fastish Bloemfontein pitch, India, not to anyone's surprise, were four down in quick time. Tendulkar was joined by Test debutant Virender Sehwag with Deep Dasgupta, another rookie, to follow next. One more wicket, and a sub-100 total looked a distinct possibility. But within half an hour of spectacular batting, Tendulkar averted that ignominy. He was on three when he lost Sourav Ganguly at 68 in the 20th over. The next seven overs fetched 55 runs - 40 of which came from Tendulkar's bat. But it was not only a matter of how many he scored and how fast, but also how he scored them. Only half of his eight boundaries came from the middle of the bat: the rest were edges, each played with the assurance of a straight drive and placed impeccably in the arc over slip and gully. By lunch, India hadn't moved out of the danger zone, but Tendulkar had served South Africa notice.

India finished the day at 372 for 7 and, by the time Tendulkar was out to a limp pull, he had notched up another 155, with a six and 23 fours - 11 of which were slashes and uppercuts. The South Africans had thought out a strategy for him: cut off his drives and flicks and post a patrol for the hook. But Tendulkar, as only he can, had made his road. It wasn't pretty, but it was pretty amazing.

Only two Tests later, English captain Nasser Hussain tried to stifle him with eight men on the off in Ahmedabad. Tendulkar went on a two-hour plus stretch of self-denial, which fetched him only 37 runs off 114 balls. The pre-lunch penance gave way to post-lunch punishment. One Matthew Hoggard over summed it all up. Tendulkar picked the second ball of the over from outside the offstump and flicked it to the left of mid-on for four. A repeat performance in the fifth ball saw Hussain making a hasty revision by posting a midwicket. On the last ball of the over Tendulkar moved further inside the line and, creating more angle with a sharper twist of his wrists, tucked it behind square for three. He reached his century with an arrogant pull off Hoggard. The last 64 runs had come off 71 balls, nearly 70 per cent of these on the leg side.

The wagon wheels of these two innings told a story: Tendulkar doesn't have a favourite stroke. He creates them on demand.