First Century in Australia
The little master blaster has added another achievement in his list of never ending list of accomplishments. Sachin Tendulkar scored his first century in Australia as he led India to a six-wicket victory in the first game of the three-match CB Series finals.
Tendulkar has been in wonderful form in the 2007 - 2008 season. It is not just the runs that he is scoring, but the style and class with which he is playing is reminiscent of the Tendulkar of old. This innings was no different as Tendulkar effortlessly hit boundaries on both sides of the wicket. With Tendulkar in such ominous form, the Indian team looks like a completely different outfit.
Tendulkar opened the innings and scored an unbeaten 117 off just 120 deliveries. He hit ten majestic boundaries in his innings. Tendulkar being in such prime form is a treat for cricket fans all over the world!
Tendulkar has been in wonderful form in the 2007 - 2008 season. It is not just the runs that he is scoring, but the style and class with which he is playing is reminiscent of the Tendulkar of old. This innings was no different as Tendulkar effortlessly hit boundaries on both sides of the wicket. With Tendulkar in such ominous form, the Indian team looks like a completely different outfit.
Tendulkar opened the innings and scored an unbeaten 117 off just 120 deliveries. He hit ten majestic boundaries in his innings. Tendulkar being in such prime form is a treat for cricket fans all over the world!
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It certainly is NAzhar.
Theres not many better sights in cricket than Sachin in full flow.
How many times has this man shut his critics up? The most recent criticism was against his ODI batting when chasing totals and he replied to that in the best way possible - an unbeaten 100 to guide India home.
Long live Sachin. I hope he plays on and on and on :-)
There were a sequence of things happening there which all added up behing Sachin's century.
beginning with Dhoni's gentle reminder/admonition to the "seniors" to fulfill their responsibility and their sincere acceptance (Sehwag sits out is another indication of strong leadership); Dhoni's insistance on maintaining equinamity and enjoying and constant beseechment to keep the faith, youthful players stepping up unburdened by the complications of past...all were significant backdrop to Sachin's performance. He simply showed to those in his team, who may care to pick up tips, how it is done, from beginning to end.
Australia is caught in the flux of cycles....their transition isn't complete or perfected yet even though their current state is still enough for all-comers. This tour is showing that Ricky Ponting is facing his first major Borderian or Steve Waughian challenge in his captaincy....that of sustaining the winning momentum of a team in inevitable transition.
Australia might well come back to win both, but teams who have a chance to play them in the immediate future, and are capable can explore the loose links before they gell.
Q, are we seeing a situation where there aren't any 30+ good players who can maintain the same standards for Australia? It has been the policy of Oz to mature players like precious wine, especially in the shade of extremely talented players who have graced them in the past two decades.
Thats true SB, I think I mentioned on your blog or maybe somewhere else that champion teams are those who have their core players at the peak, i.e. around the 30 mark - we see that bunch of Aussies retiring. For Pakistan that era was the 90s when Wasim, Waqar, Saeed, Inzamam, Malik, Ijaz, Moin, Rashid, Saqlain were all peaking and playing together.
For India the era has been the last 3-4 years for their test team and looks to continue for another 2.
The Aussies will find it tougher and tougher to hold on to their #1 position as years go by.
Sachin's first one day century in Australia is really a memorable moment, and probably it might be Sachin's last tour of Australia makes it all the more important.
I came across few other golden moments in 60 year cricketing relationship between India and Australia at http://www.octanmen.com/articleDetail.aspx?Id=106 and wanted to share them with all the cricket enthusiasts.
Enjoy reading