Restraining the urge of doing something which you are really good at requires a special effort. And that’s what he did that day.
2 Jan, 2004
Team India was on the tour to Australia, it was 4th test at Sydney Cricket ground. Series was level at one each. By far it had been India’s best performance down under. But, Sachin Tendulkar has had a very quiet series till then, with scores of 0, 1, 37, 0, and 44 in his previous five outings. There was criticism all over the media especially on the mode of his dismissal. On most of the occasions he was dismissed going for the expensive cover drive and nicking the ball behind the wickets.
India had elected to bat first. Tendulkar came out to bat on the fall of Aakash Chopra’s wicket in the second session. Going by the patterns of Tendulkar’s dismissal in the series, the Aussie bowlers started feeding him deliveries in the cordon of uncertainty. The slip cordon was packed hoping that he might attempt his favourite cover drive and nick one in the process. But Tendulkar had other ideas. The master kept leaving the deliveries outside the off stump and forced the bowlers to bowl at him. As soon as they bowled on the stumps, the magical wrist work from Tendulkar flicked the ball towards the mid-on and square leg.
Soon we all realised that we were witnessing something extraordinary. A man who had played hundreds of scintillating, breath-taking drives through the covers suddenly began to play as if he never knew how to stroke one. It seemed that he was in a different frame of mind, so determined and really focused to not repeat the mistake that he did in previous three tests. Tendulkar faced 208 deliveries to reach his hundred which was studded with 16 boundaries. 74% of the runs came through the on side. Not for once he played any false shot.
By the time India declared their innings on the third day, Tendulkar was unbeaten on 241 runs. The exhibition lasted for 10 hours with Tendulkar facing a mammoth count of 436 balls. It was sheer grit, determination and patience from the master. Even after 14 years of his cricketing career he had the courage to redefine his style of batting. As always he let his bat do the talking and answered all his critics with this marvellous innings.
There is no other word to describe this innings of his but Genius. It was a remarkable effort from the great man. This knock was a prime example of master’s willpower, temperament and ability to evolve his game.