da stake casino： Sachin Tendulkar against all bowlers – India innings at Trinidad © CricInfo An army may well win a battle with pop-guns and catapults, buthow much less concerned the soldiers and their supporters wouldfeel if their tank – even one with ailing
Samanth Subramanian03-Jun-2002
Sachin Tendulkar against all bowlers – India innings at Trinidad
© CricInfoAn army may well win a battle with pop-guns and catapults, buthow much less concerned the soldiers and their supporters wouldfeel if their tank – even one with ailing treads – were rolledout to back up the infantry. Allegorically, Sachin Tendulkar putteam interests before his shoulder bursitis – tendon inflammation- and slipped into one-day colours for the deciding one-dayinternational at Port of Spain.As it turned out, Tendulkar scooped his 44th Man of the Matchaward by hitting a crucial 65 off 70 balls and guiding India to achallenging total of 260. But the innings itself could hardly betermed vintage Tendulkar, and his sore shoulder takes primeresponsibility for the nature of the knock.Tendulkar’s MRF-emblazoned bludgeon, treading the line between”bat” and “lethal weapon” ever so delicately, weighs almostthree pounds, making it difficult to hoist into position with apainful shoulder. Accordingly, his innings was almost completelydevoid of his pet horizontal-bat shots – the cut and the pull.Six runs came in front of point and six in the square-leg region,both areas that would have been thicker in run-density ifTendulkar had the freedom to unleash the full flourish of his baton his shots. Instead, Tendulkar adapted his game to move the batas little as possible. He glided 14 runs to third man and as manyas 18 to fine-leg. Eleven runs came in the mid-wicket region,mostly from effortless nudges off his legs.At the post-match press conference, Tendulkar admitted that hisshoulder hampered him. “There were some shots that I justcouldn’t play,” he said. “My shoulder is still a little stiff, alittle sore, but I’ve been told it’s nothing serious. It shouldbe okay in the next five-six days; it’s just an inflammation.”Under such circumstances, Tendulkar’s knock was all the morepriceless, as much for its contribution to the win as for thesheer effort and dedication it exemplified.