Ganguly, Tendulkar enthrall spectators

By G. Viswanath

JOHANNESBURG, OCT. 5. The Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, led the charge at the `The Wanderers' on Friday afternoon. He was the one to hit the first big blows with the bat in another edition of the Standard Bank Tri-series cricket that must have been heard at the far away Behala.

This was afterall a one-day international, a far cry from the traditional Test matches that will be played after this three- nation series this month. But it is also a fact that the shorter version of the game has its exalted place in modern cricket in which the likes of Ganguly have flourished. That he positioned himself as the vanguard of the charge against the South Africans, his counterpart Shaun Pollock, in particular, and outscored the most successful batsman in limited-over cricket gave a new dimension to the afternoon session when India was asked to bat by the South African captain.

Ganguly had to literally drag himself off the square after putting up a show at this famous ground, that bested a couple of records and also notching a century that he will be tempted to place on top of the 17 centuries in 175 one-day internationals.

By the time the exhilirating first session ended, Sachin Tendulkar, too scored his 30th century in 274 one-day internationals. It ought to be deemed a brilliant return to international cricket by Tendulkar who was forced to miss the Sri Lankan tour because of serious injury to the big toe of his right foot.

It was a fairytale start Ganguly and Tendulkar gave to India's campaign, not only to the tri-series, but also to the important match of the tour. There is a special chemistry between them that has worked wonders for so many years, beginning with the Titan Cup series five years ago in India. Since, they have developed to become top of the drawer class opening pair in limited over internationals. Pollock dropped the lone slow bowler, left-arm spinner, Claude Henderson, out of the eleven. He opted to take the field with an all seam attack, which was a clear indication that he would field first in the event of winning the toss. But Pollock's decision on dumping the spinner and fielding first backfired.

The South African seamers - one after another - from Pollock, Andre Nel, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini, Lance Klusener, Justin Kemp - were not torn apart, but beaten hollow by the superlative effort by Ganguly, who only 48 hours ago was staring at his plastered first and middle fingers of his right hand, and mulling over the thought of playing in the inaugural match of the tri- series. In the event it was an incredible and phenomenal batting display by the Indian captain who chose to launch an onslaught and sustain it against the South African seamers with Tendulkar, willing to play the second fiddle. It helped the team cause, the first wicket stand stretching to 193, a record for India's opening stand against South Africa.

Ganguly's great effort and the stand of 193 was the highest by a batsman and by an opening pair at `The Wanderers'. The afternoon session began with a flurry of shots by Ganguly against Pollock, who was hammered for fours in his opening spell. The heavy toll taken off the seamers saw Pollock, Kallis and Ntini being hit at six runs per an over. What was amazing was every bowler attempted to lure Ganguly, bowling outside the off stump but failed miserably. Ganguly managed to beat even the best of the fielders Jonty Rhodes and Herschelle Gibbs. In fact, most of his shots were on the off side in the arc between backward point and extra cover. The direction of his shots changed, when he carted Ntini and Klusener, twice and Kemp once, over on the on side for five huge sixes.

The little champion, Tendulkar, was happy to give the strike to his captain. They are the two who own the world's best partnership for the first wicket (252 against Sri Lanka in the Nidahas Trophy final four years ago). Tendulkar saw no reason to compete with Ganguly and match him stroke-for-stroke. He was such a perfect team man, rising to the occasion in which he realised that his partner was striking the ball extremely well and on his way to a commanding innings.

The Indian captain was determined to outwit the South Africans. After decimating the likes of Pollock, Nel, Kallis, Ganguly targeted Ntini, using unorthodox methods to upset Ntini's line and length. He succeeded and by the time Pollock introduced his last seamer Justin Kemp into the attack, Ganguly and Tendulkar had enjoyed resounding success.

Tendulkar enjoyed a `life' early in the Indian innings, when Klusener failed to latch on to a difficult catch at first slip. India's score then was 45. India's 100 came in the 21st over, 150 in the 29th over, 200 in the 38th and 250 in the 46th. Ganguly also enjoyed a slice of luck, dropped by Kemp off Kallis when his score was 43, but on a day when he paraded his stroke making skills for three and a half hours and sent five balls soaring into the mid wicket stands on either side, a couple of miscued shots notwithstanding.

Ganguly's innings was spectacular, and Tendulkar's another fascinating effort, that conveyed a lot from a man that he's willing to sacrifice for team's sake. India built a total of 279 on the magnificent opening stand of Ganguly and Tendulkar.

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