The Hindu : It came at the right time: Sachin

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 03, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

It came at the right time: Sachin

By S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA NOV. 2. Little Masters Sachin Tendulkar's 31st Test hundred, interestingly, was his first at the hallowed Eden Gardens. His unbeaten 114 against the West Indies in the third and final Test came at a very crucial juncture meaning so much for the home team on the fourth day.

"I am very happy to get a hundred at the Eden Gardens because it is a kind of a home for Indian cricket," Sachin said at the media conference after the day's play.

"I am also happy for the way things went for us and there are plenty of actions to come tomorrow," he predicted. When asked to rate today's knock of his, Tendulkar said, "A Test century is a Test 100. It came at the right time when the team was in a bad shape. There is a plenty of hard work ahead of the team on this slow track."

Former India captain also warned that the pitch produced uneven bounce. "The normal wear and tear will be there on the four-day old wicket. It has to be tackled if we need to put pressure on the Windies," he opined.

On the chances of India winning this game, Tendulkar thought there always existed an opportunity to comeback into the game. "We need to concentrate session by session tomorrow. We need to put up a decent total in our second innings. Then only we can apply pressure on the West Indies."

Asked to predict the outcome of the game, Tendulkar said, "It is not possible for anyone to predict the outcome of the game. For the whole day on the third day yesterday only two wickets fell and today, the fourth day, eight wickets tumbled by lunchtime. And at the Eden Gardens, the first hour was always crucial and we need to be very careful during this period."

Harbhajan Singh Plaha, who grabbed his 11th five-wicket haul, said it was a very happy moment to get another haul of five wickets. "At the same time we cannot forget the situation we are in. We are trying to win this game where our chances are 50-50." he said.

"Batting in the first hour is always a big problem here. There was a plenty of bounce this morning and we could quickly get rid of two good West Indian batsmen. Right now I am bowling well and it is helping the team."

He said the fourth innings pressure would certainly affect the West Indies. "All depends on how they bat provided we put up a good total for them to chase," he said. "Sachin and Laxman are playing well and if they continue the good work tomorrow, we stand a very good chance in this match."

Marlon Samuels, fourth day centurion for the West Indies felt his knock came under a pressure situation owing to turn and bounce of the ball. "It was indeed a nice experience to play in front of a big crowd and do well."

Samuels, who played his first Test in this series, said he wanted to get to play the Indian spinner on these tracks. Samuels, whose role model is Sachin Tendulkar, said he enjoyed the century knock of the Indian maestro.

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