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Tendulkar, Ganguly make merry
By G. Viswanath
30TH CENTURY FOX: The wily batsman Indian maestro Sachin Tneudlkar acknowldges the cheers from the crowd after completing his 30th century against England on the second day of the third Test at Headingley, Leeds on Friday, as a smiling Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly looks on. — Photo: N. Sridharan
At the other end Sourav Ganguly, who refused to take the `light', resorted to the totally unorthodox shots as a show of riposte after taking several body blows, looked a batting buccaneer; the third of the troika emulating what the previous two in Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar did on Thursday and on Friday afternoon.
The last session of the day in light and fading light on Friday, truly pointed to probably the finishing phase of India's powerful demonstration against England's seam attack for a long time with Tendulkar and Ganguly clobbering fourteen boundary shots (5 x 6s, 9 x 4s) and taking India nearer to its all time high of 606 made on in 1990.
There is myth about the `Ashes' series England always seem to be preoccupied with. Being the first foes in Test cricket, there is a general belief that England and Australia consider the skirmish for the `Ashes' as a top priority and contests against other nations as less important. That impression was blown away to an extent by England, Nasser Hussain and Andrew Flintoff whose around the wicket flyers and snorters appeared to be aimed at the limbs and body and meant to terrify the batsmen.
Fortunately India had two bold and capable men in the middle in Tendulkar and Ganguly to deal with excessive short-pitched bowling Flintoff indulged during his seven over spell in the last session of the second day of npower third Test where India finished at 584 for 4 wickets, 96 of its coming in 68 balls bowled with the third new ball.Ganguly — dropped at 79 by Robert Key off Andrew Caddick — did not take the `light' offered by umpires Dave Orchard and Ashoka De Silva when the light metres indicated that it was not as bright to continue with the game.
The Indian skipper who took quite a few nasty blows on his body and was off balanced drawing away from a short ball, pummelled Matthew Hoggard and Caddick and struck the big blows off Ashley Giles.
It was day when the old-fashioned and the purist would have given full marks to the Indian batsmen who took their batting heights to phenomenal levels. Of course Tendulkar and Ganguly ducked under the bouncers and moved away from ones that darted at them at good height. It was more like the bricks and mortar in the first two sessions, before dash and disdain took over in the last hour. Even Tendulkar, who showed patience, cut loose. He had earlier outsmarted England's bowlers with a chanceless century and got nearer to another landmark figure in the annals of Test cricket.
As England's bowling was mastered and it increasingly began to come under pressure for the second day running, Tendulkar stepped past the Don's mark and got a foothold into a domain where only another short man who showed `Bradmanesque' touch in the West Indies three decades ago remains. The acme of one particular segment of cricket, which batsmen covet every time they go out to bat, is very much within his sight. It is now certain that Tendulkar will dislodge Sunil Gavaskar from the pedestal not in the distant future.
On Friday afternoon a tossed up delivery from the left arm spinner was too inviting to be put away to the ropes. Tendulkar made just the right shot in the form of a classic on drive off Giles' first ball after the second drinks break for his thirteenth boundary and inked his 30th century in 99 Tests. He crossed a significant milestone on a ground he can claim to be his second home ground having become the first player not born in Yorkshire to play for the County ten years ago.
Rahul Dravid's technical expertise and individual brilliance and Sanjay Bangar's calm presence was successful to keep the England attack at bay. The home team's plight became evident on the second day, though overnight showers and slight drizzle had delayed resumption by almost an hour, which necessitated the second session to be extended by half an hour.
Dravid was as phlegmatic as he was on Thursday and finishing at a fine 110.England began the proceedings with its most trusted seamer of the summer in Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Caddick, but shots speeding to the fence at the rate of one for every three minutes made Hussain to shuffle his bowlers around. There were a couple of times when England came close to breaking the partnership, but the inner edges that came of the bat of Tendulkar and Darvid missed the stumps.
Frustratation began to show as Dravid and Tendulkar handled the attack with a great deal of authority, showing fine judgment in leaving the balls that seamed away and punishing offerings that was short on length and poor in direction. If at all anything, the first session of just a little more than an over pointed to India gaining gradual, but definite control of the Test.
The third wicket pair added 58 runs off 15 overs, with Tendulkar doing bulk of the scoring. England first breakthrough did not come before Dravid made the mistake of leaving his castle to driving Giles. Stewart who has been impeccable as a wicketkeeper did not let go an opportunity that came his way. The partnership between Dravid and Tendulkar was worth 150 made in nearly 40 overs.
Although Hoggard might have been unlucky when he came back for his second spell, he looked tired. The approach of Dravid and Tendulkar had baulked the England attack for a considerable period of time and it was just that not one of the England bowlers looked good enough to make an impression until Dravid, who had struck four fours of Caddick, was ejected from the middle because of a lapse in concentration. Dravid had also hit Tudor for three delightful fours.
SCOREBOARD
| S. Bangar c Stewart b Flintoff | 68 |
| V. Sehwag c Flintoff b Hoggard | 8 |
| R. Dravid st. Stewart b Giles | 148 |
| S. Tendulkar (batting) | 185 |
| S. Ganguly b Tudor | 128 |
| V.V.S. Laxman (batting) | 0 |
| Extras (b-14, lb-14, nb-14, w-5) | 47 |
| — — | |
| Total (for four wkts. In 173.1 overs) | 584 |
| — — | |
| Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Sehwag), 2-185 (Bangar), 3-335 (Dravid), 4-584 (Ganguly). | |
| England bowling: Hoggard 36-12-102-1 Caddick 37-5-139-0, Tudor 32.1-10-113-1, Flintoff 27-6-68-1, Giles 39-3-134-1, Butcher1-1-0-0, Vaughan 1-0-1-0 |
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