Will Tendulkar achieve his unfulfilled dream? by Partab Ramchand

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Player:	SR Tendulkar
Event:	ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 25th February 2007

 

He has often spoken longingly of his ambition of wanting to be a member of a World Cup winning squad before he retires from the game he has adorned for so long. That is the one remaining goal he has yet to achieve. And Sachin Tendulkar will in all probability get his last chance in the Caribbean. Will he be able to achieve his unfulfilled dream?

 

Tendulkar will complete 34 on the day of the first semifinal. By the time the next edition of the World Cup is played in the sub continent in 2011, he will be 38 and in all likelihood would have quit the game. One simply cannot see him play more than 20 years of international cricket. Time will take its toll on even this prodigiously gifted cricketer just as it spares no one. Tendulkar one is sure is aware of this. So it is on the cards that the fiercely competitive and highly ambitious superstar will go all out to make it a victorious campaign.

 

Of course Tendulkar has done more than his bit for the team in four campaigns so far. It is the hallmark of the truly outstanding sportsman that the higher the stage the better he performs. In Tendulkar’s case this is very much true. With a tally of 1732 runs at an average of almost 60 he is well ahead of the rest of the field. He set up a World Cup record aggregate of 523 runs in 1996 only to surpass it himself by raising the bar to 673 in South Africa four years ago. His tally of four centuries is joint highest in the competition jointly with Sourav Ganguly and Mark Waugh. Tendulkar also holds the third wicket partnership record in the competition when along with Rahul Dravid he added 237 runs (unbroken) against Kenya in 1999.

 

That was the time when Tendulkar scored an emotional 140 having just come back from Bombay after attending his father’s funeral. Always the person to make the right gesture he dedicated his then highest World Cup score to his father’s memory. Tendulkar has since raised this to 152 against Namibia in 2003. Besides these he has played a number of superbly crafted knocks during the four campaigns. A few that come to mind are his memorable 90 against McGrath and Warne at Bombay in 1996, his breezy 137 against Sri Lanka a few days later and his technically proficient 65 on a bad wicket against the same opponents in the semifinals some ten days later. In 2003 he had a wonderful run with only three failures in 11 innings. Even in his maiden World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 1991-92 when not yet 19 he took little time in displaying his manifold gifts by scoring 283 with three half centuries during a disastrous campaign when India finished seventh in the league stage out of nine teams.

 

But the jewel in the World Cup crown will undoubtedly have to be his ethereal innings of 98 against Pakistan at Centurion on March 1 2003. Wisden summed it up succinctly. ``Tendulkar played an astounding innings – perhaps the best of the tournament and undoubtedly one of his best in one day internationals. Chasing 274 against a testosterone propelled pace attack that included Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis he hit a vivid and memorable stream of shots none so perfect as the cut six over point and the two fours – one swiveled into the leg side, one pushed down the ground which concluded Akhtar’s first over.’’ By the 12th over India has sped past 100 as with blazing strokes all round the wicket Tendulkar made the formidable bowling line up look worse than ordinary. Tendulkar raced to a majestic 98 off 75 balls with 12 fours and that much talked about six. He was fourth out at 177 in the 28th over and by this time the result of the match was a foregone conclusion as India duly went on to defeat Pakistan for the fourth time in as many clashes in the World Cup. Two bowling figures – more than anything else - symbolize Tendulkar’s lustrous batting that day. Akhtar conceded 72 runs in ten overs while Younis gave away 71 runs in 8.4 overs.

 

Will Tendulkar be able to top this mind boggling knock in the Caribbean? More important will he spearhead India to a World Cup triumph? So far the record includes one semifinal and one final. If he does inspire India to a victorious campaign it will be the crowning glory of a glittering career.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 CricketArchive)