If tsunami struck Japan on Friday, it was Sachin Tendulkar’s turn on Saturday. The maestro destroyed the South Africans and made the much-hyped bowling line-up looked pedestrian with another century at the VCA Stadium here. He is now one shy of hundred international hundreds.
The 99th century (111 off 101 balls) could not have come in a better ambience. The atmosphere was electric at the VCA stadium.
The bowling was challenging, Dale Steyn leading the attack. The Mumbai bomber came good, playing an entertaining knock that sent the packed house into a tizzy.
However, the other Indian batsmen failed to capitalise on Tendulkar’s effort, falling like nine pins. When the Little Giant departed, the score was 267 for two. Nine overs and 29 runs later, the Indian innings folded for 296.
Tendulkar seems to be getting younger by each passing day and year. On Saturday, he was at his usual discipline best, respecting the good balls and thrashing the bad ones. He was never slow in taking runs. At 37, he was running like Usain Bolt. He was one of the fastest runners between the wickets.
He started off patiently by letting his partner Virender Sehwag do the scoring. Initially, he tried to cut, flick and nudge the bowlers. Once he got into the groove, there was no stopping him.
He was tested by bouncers from Steyn, but they were well left. Everything went right for Tendulkar. He got his first boundary with a flick off the pads off Jacques Kallis.
He followed it with back-to back drives through covers to Morkel. The next shot was simply superb and drew the biggest roar from the crowd. Steyn pitched it short and Tendulkar pulled it with authority, a flat shot straight that went out of the ground.
The South African spinners weren’t spared. Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson and a surprised second change bowler JP Duminy fell prey to the master’s elegant stroke-play.
He stepped out to both hitting them over long-on on a few occasions.He also enjoyed two hundred-run partnerships with Sehwag (142 for the first wicket) and Gautam Gambhir (125 for the second wicket).
Although every single run drew cheers from the crowd, the single that brought his 48th century drew the loudest cheer from the crowd. It came off a delivery from Kallis.
He looked for another big score but he fell playing a pull shot to Morkel in the batting powerplay. An entertaining knock came to a sad end, but it will be remembered for a long time by the people of Orange City. Take a bow!
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