Congrats Sachin!!!

Sachin Tendulkar is back in news. He is among runs and has become the first batsman in the history to score 15000 runs in One-day Cricket. What’s good is that he is back at scoring runs against good bowling attacks and in difficult batting conditions. In the last two outings, he scored 99 and 93 respectively against the South Africans.

Sachin was not his usual self in the first match against SA. Over the years he has "mellowed" down and now he tries to build his innings rather than stamping his authority on the bowling attack. May be age or his senior position in the team has brought this change. But the first innings was too slow and calm even for his new avtaar. He missed the century by a “few inches” and was run out on 99 (143 balls)!!!! India eventually lost the match and a number of people attributed Sachin's slow batting to the loss. I was not surprised at all as bashing Sachin has become India's favorite pass time. His strike rate was in the late 60s, may be 69. Dravid who scored 70 odd in that match had a strike rate of 73....now, was that a lot better? I do not think so. Saurav Ganguly who scored 60 odd against Ireland had a strike rate in early 70s in that match. Then how come only Sachin is being questioned. These days, no matter what Sachin does, it seems his innings leave more questions than answers!!!

The first match was pretty close and it could have gone either way. Chawla was the surprise package and I think India could have won the game with some aggressive field placements. Dravid is a great player but his captaincy lacks the aggression that is required in such games. India let the South Africans take singles at will and that took the match away from us.

The last match was a treat to watch. Though he missed out on a century again but Sachin did score 93 runs and in the process completed 15K runs in ODIs. More than the number of runs, the way they were scored was appealing. He seemed like the Sachin of yesteryears. Trademark square cuts and cover drives were flowing from his blade. At one point in the innings, Andrew Nel beat him a few times and then followed that with smiles and stares. Sachin’s response? Bang!!!! Andrew Nel was asked to shut up with a pull yielding the maximum!!!! He even danced down the track to hit young off-spinner Tshabalala for a straight six. The fact that his innings helped India win and level the series must have given extra satisfaction to him.

Congratulations Sachin. Keep going.