Master, the matchless in Sydney

Jan 04:  That is why we adore him. The master blaster scored a brilliant and timely hundred (154 not out to be exact) after a long gap at Sydney cricket ground. The last time Sachin scored a century was his 37th Test hundred that he hit at Dhaka , Bangladesh in May 2007 when he remained not out on 122. This is a good New Year beginning for the master blaster and we can hope he would be able break the remaining records to become all time great.

Incidentally, it was the first week of January (1992) when Sachin hit his second Test hundred at Sydney cricket ground, scoring 148 runs in 213 balls and remained unbeaten, which was followed by 3 rd (114 runs) at Perth in the same series.

Remember his 119 against England at Old Trafford, his first century during the 1990 tour. India had their backs to the wall before Sachin Tendulkar saved the day with his patient innings. He got praise from the leading cricket pundits for his courageous knock. He never looked back since then.

At Sydney today, he stood tall and firm scoring with patience and determination, with occasional aggression. His body language showed tremendous commitment, which was borne of the fact that Team India has lost the first Test match at Melbourne last week. In the process, he was involved with two partnerships – one of 108 runs with Ganguly and the other of 129 runs with Harbhajan Singh. It is due to his innings that Team India could post a decent total of 532, a lead of 69 runs over the Aussies. By all means, Sachin's knock was a near perfect and nothing short of a treat to watch - especially the way he controlled his aggressive instincts and more remarkably, batted with the tail. Not only he built up the innings, he guided tail enders like Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma to post a big total. Above all, Sachin was timing the ball very well. With lots of matches ahead, this sort of form would help India win the remaining matches.

Now his son, like millions in this country, will have no complain that Sachin has been getting out in the 90s in recent time. The complaint has been due to the fact that on three occasions in recent times, Sachin has become prey to nervous 90s. It is also because every time Sachin goes out to bat, we expect no less than a century from him. Such is his credibility among fans across the world that he means more than anyone else and that he should continue scoring runs for India as long as he could.

His career graph speaks volumes. The only record Sachin is to scale is the highest runs in Test match where he is about 400 runs behind Brian Lara. And the year 2008 will surely see Sachin surpassing that record as well.

During his long career that began in 1989, Sachin has seen many ups and downs, but he hardly took care of occasional criticisms that he had to face. And every time he comes up with a fitting reply.

* The author is Editor, Consumer Unity & Trust Society or CUTS, in India