Tendulkar slams century No. 29

On the only ground in the West Indies where India has ever tasted victory, Sachin Tendulkar equalled Sir Don Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries. He reached the milestone as India ended the first day of the second Test, at the Queen’s Park, Oval, in Port-of-Spain, on 262 for 4 wickets.

The Queen's Park Oval's green strip turned out to be more mysterious than Brian Lara’s temperament when it failed to assist the fast bowlers with its slow-natured pace. The two-paced wicket called upon Tendulkar, unbeaten on 113 at close -- his maiden Test century in the West Indies -- to summon all his concentration powers to achieve the milestone.

With eight of the last nine Queen’s Park Tests having produced outright results -- barring the Test match in 1997, when the Indians last toured -- India seems to be in an advantageous position to go one-up in the five-Test series, with the wicket promising to take turn from day two itself.

Morning session

India got off to a steady start on the first morning despite losing their openers cheaply. Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid batted sensibly to steer the innings to safer waters and to lunch at 70 for the loss of two wickets.

"It is (the Queen’s Park, Oval) a fast bowler’s wicket," said Bryan Davis, the former West Indies opening batsman, who supervises the pitch maintenance at the ground.

With high moisture content and the atmosphere usually helping swing, pace seemed to be the mantra at the ground, which had a good helping of grass on the strip.

India should remember that this ground has seen recent all-out totals of 46 (by England in 1994), 51 (by the West Indies against Australia in 1999) and 63 (by Zimbabwe in 2000).

After much deliberation, the Deep Dasgupta formula was abandoned and wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra was given his maiden Test cap; all-rounder Sanjay Bangar was pushed at the top of the order, which seemed to be an erroneous decision yet again.

A crucial Test series abroad, where victory was last tasted 26 years ago, isn’t exactly the right place for experimentation. The selectors had clearly displayed complete lack of vision by not picking Wasim Jaffer for the Zimbabwe series at home earlier this year.

Sourav Ganguly must have heaved a sigh of relief with the exclusion of Anil Kumble from the playing eleven for the first time on the basis of performance since 1990. The skipper was apparently unhappy with the inclusion of the leggie for the Caribbean tour and had tried his utmost for the leggie’s removal from the touring party, having made calls to board secretary Niranjan Shah, a week before the team’s departure to the West Indies, in a bid to convince him.

So, India went into the Test with a lone spinner in Harbhajan Singh, back from injury; three fast bowlers -- Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra, who will be playing his first Test since the South African tour last year, and Sanjay Bangar, to fit the fifth bowler’s role with his gentle seamers.

The West Indies went in with a four-pronged pace attack after Mahendra Nagamootoo was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. Marlon Black was included in the playing eleven along with Mervyn Dillon, Cameron Cuffy and Adam Sanford.

Ganguly lost the toss and was asked to bat by Carl Hooper, who, keeping in mind the nature of the wicket and the visitors' affinity for fast bowling, thought this was his best chance to go one-up in the series.

After surviving a run-out chance early on, Das was trapped in front by Dillon, playing injudiciously off the backfoot to a delivery cutting back in. Umpire Daryl Harper lost no time in giving the verdict in the bowler’s favour. (18 –1)

Rahul Dravid, promoted to his original number three position, picked up from where he had left off at Georgetown, reaching the fence through the slip ring, to get off the mark.
Ever since VVS Laxman had usurped his number three slot in the second innings of the Calcutta Test against the Aussies, Dravid has been vowing to win it back. And now, with India on a foreign tour and the team needing its Mr Consistent, it appears as if he has done just that.

Bangar (9), after scratching around for an hour, threw his wicket, driving away from his body at a fullish delivery from Sanford to be caught at the wicket. At 38 for 2, the Indian team was back in a world it knew.

Tendulkar got off the mark with a patent straight drive for four; punched the next through the covers for another four and it seemed like another routine day at the office. Dravid though was tested time and again with some short deliveries aimed at his head.

Dravid and Tendulkar, playing some crisp drives, found the fence regularly. With the West Indian bowlers failing to bowl to plan, Hooper’s decision to field seemed to have backfired.

In the 22nd over, Tendulkar, looking to play Sanford to mid-wicket, got the leading edge as the ball ballooned, but, luckily for him, fell short of the cover fielder. In the same over, Sanford caught a faint edge of Tendulkar's bat to the keeper but umpire Asoka De Silva thought otherwise.

Every time Tendulkar played off the frontfoot he seemed majestic, but he had his doubts while playing on the backfoot, keeping in mind the first Test dismissal, when he tried going off the backfoot in an attempt to pull and was trapped plumb in front.

Tendulkar (20) and Dravid (25) took India to lunch at 70-2.

Post Lunch session:

Having scored 86 runs in the session, Tendulkar and Dravid looked set to bat out the rest of the day as India went into tea at 156 for 2.

Dravid started the post-lunch session working Marlon Black to the cover fence. With a century already under his belt in the first Test, he seems to have eased into his number three slot. His driving today was immaculately timed; his defence watertight as usual and his pace of scoring encouraging.

Tendulkar was, in contrast, completely off-colour. In the midst of a rare unsure innings, he survived half a dozen leg-before appeals off Dillon and Cuffy but then dismissed the same bunch of bowlers to the fence with alarming ease.

The West Indian bowlers came back in the afternoon with a shot of aggression, digging it short and whizzing the ball past the batsmen's chins.

Dravid motored on to another half-century, cutting Sanford to the fence and following it up with a copybook cover-drive. Tendulkar followed suit and reached yet another fifty with a dab down to square leg. Then, with a flowing cover drive to the fence, he brought up the hundred-run partnership with Dravid for the third wicket.

India went into tea with Dravid on 64 and Tendulkar on 63 off 130 balls, with the latter having scored fewer boundaries to get there -- nine compared to Dravid’s 11.

Post Tea session:

After an inept performance in the first two sessions with the ball, the West Indies bowlers came out after tea with a plan to dry up the runs and force the batsmen to err.

And surely enough, Dravid, playing all around a straight delivery from Marlon Black, had his stumps rearranged for a well-made 67.

The third-wicket partnership between Dravid and Tendulkar notched up 124 runs and put the hosts on the backfoot. The average score on day one at the Queen’s Park, Oval is 200 for 8; India reached the 200-run mark with 20 overs remaining and seven wickets still standing.

Ganguly came to the crease and surprisingly, as was the course of the day, the West Indians failed to bounce him; just as they had failed to play chin-music to any of the Indian batsmen barring Dravid, which seemed rather foolish since he coped best with the West Indian pace attack in the previous Test.

In his brief stay at the wicket, Ganguly cut Dillon past point for four besides driving Sanford majestically through cover for four. For a fleeting moment, Ganguly seemed to have decided to punish the friendly West Indian bowling.

But, he returned the good favour when he holed out to Hooper’s harmless off-cutters, dancing down the wicket, failing to get to the pitch of the ball and offering a simple chance to Dillon at mid-off. After having batted at number three and five, number 12 seems the best position for the Indian skipper.

Having scored a brisk 25 off 34 balls, Ganguly was fed with some easy pickings before a rush of blood brought about his downfall, cutting short a promising 50-run partnership with Tendulkar. (218-4)

Meanwhile, Tendulkar struggling on his reserve fuel, took an enormous number of dot balls before he got the required runs to score his 29th Test ton and equal Sir Don Bradman’s record of Test centuries.

Tendulkar, of late, seems to have lost his confidence just a tad, and despite closing in on his hundred he seemed very unsure and under tremendous pressure. It is one thing to be watchful and quite another to be nervous and under pressure when approaching a hundred. This ton will rank way down in his list of satisfying centuries.

And though, he punched the air when he ran a two to get his century, the manner in which he reached the milestone will pinch him somewhere deep inside.

Barring Adam Sanford, who bowled a ‘four ball’ every over, the West Indian pace attack seemed rather disciplined in the final session of the day.

With seven overs to be bowled for the end of the day’s play, the West Indies took the new ball and Cuffy almost got the hosts the important breakthrough when Laxman, trying an ambitious drive, edged to Lara at first slip, who simply moved out of the path of the ball travelling at shoulder height. If looks could kill, skipper Hooper, at second slip, would have been charged for homicide.

In the very next over, Dillon yet again found the edge off Laxman’s bat, only for the catch to fall short of the slip fielders.

If this pair goes on to a huge partnership, the missed chances could prove to be the deciding factor.

The West Indies fielding, barring the two dropped chances, was the best we’ve seen from them all season and coach Roger Harper, arguably one of the finest fielders of all-time, should take much of the credit for that.

India ended the day on 262 for 4 with six wickets intact and a well-set Tendulkar at the crease supported by Laxman, the last recognised batsman.

Detailed Scoreboard