Tendulkar, Ganguly make merry

By G. Viswanath

PAARL, OCT. 24. The Kenyans discovered, on a sunny and bright afternoon on Wednesday, how formidable Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar can be.

Ganguly and Tendulkar bettered their own world record for the first-wicket partnership (252 against Sri Lanka in the final of the Nidahas Trophy in Colombo in 1997) by six runs; the world's best opening pair in the short version of the game rising to the occasion like champions.

The last league match of the Summer Spice series one- day International between India and Kenya was expected to be a closely fought encounter, a crunch game as a consequence of the 70-run defeat of the Indians in Port Elizabeth last week.

But in less than two hours after the Indian captain won the toss and elected to bat the writing on the wall was bold and clear. The Indian pair put together a stand that not only relieved tension and concern in the dressing room, but also enabled India reach a secure total of 351 to defend. Virendra Sehwag, going hammer and tongs at the Kenyan bowling, also made a half century in a jiffy.

It is not the first time that the Indians have had to wait till the last match of a tri-series to make certain their place in the final. Five years ago, India had to beat Zimbabwe at a faster run rate to earn a meeting with South Africa in the final. Tendulkar hammered a brilliant century then. On Wednesday he was once again in the vanguard of an aggressive and positive start his side was looking for.

It took some time for both Ganguly and Tendulkar to get used to the pitch, which appeared to be slow and sluggish making life a little uncomfortable for them. Driving was certainly not going to be easy, especially when the ball appeared to stop a bit.

Although Tendulkar used the open space on the off-side to hit Martin Suji to the cover boundary, there were fewer shots played by him with a straight bat; the second boundary shot of his being a pull of the elder of the Suji brothers to the mid- wicket fence. Evidently the strategy was to garner as many runs when nine men were inside the inner ring. Tendulkar was lucky to get away with an inside edge off Martin Suji, the ball travelling wide of wicketkeeper Kennedy Obuya. This was the only blemish Tendulkar made in the first half an hour of the Indian innings. Like Tendulkar, Ganguly found the slowness of the pitch coming in the way of timing his shots properly.

It was not before the 50th ball of the Indian innings, and the 22nd he faced, that he could hit the ball to the boundary. And yet, again, like Tendulkar, the Indian captain's first big shot was the cover drive off Martin Suji. Ganguly, who seemed so inhibited, suddenly got into the stroke-making mood. He smashed Martin Suji into the stands at mid-wicket and struck the same bowler for two more 4s.

The turn of events immediately gave sufficient indication of the two batsmen's intention to dominate. They had appeared to be strokeless wonders in the first spells of Joseph Angara (not playing this match) and Martin Suji last week at the St. George's Park. But on Wednesday they showed their calibre and capacity in keeping with their stature in international cricket.

The first bowling change effected by the Kenyan captain, Maurice Odumbe, saw the run rate jump from four to close to six an over, which India touched at the end of the 20th over. Odumbe brought in Peter Ongondo for Martin Suji, who was flayed all over the park for 41 runs in his first six overs. The short ball on a slow pitch came like an open invitation to be pulled with disdain.

This was what Tendulkar did when he played the horizontal shot to good effect. He pulled Ongondo twice for 4s in front of square- leg and then followed up these strokes with a whipped shot to mid-wicket, the ball racing to the fence all along the ground. But a shot for which Tendulkar got plenty of wood was the straight hit of the ball he faced from Tony Suji, who made no attempt to stretch his hand.

Tendulkar reached his half century in the 16th over, with nine 4s. Ganguly followed suit soon. He had made the most of a full toss from Odoyo, placing the shot front of square on the off- side. In the same over the left-hander flicked Odoyo over fine- leg for a 6. The two boundary shots spoiled Odoyo's fine opening spell; he had given just eight runs in his first five overs. During the partnership Ganguly completed his 7000 runs in his 180th one-day International. He reached this personal landmark when he reached 23.

The opening pair also displaced Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge's record aggregate of 5150 runs scored by them as opening batsmen in limited over internationals. The West Indian pair had made 15 century plus stand for the first wicket; this record also went down on Wednesday.

With Tendulkar and Ganguly in such good nick there was the threat of their own world record being consumed in their big partnership. It became a reality with both of them adding centuries to their impressive list. It was Ganguly's 18th and Tendulkar's 31st.

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