The Weight Goes On

Sachin Tendulkar fell in the 90’s for the second time in five test innings as his search for the record breaking 100^th International hundred continued.

In front of a capacity crowd at his home stadium in Mumbai the story was written for the Little Master to complete his century having resumed overnight on 67, especially as the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium had seen over 900 runs scored in the first three days with only 14 wickets having fallen.

He seemed in little trouble early on as he unleashed some trademark straight drives before cutting Fidel Edwards for six to take him into the 90’s.

However, just as his fanatical following, who cheered every run as if it was the winning run in a World Cup Final, began to dream that they would be the ones who witnessed the greatest moment in Indian sporting history, it was all over.

Cramped by a short of a length ball from Ravi Rampaul, Tendulkar could only guide it to the West Indian captain Darren Sammy at second slip. The West Indian’s celebrated the prized wicket against a backdrop of absolute stunned silence.

Just as Tendulkar’s presence at the crease created an atmosphere at an otherwise poorly attended test match, his dismissal reduced this match to another meandering drawn test, played on the type of pitch that will kill test cricket.

These pitches, which are particularly prevalent in the sub-continent, destroy test cricket as a spectacle and turn each match into a glorified net for the batsmen. In an age where test cricket is under threat from its shorter formatted cousins it needs to produce matches which enthral and rivet rather than bore.

Tendulkar has now gone 17 innings without an international hundred, and has not scored a test match hundred since January. Despite being 38, time is still very much on his side in this quest for the hundredth hundred.

Yet the longer that this wait goes on, the more comparisons will be drawn with his other rival for the tag of the greatest batsman ever to play the game, Don Bradman, who was left with a test average of 99.94.

Every game longer that Tendulkar doesn’t reach three figures will only serve to ratchet up the pressure that is on Tendulkar’s diminutive frame. The whole of India wants him to succeed and, no matter how experienced Tendulkar is, that pressure will get to him. Every game that passes by is another game nearer to retirement the Little Master gets.

A milestone like 100 centuries needs to be reached in grandeur, bullying a century against one of the weaker test nations on a batsman paradise simply wouldn’t befit the achievement. Having missed out at Lords and on his home ground, Tendulkar has a third chance in 2011 to achieve his milestone at one of the great test arenas at the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.

After Australia, India have a home test series against Pakistan before a long test break until the end of 2012 before they face Sri Lanka.  By then Tendulkar would be almost 40.

It would be an injustice for one of the greats of the game to prolong his international career for the sake of chasing a record, Tendulkar, regardless of his century count, has to recognise when it is time to retire.

As Bradman proved in his pursuit of perfection, sometimes not quite making it is more endearing than struggling over the finishing line.