Little Master will do it for India

I am glad that as I write this article, MS Dhoni and his boys have found back their winning ways. India now stand three games away from the coveted trophy that they, and more importantly a billion Indians, rightly deserve.

Amongst all these billion aspirations for a World Cup win, if there is one metaphoric individual reference that sums up the expectations it is the magnificent Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Tendulkar has conquered every possible challenge a cricketer can face. Records have tumbled into his kitty as he has progressed in his magnificent cricketing journey of two decades. However, one final frontier he needs to conquer is becoming part of a world champion team.

The present Indian team looks the best possible bet to win the world championship in recent years and the man most likely to play the most important role in the same is Tendulkar.

What the man has done over the last couple of decades is phenomenal. More importantly, the role played by him in India’s last six World Cup campaigns is almost unbelievable. Tendulkar made his World Cup debut in the 1992 edition; as my teammate. I remember that just before the World Cup we had played a long series in Australia, featuring Tests and a triangular one-day series featuring hosts Australia and the West Indies.

During that era, it was well known that Australia were a tough country to travel to as a cricketer. It needed a player especially from the subcontinent to adapt and possess supreme skills to be competitive at the level of play on display. I believe that it was that series that marked the arrival of Tendulkar on the big stage.

More importantly, it was this series that cemented his place as India’s best player, a distinction he holds even today consistently over 19 long years. I am especially reminded of his cracking century against the Australians at Perth where I had the distinction to be his partner at the non striker’s end.

Those were tough conditions as a batsman and we had built a good partnership; watching him from the other end gave me the realisation that my partner at the opposite end, all of 19 years was destined for greater things in times to come.

Tendulkar is a big match player and it is tournaments like the World Cup that seem to bring the best out of him.

Some of the statistical references of his contribution to India’s last six World Cup campaigns are simply breathtaking. In the 1996 and 2003 editions, he was the top scorer of the tournament. With the exception of the 2007 campaign, Tendulkar has proved to be the most valuable player for India and the biggest threat from an opposition perspective, since his debut World Cup of 1992.

His steely determination and exhilarating performance in the present edition, has already seen him crack two centuries, proving that Tendulkar is the biggest factor that stands between an Indian victory and an opposition win. This is all the more important, owing to his almost unbelievable form in the 2010-11 season.

Tendulkar in this period has played 10 ODI’s where he has carefully picked and chosen the matches to play. His average is a phenomenal 56.1 runs. The same period also has seen him earn the coveted distinction of being the first player to score an international double hundred in an ODI match.

India’s next big encounter is against the Australians. This is undoubtedly the biggest match of the tournament so far. After all it features the top two ranked teams in world cricket. The match is worthy of a final and the key mini battles amongst the overall match is first the Australian batsmen versus the Indian spinners and second — Indian batsmen versus the Australian pace attack.

It is this later battle that may turn out to be the biggest factor in deciding the fortunes for India in this match. Expect the Australian pace attack to come all out at the Indian batsmen, some of whom are susceptible to short pitch bowling and extreme pace. However, one exception to the above threat from the Indian line-up is Tendulkar. He will be expected to soak in the initial pressure expected to be applied by the Australian pace attack with the new ball.

The battle between Brett Lee and Tendulkar, flag-shipping the bowling and batting forces of their respective teams, may just be the highlight of this edition of the World Cup .

My gut feeling tells me Tendulkar will emerge the winner and this may be the great swansong the Master Blaster is silently planning for his great and distinguished One-day career that is still long, but not over.

—Apostrophe Media Works