Sachin Tendulkar did not score a ton. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara did. Tendulkar (most likely) will not bat for India again. The other two will take it forward from here.
The legendary batsman’s swansong is where the story begins for the GenNext of Indian cricket. In the last decade or so, the team had not been as dependent on Tendulkar as it had been prior to that. Yet, he has been a vital cog in the wheel of India’s batting fortunes as it rolled into better times. And his absence is going to be felt.
Sharma and Pujara, who thrived on a lively track but against an ordinary attack, showed that there are options, and worthy ones at that. However, the true testimony of their assertion will be in South Africa next month where neither the pitches nor the attack are going to be ordinary.
The ongoing series against the West Indies is not even a worthy dress rehearsal in that regard. The poor run of cricket by the visitors continued on the second day, leaving them with the arduous task of saving the match with seven wickets in hand and a run-deficit of 270 to make India bat again.
West Indies were 42 for three in their second innings at stumps in reply to India’s total of 492 all out. With the ball turning sharp and spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha having tasted blood, the Windies batsmen will be hunted down on Saturday. And it will most likely be the last day of Tendulkar’s unmatchable cricketing career.
He resumed his innings on Friday, with his vintage touch that had somehow gone missing of late. A couple of boundaries off Darren Sammy brought back memories of Tendulkar of the old. A delicate cut behind backward point off Shane Shillingford; a drive through the covers pivoting on his backfoot to send Tino Best to the boundary showcased the maestro’s class for one last time.
However, what took the cake was the straight drive off Best that brought his half-century up.
Coming after an attempt at an upper cut, Tendulkar added more beauty to the word grace with this shot. He celebrated his 50 by raising his bat as a salute to his mother, who was in the stands for the first time in his career, then acknowledging the crowd.
Tendulkar struck a good rapport with Pujara as they shared a stand of 154 runs for the third wicket. A century in his last Test appeared to be very much on the cards, even as Tendulkar flirted with danger more than once. However, his fairytale swansong was cut short when an attempted cut off Narsingh Deonarine took a thick edge and was caught by the lone man in the slips.
Pujara reached his three-figure mark post lunch. Sharma farmed the tail-ender Mohammed Shami to add 80 runs for the last wicket and also reached his second century in as many innings in Test cricket.
While the two-match series will not really have much value cricket-wise, the second day of the second Test will be remembered as the day when the GenNext of Indian cricket took over.
And even Tendulkar could not have asked for a more symbolic day. His retirement, after all, has more to do with the future of Indian cricket than its past.
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