Power nap and a Power bat! That's what Sachin Tendulkar needed to become the youngest Test centurion in Australia 25 years ago today. The Master Blaster recalls one of his finest innings
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar bats his way to glory en route his 148* against Allan Border’s Australians at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 5, 1992. Pic/Kamal Julka
It's 25 years for one of cricket's finest innings today. The protagonist can't believe how time has elapsed, but remembers every moment of it. On January 5, 1992 Sachin Tendulkar lit up the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) with his first hundred in Australia which convinced Australia and the rest of the world that he would emerge as the special one.
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Having lost in Brisbane and Melbourne, India under Mohammed Azharuddin lapped up the conditions in Sydney after putting Australia in. They bowled Allan Border's Australia out for 313 with Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and Subroto Banerjee claiming three apiece.
This match will be known for three reasons - Ravi Shastri's double century, Tendulkar's 148 and Shane Warne's Test debut in which he ended up with 1 for 150. It was the only Test India managed to draw during that five-Test summer and pundits reckoned they would have won it had there been another spinner in the side to bowl alongside Shastri.
Tendulkar couldn't sleep on the night of January 4. Instead of tossing and turning, he decided to prepare for his next day battle against Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid and Merv Hughes. While he practised his strokes in the hotel room, he woke up his stunned room partner Sourav Ganguly, who had no option but to be awake and watch the young hero go through his drills.
"How can one sleep with the lights on, so I had to wait for him (to finish his shadow practice)," Ganguly remarked at the book release of Tendulkar's autobiography two years ago.
Even after the 'batting session', sleep was elusive. When Tendulkar arrived at the fabled Sydney Cricket Ground dressing room on the morning of January 5, he was dozing. "With my pads on, I decided to take a power nap and told Dada (Ganguly) to wake me up if Azhar gets out," he told mid-day yesterday. He walked out with his Power bat, felt good and returned to the dressing room with 120 to his name and kicked off an era in which bowlers too endured sleepless nights.
The field was star-studded with some of Australia's finest cricketers, who had brought about the revival of Australian cricket. The commentary box was filled with luminaries — Richie Benaud, Ian and Greg Chappell, Bill Lawry, and the Tonys — Greig and Cozier.
"Well played, Sachin Tendulkar," Lawry exclaimed on air as the young gun reached his crease after his second run after flicking Craig McDermott to Merv Hughes in the deep.
Benaud rated Tendulkar's 148 as one of the finest innings he saw in all the years of watching cricket. To him, the Sydney effort was even better than the Perth hundred in the final Test of the series, on the fastest pitch in the world. "It (Sydney hundred) was just something else and I have marvelled at it ever since," Benaud had said.
In the press box, there was former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck. "To see Tendulkar beside Shastri was to see a diamond beside a rock," he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. "Most outstanding batsmen could play three shots especially well — the square cut, the drive straight of mid-on and the tuck past square leg. Tendulkar produced all of these shots and lots of others besides — shots played with his head down and still, in a dazzling array which included several back-foot glides through areas patrolled by point. The power and timing of his straight driving was impressive, the batted leather skimming across the outfield as smoothly as a puck across ice."
Tendulkar didn't become the youngest player to score a hundred in Australia (18 years, 256 days) without preparation. There was intent, determination and resolve too. Holing out to Border at mid-on off Peter Taylor for 40 in the previous Test at Melbourne cut him deep. "That dismissal made me more determined for Sydney. I was boiling inside. I wanted to get a big one in Sydney. I was fully focused," he recalled.
Shastri's achievement was not a lightweight one. No Indian batsman had scored a Test double century on Australian turf before. No one has ever since. "I first saw greatness from 22 yards," Shastri said yesterday.
Tendulkar reckoned he was fortunate to have Shastri at the other end. "I knew Ravi very well. I saw the other side to him when he was having those verbal battles with the Australians. I too wanted to give it back once I settled in, but he advised me to focus on my game," said Tendulkar.
Rahul Mankad, the former Mumbai batsman, who was based in Australia then, watched Tendulkar's classic innings from the left-hand corner of the player's enclosure at the SCG. "Sachin's driving and cutting stood out and it was blatantly obvious that he was destined for greatness. A couple of drives off McDermott and an on-drive off Hughes are etched in my mind. Hughes was very hostile in that series but Sachin had his measure and counter attacked brilliantly. It was apparent that Sachin was way ahead of his peers and had the X Factor that only a few blessed players have," Mankad told mid-day yesterday.
Tendulkar found McDermott most challenging throughout the series. But there were also Bruce Reid, Mike Whitney and Merv Hughes to tackle. Hughes who was to tell his captain Border later in the series, "This little p**ck's going to get more runs than you, AB" ran across to Tendulkar and gave him a hug in appreciation. Tendulkar has not forgotten that gesture.
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