It is unfair to expect any player to score a hundred every time he walks outto bat. Try explaining that, however, to the average cricket fan. You will findthat logic exits speedily out of the window when it comes to Sachin RameshTendulkar, in particular. Making an unbeaten 137 (275 balls, 18x4), Tendulkarentertained the swelling weekend crowd at the Vidarbha Cricket AssociationStadium and took India to 437/5 at stumps on the third day. Zimbabwe, for theirpart, found themselves yet again at the receiving end of a Tendulkar special.
Minutes before tea, Tendulkar turned a full delivery from Travis Friend tosquare leg, scurried two, and reached his 28th Test hundred, going past SteveWaugh and Allan Border in number of Test tons scored. The little man from Mumbaiis now just one century away from Sir Don Bradman and six away from the all-timeleader Sunil Gavaskar. In the course of this innings, Tendulkar also passed themilestone of 7500 Test runs.
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So Tendulkar made a ton against Zimbabwe on a belter of a batting track atNagpur - not too surprising. Perhaps less expected was the manner in whichSourav Ganguly batted. The Indian captain, who has been out of sorts for manyTests now, looked perfectly comfortable at the wicket. But just when it lookedlike he would emerge unscathed with a big score, he threw his wicket away. Letus face it - Ganguly has a certain contempt for left-arm spinners, and he simplycannot resist the urge to walk down the wicket and thrash them out of the park.It looks spectacular when it comes off, very silly when it does not.
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After knocking the ball around sensibly for 38 (99 balls, 7x4), Gangulysauntered down the track and deposited a Ray Price delivery straight down thethroat of Grant Flower at long on. With 344 on the board, VVS Laxman then walkedout to the middle. And, from his performance today, one would have to concludethat VVS Laxman is fast becoming one of those enigmas of world cricket.
The man who slammed 281 in the most trying of conditions against Australia inthe second Test at Kolkata has since struggled to make a big score. The pressureof failure has turned a free-stroking batsman into a nervous prodder. TheHyderabadi stylist put his head down today, cutting out many of the shots in hisrepertoire and settling in - before falling tamely. Laxman, who prefers to usehis bat rather than pad the ball away, gave Price a classical dismissal when theshoulder of his bat deflected a delivery to the close-in fielder on theoff-side. Laxman made just 13 (47 balls, 2x4).
Earlier, after adding eight runs to his overnight score, Rahul Dravid wasdismissed on 65, chopping hard at one that kept low from Heath Streak. The ballkissed the inside edge and went straight back onto the stumps.
Sanjay Bangar, in the side at the expense of Virender Sehwag, played his partwell, batting sensibly and feeding his senior partner the strike. When the looseball was on offer, Bangar was sharp enough to take full toll. Coming to thewicket to join Tendulkar with India on 376/5 in the 140th over, Bangar'sunbeaten 22 (87 balls, 2x4) helped Tendulkar take India through to stumpswithout further damage.
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For Zimbabwe, Price, the 24-year-old left-arm spinner playing in his seventhTest, stood out. Bowling with a fair degree of accuracy against batsmen who eatspinners for breakfast, Price returned figures of 4/130. Unfortunately for thevisitors, though, the other promising young bowler, Travis Friend, was put outof action in the 149th over of the innings. Having bowled one "highfull-pitched ball," as the rules describe what is commonly known as abeamer, and being no-balled and warned for it, Friend repeated the mistake.Umpire S Venkataraghavan had no choice but to remove him from the attack for thecourse of the innings.
It was an eventful day, but it will all amount to nought for the spectatorsif this game meanders into a tame draw. India will need to score quickly on thefourth day and give themselves enough time to bowl Zimbabwe out. With a lead of150 on the board already, India should be looking to force the pace first thingon the morning of the fourth day.
