Writing about Sachin Tendulkar is fast becoming an exercise in pointlessness. Is anything left unsaid? Is there anything left for him and his countless, maniacal supporters to prove? Every superlative is a cliche. But the man just won't let the scribes rest. Yesterday he notched up his fifth World Cup hundred in the match against England in Bangalore, as faultless an innings as you could hope to see.
In an effort to find something original to say about the man who is in his 22nd year of creating magic at the crease, one or two persistent writers have recently unearthed some things, which though not original, are not as regularly expounded on. One is his insatiable hunger for the game, and another is his ability to score quick runs without seeming to take any risks. Both those attributes were on display in his 115-ball knock of 120 yesterday.
The T20-bred openers of today rely upon the Powerplay overs to get off to a flier and elevate their strike rates. With games built around giving the ball as hard a whack as possible when the field is up, these players usually retreat into their shells after the field spreads out, concentrating on picking the singles and putting the bad balls away. The better ones have the games to tide them over till the batting Powerplay and the slog overs, when they up the ante once more. The geniuses have the versatility to pick off boundaries even when the bowling is good and the field spread.
In Banglaore, Tendulkar was on 24 off 43 balls with two 4s to his name when the bowling Powerplay ended at the end of the fifteenth over. He then picked his moment to blaze away, scoring his last 96 runs off 72 balls with eight 4s and five 6s. During that phase of play, not once was a false shot played or Tendulkar beaten.
The prevailing opinion now seems to be that he has mellowed since his nakedly aggressive heyday of the 90s. That may be true as far as his modus operandi is concerned, but the results are much the same. He is still scoring as fast as he ever did, and hitting hundreds as frequently. Also, from the evidence of his double-hundred against South Africa a little over a year ago -- the first in the one-day format -- he has gotten better at that very basic skill of batsmanship; not getting out.
His hunger for the game also forms part of the reason for his high strike rate, which is paradoxically coupled with a low-risk game. Tendulkar is one of the best judges of the single, and there comes a stage in his innings when keeping him tied up is next to impossible, so keen is his eye for the stolen run.
Yesterday too, well into his innings, the 37-year old was scampering his singles as if he was playing his first World Cup, not his sixth.
He has stated that a World Cup trophy is the only feather missing from his cap. In this, his last World Cup, that too on home soil, all other teams will be wary of the Tendulkar masterclass. On yesterday's evidence and considering the evolution of his game to a near-perfect one, there will not be much they can do about it.
