Sachin Tendulkar
“The God had a chance to prove to the World that he was human. But he chose to walk instead!”
It was a hot searing day at Chennai with the temperature hovering around 31 degrees Celsius. But that wouldn’t prevent 40,000 odd fans from walking into the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium to watch Sachin come out to bat against the West Indies. The crowd erupted when M.S. Dhoni won the toss and said India would bat first. A million people settled in front of their TV sets, apart from the ones present in the stadium, were anticipating yet another century from the Little Master – what would be his 100th ton in the international arena.
The national anthems were done with and Gautam Gambhir, in the absence of the rested Virender Sehwag, walked out to the centre along with Sachin Tendulkar. As the big screen in the stadium showed Sachin, the TV volume seemed to go up automatically as the crowd went berserk. Ravi Rampaul was to bowl the first over and India were off to a flier as the first ball bounced over Gambhir and flew high – high enough to be called a wide and high enough to beat the keeper as India were awarded 5 runs. A dot ball later, Gambhir cut it to third man for a single which brought the great man on strike. Goosebumps had taken over – yet again!
The first ball was pitched on middle and leg, just where Tendulkar liked it, and with a flick of the wrists deflected it to fine leg to complete two runs. No nervy moments to get off the mark, no time taken to settle down – Sachin was off and running. It looked destined to be his day! The second ball was steered to point and the third ball was a short one which Sachin had no problems in fending off. He could do no wrong today!
And then came the snorter! The last ball of the over was a bit short of good length and then it rose! Rose and straightened and had Tendulkar in discomfort. He stabbed at it and the ball found the edge of his bat on the way to the keeper. Rampaul and the keeper went up straight away but the umpire Simon Davis shook his head and said not out much to the disbelief of the duo. But Sachin was already on his way back to the pavilion. He had decided to walk! The TV seemed to have muted automatically as the crowd went numb and silent. The match, though only an over old, was over for them!
Tags: Chennai, Cricket, Little Master, M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Sachin Tendulkar, West Indies
