Spotlight on retiring Tendulkar as first Test between India-West Indies starts today
Cricket has been left overshadowed by the farewell carnival surrounding the iconic Sachin Tendulkar and India will have to keep emotions in check to ensure that they are not distracted from the task at hand against the West Indies in his swansong two-Test series starting here on Wednesday.
The centre stage will belong to Tendulkar, who will begin pulling the curtains down on his glittering career here. The 40-year-old veteran will call it quits after his 200th Test with the one starting tomorrow being his 199th.
Amid an upsurge of emotions among fans and administrators of the game alike, Tendulkar would look to make it memorable through his bat against a team, which has promised to steal the limelight by thwarting him.
Given the hype and hoopla surrounding the series, it would take a herculean effort from the West Indies to avoid being just bridesmaids.
Tendulkar’s imposing presence will dominate the series and why notIJ In a controversy-free career spanning 24 years, Tendulkar has been the most worshipped and followed cricketer who has against his name, almost all the batting records including most runs and hundreds in international cricket.
Treated like ‘God’ by his fans, it will be one nostalgic moment for sports-mad Kolkata when Tendulkar comes on to bat in his penultimate Test on the hallowed Eden Gardens. The majestic ground has been witness to many of Tendulkar’s ups and downs since his Eden odyssey began in an ODI against Sri lanka on January 4, 1991.
Tendulkar’s farewell aside, India will start the series as firm favourites with the young batsmen rising up to the challenge even though the bowling is a worry.
On the other hand, despite their big claims of playing hard cricket and spoiling Tendulkar’s farewell series, the Windies did not quite show quality in a three-day practice match against Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association last week.
This will be a perfect dress rehearsal for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men before the tough away challenges in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia next year. India’s batting is in the groove and the return of Shikhar Dhawan will strengthen the top-order.
The left-hander struck a rollicking 187 in his debut innings in Mohali only to sit out in the second essay picking up an injury and going on to miss the last Test against Australia earlier this year.
After his comeback in the IPl, Dhawan was in blistering form in the recent ODI series and the southpaw would look to lay the foundation at the top with Murali Vijay, while Cheteshwar Pujara will play the sheet-anchor role.
India’s middle-order would see a new face in Rohit Sharma when he makes his Test debut at the Eden. More than three years and after 108 ODIs and 3049 runs, Sharma has a new-found approach as showed by becoming only the third batsman ever to score an ODI double-hundred in the recent home series against Australia.
Sharma was due for a Test debut against the touring South Africans in 2009-10 but a freak injury kept him on the sidelines.
In fact, it is the bowling attack which has left India in a bit of a quandary. Dhoni is likely to go for a three plus two pace-spin attack in the absence of an injured Ravindra Jadeja.
The return of Umesh Yadav will bolster the new-ball attack with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma being the other two pacers while Bengal-lad Mohammad Shami may just have to wait for a Test debut.
Dhoni may prefer left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha over leg-spinner Amit Mishra to partner Ravichandran Ashwin.
The West Indies too have a milestone cricketer in their most capped player Shivnarine Chanderpaul who will play his 150th Test in Mumbai. The left-arm batsman with an uncanny stance has been a proven performer against the Indians averaging 66, against his career average of 52.
‘Sachin’s retirement biggest in cricket history’
New Delhi: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has termed Tendulkar’s retirement as the “biggest” the game has ever seen, while another former great VVS laxman feels that CAB’s farewell arrangements won’t cause “distraction” to him.
Asked if Tendulkar’s impending retirement after two-Test series against the West Indies is the biggest farewell that the world cricket has seen, the veteran replied, “I think so. Any retirement is greeted with sadness. After November 18, there will be no Tendulkar in action. So the frenzy is understandable. He is the biggest cricketer after Sir Don Bradman and his retirement is the biggest of them all.”
Gavaskar even took a dig at the media, who, according to him made endless speculations about Tendulkar’s retirement till the cricketer himself made it official. “I used to tell you guys that you don’t know what you will miss once he (Tendulkar) retires.”
laxman said Tendulkar’s innings against Haryana in the Ranji opener at lahli should act as a confidence booster for the legendary batsman as it came under tough conditions. “He played a match-winning knock in the second innings but I was more impressed with the amount of time he spent out there in the middle,” said laxman.