Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar's long chase
Like the mythical hero who had just slain the demon, Sachin Tendulkar raised his bat, mace-like, threw back his head and lifted his arms, marking Indiaâ??s triumph, and his own. For close to three hours, Tenduikar had waged a strange battle, a battle that had two distinct flavours. On Sunday, he had cooled Shoaib Akhtarâ??s fire with ice; on Monday morning, the game Indiaâ??s to lose, Akhtar raged in, gambling away runs in the quest of wickets, Tendulkarâ??s mind was altered â?? the sniff of the win had done it, and his bat flashed with
procision and force, with thrilling regularity and telling effect, eliciting roars from the sparse
With 32 to get on Monday morning, people had bet on Tenduikar and Sourav Ganguly to give them a brief thrill and got it from the former. They roared their approval at every boundary, every single, every stroke, as India flew towards their second-highest run-chase at home. the aggressor on Sunday, fell trying to clear the ropes off an Akhtar bouncer, as Sohail Tanvir at fine leg pouched the ball,
cabbrating in his strange manner, his face straight, almost doleful,
The new, cerebral Akhtar, who had been tempting Tendulkar and Ganguly, sent down a fast, furious first one to VVS Laxman, who
survived, but no one knows how Tendulkar smashed Akhtar past the infield to get the last four runs, celebrated solo and then sunk into the arms of Laxman, whose much larger form obscured the little giant.
Posted by Shashank Mittal | Views 582 | Share Blog
