Plays of the Day: India v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test match, Day Three
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at Colombo knowing that they can save the game. This was despite the top-order collapse that left the Indians gasping in much like the same manner as the first Test match.
Tendulkar gets to 48th...
The man just does not stop. Even at the age of 37, Sachin Tendulkar bats with as much appetite as a 25-year old cricketer would have. And today was no exception as he came to the rescue of his team by playing one of his more controlled innings on a pitch that did not hold too many demons. It was the way he batted under the pressure of having fielded for the best part of a couple of days coupled with a score of more than 600 runs to chase after being down 0-1 that stood out.
In the process, he also got to his 48th century in Test match cricket, which is nine clear of the number two – Ricky Ponting. Not so long ago, when Sunil Gavaskar had retired from Test match cricket, his figure of 34 centuries was thought to be almost impregnable. And now, Tendulkar has 48. Apart from Ricky Ponting, who has 39 centuries in this format of the game, can anybody else get close?
...and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Prasanna-Jayawardene-c82537 gets the nightmares!
Long ago, Shane Warne had supposedly claimed that he had nightmares of Tendulkar rushing down the track and slamming him for sixes. However, in this game, one can be rest assured that the only player to get nightmares will be the Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene.
Tendulkar was batting on 29, when he tried to chip a short ball from Dilhara Fernando over the wicket-keeper. The ball arrived slower than he expected and took the edged and ballooned up for the wicket-keeper to catch. Unfortunately for the keeper, the ball arrived much too slowly for him as well, and he misjudged it completely to floor the catch. It was a wicket that would have turned the game on its head.
Great batsmen do not give too many chances and Tendulkar rode on it to go on to crack his century.
It is said about Jayawardene that in first class cricket, every time he has dropped a catch, the batsman has gone ahead and got a big one. Today was not the day the theory got disproved!
Which are the other 99s?
There had been 76 previous occasions on which a cricketer had got out for 99 in a Test match and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 have been stumped.
What is more interesting to note is that apart from the 77 who have been dismissed for 99, there have been seven other cricketers who were dismissed for 199 and one unlucky soul, Martin Crowe, who got out for 299.
What would be even more depressing for a cricketer would be to remain unbeaten on 99 (or 199 or 299?) The great Sir Don Bradman was the first ever batsman to remain unbeaten on such a score, when he was left stranded on 299 – a run short of becoming the only man in the history of Test match cricket to score three triple centuries! There has been one unbeaten 199 – Andy Flower – and five other unbeaten 99s in the history of Test cricket.
Debutants coming to the party
Both debutants, Suresh Raina from India and Suraj Randiv of Sri Lanka, had a good day in the office. While Randiv picked up the wickets of Sehwag and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid, Raina scored an unbeaten 66 to stall the fall of wickets.
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