The cheers that accompanied Sachin Tendulkar as he made his way to the middle were deafening as always. But what followed next, had most of them sitting with their fingers crossed for the best part of an hour.
It went like this: 2 dots, 1 run, 12 dots, 1 run, 4 dots, Edged four, 9 dots, 1 run, 4 dots, 1 run, 1 run, 5 dots, 1 run.
He just couldn’t get the ball away. Monty Panesar bowled two maidens at him. Steve Finn hit him on the shoulder. The edge of his bat was more prominent than the middle. But he simply didn’t care; he simply didn’t care about how he looked.
He scratched away — in the middle and at the last shreds of pride.
10 runs off 43 balls. 36 dot balls. 1 four.
And for that period, he didn’t look like a world beater. He didn’t look like someone who had 34,000 runs in international cricket. He looked desperate. He looked human. In fact, for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, England were trying to get him on strike, that’s how insecure he was looking in the middle. A far cry from the days when the opposition would try and get him off strike in a bid to frustrate him. Keep Sachin away from the strike and sooner or later, his momentum will die.
It was a vision: Sachin in chains. But he manfully strained against them, keeping himself alive, giving himself some breathing space. Some might even call it ugly. It was in a way but it also encapsulated his current battle — against age, form and England.
Rahul Dravid on BBC’s Test Match Special couldn’t hide his admiration: “It’s fascinating to see such a legend willing to fight it out.” One couldn’t help but agree.
Then Steven Finn came into the attack. He has pace and height but not quite the control, not today. He erred and Tendulkar got two fours off him. The buzz of the crowd had long since died, now they spoke in hushed whispers. Nobody wanted to jinx him.
18 runs off 49 balls. 40 dot balls. 3 fours.
The next stage was slightly better. A single here, a single there, the odd two, an edged four in between. The impression one got was of a man just trying to stay afloat — sooner or later, help would arrive; sooner or later, he would come good. His belief shone through: If I stay at the wicket long enough, the runs will come.
26 runs off 64 balls. 50 dot balls. 4 fours.
At the other end, Tendulkar had seen Gambhir fall, when the opener attempted to cut a delivery that was too close to the stumps. Kohli, on the other hand, hung his bat outside the off-stump and edged it through to the slips. But Tendulkar had survived.
28 runs off 78 balls. 62 dot balls. 4 fours.
With the arrival of Yuvraj Singh, the tempo of the innings began to change. The left-hander played and missed a few times but his positive intent seemed to spark a little life into Tendulkar as well. Another edge went for four but then the master opened the face of his bat to guide the ball just back of square for four. Two fours in two balls. The crowd cheered wildly and then fell silent again. Nobody wanted to break his concentration.
36 runs off 84 balls. 66 dot balls. 6 fours.
Now, some confidence seemed to flow into Tendulkar’s stride. He was consciously trying to plant his front foot as far forward as possible. He was trying to do it all right. By the time, tea was called, he was just four short of his fifty.
46 runs off 98 balls. 77 dot balls. 8 fours.
But when Tendulkar came out after tea, he wanted to get on with things. It felt that way. A four off the first ball in the final session gave him his first half-century in almost a year — he got his last fifty in Syndey on January 3. He followed it up with another four off the very next ball.
54 runs off 100 balls. 77 dot balls. 10 fours.
But then again he settled into a dour rhythm. This was especially evident against Monty Panesar (he played out a total of 73 dot balls in his whole innings against the left-arm orthodox bowler).
63 runs off 124 balls. 95 dot balls. 11 fours.
At this point, he was pretty much starting to look like he had settled in for the long haul. The bowlers weren’t really troubling him much. The ball was pretty old as well. Anderson was bowling brilliantly and the odd ball would beat the batsmen but that was it.
69 runs off 149 balls. 117 dot balls. 12 fours.
Then came the end. Immediately after the drinks break, Anderson got one to seam away from the batsman. Tendulkar came forward to drive anyway, edged it and Matt Prior took a brilliant one-handed catch to his right. The innings was over. The crowd exhaled but they still wondered: Was he back?
76 runs off 154 balls. 123 dot balls. 13 fours.
Some might point to the runs and wonder why the question even needs to be asked. Others might point to the fours — especially the shot he hit off Panesar’s flighted delivery which was driven between cover and extra-cover. The timing and placement were class. But the real takeaway from this innings was the 123 dot balls he faced.
The dot balls above all showcased a desire to remain relevant in our cricketing conversations from reasons other than retirement. They showed the resolve to get down and dirty; to do the hard yards and even appear ordinary while trying to do it.
This wasn’t a monumental innings. This wasn’t Chennai in 1999 — where he made 136 despite a stiff back. This wasn’t the Sydney off 2004 — where he decided he wouldn’t play off-side shots. This was Kolkata; this was where Tendulkar abandoned his pride.
And this too must count.
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