Virender Sehwag was right. It is turning out to be a rather ordinary series. The only day of excitement on the test was the first day when Bangladesh had India on their knees. But thanks to Tendulkar, and some pretty shoddy performance by the Bangladesh team in the second innings, India managed to pull off a rather facile victory. If nothing else, this series has provided the Indian team to rack up some records. Gambhir for instance, had equaled Viv Richards’ record of 11 fifties in 11 consecutive tests. He is at par with Bradman’s record of 5 consecutive centuries, but it seems that he will unfortunately miss out on breaking the Don’s record unless Bangladesh get some formidable second innings total.
There was another record that was created on the second day of the Mirpur test; one that went largely unnoticed. Maybe it was because the two principal characters involved in the record are so used to create monumental records that this one was but a footnote in their illustrious career. I am ofcourse talking about Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and their magnificent 222 run partnership that helped India get a firm grip over this test. It was a typical Sachin-Rahul partnership with Dravid holding one end firm while Sachin milked the bowling from the other end, and finally upped the ante with some shots to the fence. While Dravid’s innings was like wave having periods where he was dominating and others where he was quiet, Sachin’s innings resembled the stock market in its heydays – rising steadily, getting more and more risky but still a treat to sore eyes. Both got some reprieves from the opposition ofcourse – with Dravid dropped once and Sachin twice. But the experienced campaigners that they are, these two veterans of Indian cricket made sure that Bangladesh would rue the missed opportunities.
For those who are statistical minded, this was the 17th century partnership between these two – another world record for the gentle giants of Indian cricket. They were previously tied with the pair of Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes and Matthew Hayden-Ricky Ponting. And looking at their current form they look far from finished; beware South Africa! For more than a decade, these two have been manning the number three and four positions respectively for India, and looking at this recent piece of statistic it must be said that they haven’t done too bad a job.
One last piece of statistic before signing off. It seems that Sachin Tendulkar can’t really make any runs these days without creating a record. This double century partnership between these two was the 15th such partnership that Sachin was involved; equaling Ricky Ponting’s record. With Australian batting not looking in the kind of shape it used to be, Sachin certainly has a great chance of going past the Aussie great. Amen!
There was another record that was created on the second day of the Mirpur test; one that went largely unnoticed. Maybe it was because the two principal characters involved in the record are so used to create monumental records that this one was but a footnote in their illustrious career. I am ofcourse talking about Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and their magnificent 222 run partnership that helped India get a firm grip over this test. It was a typical Sachin-Rahul partnership with Dravid holding one end firm while Sachin milked the bowling from the other end, and finally upped the ante with some shots to the fence. While Dravid’s innings was like wave having periods where he was dominating and others where he was quiet, Sachin’s innings resembled the stock market in its heydays – rising steadily, getting more and more risky but still a treat to sore eyes. Both got some reprieves from the opposition ofcourse – with Dravid dropped once and Sachin twice. But the experienced campaigners that they are, these two veterans of Indian cricket made sure that Bangladesh would rue the missed opportunities.
For those who are statistical minded, this was the 17th century partnership between these two – another world record for the gentle giants of Indian cricket. They were previously tied with the pair of Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes and Matthew Hayden-Ricky Ponting. And looking at their current form they look far from finished; beware South Africa! For more than a decade, these two have been manning the number three and four positions respectively for India, and looking at this recent piece of statistic it must be said that they haven’t done too bad a job.
One last piece of statistic before signing off. It seems that Sachin Tendulkar can’t really make any runs these days without creating a record. This double century partnership between these two was the 15th such partnership that Sachin was involved; equaling Ricky Ponting’s record. With Australian batting not looking in the kind of shape it used to be, Sachin certainly has a great chance of going past the Aussie great. Amen!
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