Wednesday 24 February 2010

400* in tests and 200* in ODIs: The new landmarks

This was perhaps the only record that Sachin Tendulkar had not made his own. I remember the way Sachin Tendulkar was looking helplessly in that particular match against Pakistan at Chennai that played more than a decade back when Pakistan's Saeed Anwar belted Anil Kumble for three consecutive sixes enroute to his 194. Finally, it was in the bowling off Sachin TendulkarSaeed Anwar's dream run came to an end when he was 6 runs short of scoring a double hundred. May be Sachin had told this to himself that these 6 runs would be scored by "me" which turned into a reality yesterday when he scored the world's first double hundred.

People would have gone sick looking the way Sachin Tendulkar scoring hundreds the way sun rises and sets every day. But, it would be wrong to consider this a hundred. The ICC and all major cricket websites must open a new column in batting records indicating the number of double hundreds scored by a batsman, which would at present contain only one name-SachinRamesh Tendulkar. The record, until yesterday was against a player who had achieved it by an unfair means when Saeed Anwar had a runner when his individual score was 70 and had no problems when he took to front foot to send Anil Kumble out of the ground on 3 successive occasions.

It is a bad fortune of the record that it remained unbroken until last August when Charles Coventry notched an unbeaten 194 which is considered to be better than the one set up by Saeed Anwar for the fact the the Zimbabwean batsman remained unbeaten. Finally, the unfair record set up by Saeed Anwar will never ever pop up as the highest individual score in one day internationals anymore. For, the score of 200* by Sachin Tendulkar is not only the highest individual score by a batsman in one dayers but also a new landmark called the double hundred that'll be the one for ever.

In case by a freak chance someone is able to overtake Sachin's record, still Sachin Tendulkar will be the man to have first scored a double hundred. And no one would highlight Saeed Anwar as the first batsman to have crossed the 190s. This can no doubt be considered to be in par with the unbeaten knock of 400 by Brian Lara against England which became another mark in test cricket. If the difference between these two batsmen is that one player plays right handed and the other left handed, similarities exist with both batsmen using a MRF bat. So cool isn't it!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Sachin uses a custom made Adidas bat not, with his initials 'ST' inscribed on it. He stopped using the MRF bat about a few months back.