Sachin Tendulkar fans were in for a nice surprise. The maestro not only lived up to the promise he showed on the second day but also, ensured India had a healthy lead to make New Zealand bat under pressure once more.
sachin ecstatic
Primed for a century on an unbeaten seventy, Tendulkar was the one name that stood largely between New Zealand and getting India out for a modest lead. While Yuvraj Singh was a notable partners, there were also others in Mahendra Singh Dhoni and even Zaheer Khan further down the order. They all counted as India imposed themselves slowly but steadily on the opposition and made the life of the hosts predictably harder.
India’s tail is not one of the most prominent ones when it comes to Test batting. But Zaheer’s half century and his partnerships in the course of the innings is perhaps what has tilted the balance strongly in India’s favour towards perhaps not having to bat again.
Tendulkar was majestic in the manner in which he went about things and his 115 run partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni was but one part of a knock that not only held the innings together but also, virtually single handedly snatched the game away from the shots.
Almost all the talk since India landed in New Zealand was about Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, voicing his views that his team thought curbing Virender Sehwag would be a real issue. But Tendulkar has been a silent, nay sublime, nemesis and his exploits today then make it almost remarkable against a rather sedate opposition. Most great players require motivation to play against an opposition that is not exactly sending tremors.
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