Tendulkar: Prisoner of the Numbers Game

By John Cheeran
After scoring his 36th Test century in Chittagong in the first Test against Bangladesh, Sachin Tendulkar had gloated that batsmen such as him and Sourav Ganguly do not play for numbers.
And he has just done that, playing for numbers, that is, without responding to the needs of the team cause in the second Test in Mirpur. Yes, Tendulkar crawled to ensure that he did not miss his 37th Test century.
How dishonest can Tendulkar get?
On a flat wicket and that too against, clueless Bangladeshi bowlers Tendulkar posted the weakest strike rate among the Indian batsmen on view in the second Test.
Tendulkar scored 122 off 226 balls, with a strike rate only better than his best friend Sourav Ganguly! Tendulkar’s strike rate was 53.98.
And consider that the champion batsman came to the crease with Indian score being 281 for 0. The situation warranted an aggressive innings still all that mattered for Tendulkar was another century, at any cost!
Skipper Rahul Dravid played an admirable innings, tailored to the circumstances, to score 129 off 176 balls with a strike rate of 73.29. Young Dinesh Karthick, opening the innings scored 129 off 212 balls with a strike rate of 60.84. Wasim Jaffer was close behind scoring 130 off 229 balls with a strike rate of 60.26.
These numbers do not lie and but explain who has been pushing individual cause to the detriment of Team India.
Statistics will tell you that even his 36th Test century followed a similar get-your-century-at-any cost attitude.
Gone are the days of uncritical applause for this mean batsman from Bombay.
May be Tendulkar want to survive the rest of the forthcoming season on the strength of these two centuries against Bangladesh.
Indian cricket really require some encounter specialists to finish off those who push only their cause on the crease.