'The Master' puts on a show in Christchurch

The week of March 2-8, 2009, will go down as one of the worst-ever in cricket history, thanks to an off-field incident that happened in Lahore on the morning of March 3 (Tuesday). The incident is of course the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore by a group of 10-12 militants who were armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and grenades. Fortunately, while seven Sri Lankan cricketers were injured, none of them sustained serious injuries, but a Pakistani umpire travelling in the match officials' bus is still battling for his life in a Lahore hospital.

The attack led to the cancellation of the remainder of Sri Lanka's tour of Pakistan, and has now of course ensured that the Pakistan Cricket Board won't get to be the hosting board at home for quite some time to come, apart from putting a huge question over the strife-torn's country position as one of the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup. However, before the attack, there was a lot to cheer for Sri Lankan cricket as their batsmen put on a rollicking show in the first innings of the second Test match. Thilan Samaraweera, who sustained a bullet wound in the knee during the terror attack, had only made his way into the record books the previous day, as he joined the select bunch of batsmen to make consecutive double hundreds in Test innings. I only hope that he not only recovers fully from his injury, but is also able to maintain the same form on his return to the Sri Lankan team.

Though this terror attack dampened spirits around the cricketing world, there were some spectacular performances in South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand, that would have helped reduce the gloomy atmosphere to an extent. Ramnaresh Sarwan and England captain Andrew Strauss have been the standout performers in the England-West Indies Test series, while Australian pace bowler Mitchell Johnson and batsmen Philip Hughes and Marcus North apart from South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn and middle-order batsman JP Duminy, have been at the forefront of the intensity in the first two Test matches btween the Baggy Greens and Proteas.

Meanwhile, in the one-day series between India and New Zealand, the visitors have seen some excellent batting performances by vice-captain Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar, while for the hosts Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum have been the standout performers with the bat. The bowlers from both the sides have been at the receiving end of some lusty hitting by the opposing team's batsmen. However, as good as these performnaces have been around the world, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who struck the 43rd century of his one-day international career in the Christchurch ODI against New Zealand, turned back the years with the style of batting that only he is capable of.

The last time Tendulkar featured in a ODI series for India, he was the unfortunate recipient of three consecutive horrendous umpiring decisions in Sri Lanka, and consequently had scores of 5, 6 and 7 in the five-match series that was won by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men. This wasn't the first time that Tendulkar's stays at the crease have been rudely cut short, and it is unlikely to be the last time that this happens either. Tendulkar though took these blows with the dignity and grace that have come to be associated with him over the years.

Tendulkar didn't feature in the T20 internationals in New Zealand, but would have been aware of the fact, that his one-day record in New Zealand isn't as spectacular as that of his glittering career. He failed in the first one-dayer at Napier, but came back roaring into form in the Wellington match, as he notched up the 91st half-century of his ODI career. And, his performance in Wellington, was only a curtain-raiser of things to come in Christchurch.

In the third ODI at Christchurch, Tendulkar was at the opposite end when Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, were dismissed cheaply, even as he was going great guns. Tendulkar in the company of Yuvraj and then Dhoni took the New Zealand bowling attack to the cleaners as India posted an imposing total of 392 for 4 in their allotted 50 overs. Tendulkar, who had to eventually retire hurt when on 163, had struck some lusty blows while rotating the strike intelligently when Yuvraj was going great guns, turned back the years and played like the Sachin of the late 1990s and the early part of this decade, as he hit his first-ever ODI century in New Zealand.

If it weren't for the stomach cramps that forced him to retire hurt, Tendulkar could very well have gone past Saeed Anwar's 194 -- the highest score by a batsman in one-day internationals. Though that wasn't to be, Tendulkar's splendid knock in Christchurch would have put a smile back on the faces of cricket fans across the world, in not-so-happy times. It is also quite obvious that despite 20 years of international cricket and holding most of the batting records in the game, Tendulkar still enjoys his game and likes to entertain the spectators. For his terrific knock of 163 retired hurt and proving yet again that class doesn't diminish with age, Tendulkar is MSN India's Cricketer of the Week.