A missed opportunity

The second innings of the Lords test was a perfect setting for any Indian batsman to cement his place in the side. While Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik made the most out of it, it was another missed opportunity for Sachin. Yes, you heard me right. Sachin has to prove his commitment,skill and ability to be sure of a place in the eleven.

While each delivery he faces will be watched intensely by not only his critics but also his millions of fans worldwide, the pressure he has to face, I believe, is at its peak now. For more than one-and-a-half decades, he has been the premiere batsman of the Indian cricket team. Most of these years he was the only dependable batsman. Captains world over priced the champions wicket over the other ten and they had good reason for that. He is the only batsman in the last two decades who has not been dropped from the test or one day team owing to poor performance. But I believe that its getting worse for the little master now. In our cricket crazy nation, everyone still expects him to make a hundred everytime he takes guard at the crease.

His exploits against South Africa, without doubt, proved that Sachin had still some fire left in him. He hooked, pulled and drove the likes of Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel to all parts of the ground in two glorious innings. But he failed to repeat the magic in the all important decider, the third match of the series and in the second innings of the test at Lords. The way he got out to Monty Panesar was appalling. With all due respect to Monty, it was not a delivery good enough to scalp the wicket of one of the best players of spin the world has seen. But of late, he has got out to spinners whose records are nowhere near as impressive as Panesar's.

Hopefully, the Trent Bridge test might see a different Sachin. With the millions of other Sachin fans around the world, I too would love to see some of the master's masterclass.