Bored with the Ashes? No problem then. Focus your eyes on
the Cape Town Test between India
and South Africa .
If you are a passionate follower of the game, you won’t mind paying money and
flying to Cape Town and watch Test
cricket at its very best. The battle between the best fast bowler in the world
and the best batsman of the world is something that any connoisseur of the game
would love to go miles to see.
I would like to know what Dale Steyn what he had for lunch
on the third day of the Test as the South African paceman’s spell in the middle
session was simply stupendous. It was a display of hostile swing bowling to put
shiver down any of the best batsman’s spine. In the pre-lunch session, Steyn
was on top of his game, but post lunch there were some extra zing in his
bowling – classical outswing at high pace. Often he pitched on leg and missed
off. He was simply and too hot to handle for any one. The control was
immaculate and the length spot on. Steyn hardly gave any respite to the batsmen.
He was almost the epitome of fast bowling perfection. If you love fast bowlers
firing at full tilt with all the nuances, this was it.
He went wicketless in the pre-lunch session, but in the post-lunch
session he got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara with a Shane Warne-like special – just
that this delivery was bowled at 134 kmph! Steyn got the away movement going,
this time from leg stump. It landed on a length and opened Pujara up as he
desperately tried to cover the line. It defeated his prod and thudded into the
back pad in front of middle. What a Ball!
Steyn finished the day with 5 for 72.
Steyn even tested the best batsman in the world, Sachin
Tendulkar. But Tendulkar is a commando with the willow. It was a fascinating
battle. Steyn was all fired up to unsettle the maestro, and Tendulkar
determined not to lose the battle. Tendulkar faced 48 of the 66 balls Steyn
bowled in pre-lunch and post-lunch sessions and negotiated the hostility with
utmost authority. The master defended the pace with soft hands, and left the
dangerous outswingers whizzing perilously outside the off stump.
Tendulkar kept his launching power for Lonwabo Tsotsobe and
Morne Morkel. Tsotsobe was effective, but not red hot like Steyn. Tendulkar
unleashed the pull and the upper-cut. It was time for the master to reap
rewards for his hard work in the first hour. The glorious cover drives were
scripted, the drives straight down the ground, the paddle sweep, the nudges and
the steers to third man…it was a sight for sore eyes. Yes, he was lucky to get
away with the edges. But fortune favours the brave and he deservedly notched up
his 51st Test hundred - in style, with a
six off Morkel.
Tendulkar played the role which Kallis did for South
Africa in their first innings. Much
responsible this time, he shielded the tail and protected Harbhajan Singh from
Steyn to string together a stand of 76 – critical in ensuring a respectable
total. In the end Tendulkar’s resistance broke to Morkel, castled for 146. But
it was a job he would be very proud of.
Whatever the result of the Test, one will long remember
Steyn’s two hostile spells and Tendulkar’s masterly negotiation of the South
African pace. This was Test cricket was at its very best.
Note: This article has been published on Cricket Country on 31/01/2011 http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/test-cricket-at-its-very-best-3-152
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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