sachin tendulkar... the centurion...

they call him god...
i say let him stay human...
only then we will realise...
his feats are actually humanly possible... 

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in the realm of senses...

if you came here looking for Nagisa Ôshima's classic of same titled movie In the realm of Senses review... sorry to bother you... its about cricket...

first day at centurion of india vs south africa test series to be precise that will decide who is the second best team in the world... InSaf ho ke rahega...

it is very easy to dismiss india's performance on opening day as "oh! look how they would struggle in south africa coz these ain't roads..."

how india would struggle to keep straight face on sa pitches with bounce and pace... i would like to remind them that this was just the day one of fifteen days of competitive test cricket to come... remember we did the same to them with better results last time in johannesburg in similar circumstances... so just wait and relax...

if i say india were kanpoored at centurion it won't be an exaggeration...

but having said that... i was most disappointed by two performances...

our openers... sehwag and gambhir...

sehwag coz... if you see action replays of his dismissals of last fateful tour of sa that cost him his place... his dismissal in just the 2nd over of the match would just be that... action replay... which in turn means that he has not learned anything from his last experience... that you just can't play ball on the up so early in innings without taking the stock of things... when there is bit of movement and carry... as we witnessed yesterday...

before you jump on me and say "o come on... this is the way he bats.." i say it means that of late you are not watching sehwag bat in tests... or rather just watching him bat in evening highlight shows...

the sehwag of today is more patient than ever before... today's sehwag gives four-five overs to bowlers... leaves lots of balls outside off stump... let his eye in... take stock of the bowling and pitch and then unleash himself on balls that to him are boundary balls...

contrary to perception he is very shrewd cricketer and he must feel disappointed with his shot selection so early in his innings of a historical tour...

its one thing to accept the challenge and its completely another to blindly succumb to the billing of the most feared batsmen in indian lineup... the champion players don't walk into that obvious a trap... not on the second over of the match...

sehwag of yesterday was the sehwag of last south africa tour who was rightly dropped...

another disappointment came from gambir... who never looked like an opener of a no.1 test team... he looked very nervous from the start... appeared like cat on hot tin roof... and never looked like the partner of most lethal opening pair in cricket world today...

the conditions were no doubt difficult... but he never appeared that he belonged to the test on offer... and his eventual dismissal rather had the air of inevitability than anything else...

it remains to be seen how he compose himself coz i fear the damage could be deep than just the half-hearted poke... that eventually cost him his wicket... and a long walk back to some serious introspection...

this tour will go a long way in establishing gambhir as the true world class opening batsman or he will just simply chicken out... like his last dismissal...

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