Cricket-England's pl...

At times, things seem to just fall in place. Sachin says his mind was blank at the start of the Indian innings, it was probably the best state of mind he could have wished for. Genius is at its best when unfettered. He says after playing that first over backfoot cover drive off Akram, that he'd made up his mind to just bat. There have been few cricketing statements as eloquent.

Cricket viewing is never as arresting as when Sachin bats. The lazy elegance of a Laxman or a Gower is easy on the eye. They're like artists who have effortlessly borrowed from cricket to create soft patterns that soothe the senses. But, in a purely cricketing sense, they aren't complete. When you watch Sachin, you are truly watching cricket. It is cricket as you have imagined it should be played, coinciding with images of cricketing perfection that have been built up within you.

When you see the shuffle that at times takes him outside off, you know it's calculated to take him outside off. And, then if possible, if the ball isn't too wide outside off, and if the length affords him the luxury of turning it to leg -- in most cases it does -- it's whipped away through square leg. At times, when it's on a good length, it's pushed through mid on. Such is the timing and placement of these seemingly defensive pushes that they speed away past the fielder almost on the perimeter of the 30 yard circle. Fielders seem to be rooted to the spot and then turn and give futile chase. If ever science was married to art, this was it.

The flick off middle stump is designed to upset the rhythm of bowlers and hence get them to alter their line. Initially, they're tempted to try trapping him in front. Once in a while, a bowler like Gillespie gets a brilliantly, almost spontaneously conceived slower ball through. But, in most cases, they eventually give up and try bowling outside off, like McGrath. Viv Richards used to do the same thing to bowlers. Those who have bowled to him might have always felt they were a ball away from getting him in front, but the days this happened were too few and far between. It is the same with Sachin. It is probably true that Indians fear his getting caught plumb in front more than opposition bowlers have had reason to hope for.

The upper cut over the slips and on occasion, played over backward point is a shot that a few other current batsmen like Sehwag and Gilchrist play. But, somehow with Sachin, there appears to be a lot more science to the shot. He seems to understand the shot, not just play it. He didn't play it that often till that breathtaking 155 at Bloemfontein. He plays it generally only on bouncier pitches, whereas Sehwag and Gilchrist probably play it everywhere. It is this type of specific adjustment and execution that separates Sachin from the others. Bowlers, as was the case with Waqar and Shoaib at the Centurion, aren't prepared nearly enough whereas Sachin mostly is.

How a batsman after playing that stunning upper cut against the fastest bowler in the world, in a match of such pressure, had the presence of mind to be almost waiting to flick the next ball away, we will never know. But, that is specifically why Pakistan was stopped in its tracks. For all the raw talent that they possess or more correctly, used to possess, they hadn't seen Sachin in a while and weren't prepared for anything like this. The best service Imran could do Pakistan would be to admit Sachin and Viv are in a class of their own. I'm sure Majid and Zaheer and even Greg and Ian Chappell would agree. No one ever claimed that Srinath, McDermott or even Kapil Dev was Akram.

When hours of careful study of bowlers' techniques align with an unerring ability to pick line and more importantly length early, you feel a batsman is playing purely by instinct. It is instinct that has been finely honed. The great CLR James in his opus, Beyond a Boundary, talks about George Headley repeatedly recalling a couple of balls that he hadn't read from the hand. You can imagine Sachin similarly fret. Great batsmen haven't changed and so hasn't the game.

It is all very well to talk about great batsmen, but other very good batsmen shouldn't be forgotten. So, shouldn't their captain. It was Saurav who insisted on Sachin dropping down the order. If not for that, we'd still have had Saurav and Sachin opening, we'd have never got Sehwag to blossom, we'd have never seen Kaif and Yuvraj develop, nor Dravid bat so well with them. It's a happy coincidence that Saurav lost a touch of form and Sachin came back up the order. But, if the younger lot and Dravid hadn't flowered, we might have seen another Sachin stunner in a losing cause. Even batting geniuses need a bit of buffer and confidence in their team men to fully express themselves. So, for this, we must thank Saurav and the rest of the team. And, thank you Sachin, for we've been blessed.