All eyes are on the Little Master

India, to be sure, are progressing well, though they would perhaps have preferred to go into the last 10 overs with a few more wickets in hand, as they stand poised at 188/4 in 38 overs. But stroll around the stands and all eyes are on Tendulkar, and in this land of a million commentators they have it all figured out.

Especially when Pedro Collins charges in. (In Antigua, as they quipped, “Collins got Tendulkar out thrice? He must think he’s Jesus, man!”) “Well bowled, Pedro,” they’ve been muttering in the Learie Constantine stand, “middle and leg, boy, middle and leg”.

Today is Tendulkar’s day, he could steer India to victory, or see the team struggle to pull off a series win. So even as the Trini Posse system blares away, in the Queen’s Park Oval they are glued to their seats.

This is what a visitor to the Caribbean must take away with him or her—this smooth, holistic appreciation of life, this instinctive going with the flow. They know when to leap out of their seats and do a little jig, they know when to sit still and savour a special moment.

They are still right now. Virender Sehwag’s early blitz (only to be caught spectacularly by Chris Gayle off Merv Dillon on 32) is forgotten.

Ganguly’s boundaries, most memorably off Cuffy and Collins, as to his graciously applauded half-century, are in the past. Rahul Dravid, promoted up the order in a crunch game, is keeping the Little Master company no longer.

To the now predictable strains of “We will, we will rock you”, they have just cheered the dismissal of Rahul Dravid, promoted up the order to number five. This Port of Spain congregation knows the game could be decided in the next few minutes.