Old hands hold fort

Chasing 276,Tendulkar and Dravid will begin Day Four with India needing 124 runs for victory

It flickered to life almost like an afterthought. Following the rapturous howl from the quarter full Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium,the figure 8216;15000 runs8217; danced in the belly of the giant screen,while the words 8216;Congrats8217; and 8216;Sachin8217; limped into vision a few seconds later. Sachin Tendulkar,who had pushed a Devendra Bishoo ball to extra cover to move from 27 to 28,too seemed a little confused with the applause,before it dawned upon him that yet another landmark had been crushed under his aura. With his bat and helmet pointing towards the sun set,Tendulkar celebrated in traditional style,before the face of the willow thanked the crowds for its reminder.

Unlike Chennai,Delhi has never had that 8216;knowledgeable8217; tag associated with its cricket fortress. Tendulkar worship,however,is above normal number crunching and each of the 35 runs required before this Test for the 15,000-run mark were etched into the mind of every spectator who were present at the ground on on Tuesday.

So as each run was milked towards the end of his composed innings or fluently driven at its beginning,the figure 28 was more eagerly anticipated than say 276 the target that India were set to win the first Test against the West Indies. On that note,it then goes without saying that every ticket holder for Day Four of the clash will know the value of the prime number 67 Tendulkar is unbeaten on 33,you do the math as they snake their way into an arena that promises to stage a delicious buffet of offerings. India need 124 more for a memorable victory,while Tendulkar threatens to redefine the word memorable itself with a hundredth 100.

At the end of the third day,Tendulkar had the indestructible Rahul Dravid for company on 30,after the pair drove India away from a second implosion in three days after Virender Sehwag was dismissed for his second score of 55 in the Test,on an uncannily similar total of 95/1. Chasing a stiff total on a two-paced pitch for a win after West Indies were bowled out just before tea for 180 in their second innings thanks largely to debutant R Ashwin8217;s 6/47 Sehwag went hammer and tongs at the West Indian quicks,with strokes that suggested that he wanted to finish the game off on Tuesday itself.

Sehwag opens up

With Gautam Gambhir providing some sanity to the situation,the Indian openers went into the final break of the day at 38/0 in eight overs. Tea came and went,but Sehwag8217;s rage remained a constant. Against a fullish Marlon Samuels delivery,Sehwag did nothing more than open the face of his bat with a flick of his wrist,but the ball fountained well over Kirk Edwards8217; towering presence at long-off and into the stands. However,it was Samuels who was celebrating at the end of the same over,having gunned down Gambhirs pads with a fastish ball from round the wicket. Gambhir8217;s dismissal for 22 brought on the calming presence of Dravid to the crease,but nothing seemed to leash Sehwag8217;s strokeplay.

Guiding the ball towards the hoardings near the third man fence twice in consecutive Samuels overs,Sehwag toyed around with his minimal artistry for a while. When he got bored of that,he hoisted Bishoo into the midwicket fence to put himself on 49. Although he received a warm applause on reaching his 27th Test half century,his dismissal 8211; bowled by Sammy caused an even bigger celebration. There were no prizes for guessing why,Tendulkar had just walked in.

At Sehwags departure,India were cruising at nearly a run-a-ball. That was bound to take a beating 3.45 by stumps,considering Tendulkar and Dravid were playing for stumps for the latter half of the final session. However,the most experienced pair in the history of Test cricket in terms of runs scored,balls faced and time spent ensured that it all seemed worth the wait when they drove on this dying Kotla pitch on five occasions between them. Tendulkar leaned into a Sammy half volley through the covers and many balls later punched Fidel Edwards through point. Those were his only two boundaries in his 87-ball stay at the crease. Dravid,on the other hand,consumed three balls more and scored three runs less than Tendulkar but scored one boundary more.

Will he,wont he

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As both players pulled down the shutters on the scoring,others rolled opened above booking counters around the premises of the stadium. For in store lies an India win and also the mother of all landmarks one that has been in the making since Tendulkar scored his 99th against the South Africans during the World Cup. If the latter happens,one thing is for sure,the controllers of the giant screen will need no second reminder to flash the figure 100 100s from the expected packed house at the Kotla.