Two for the ages

As tri-series returns to Australia,old hands Tendulkar and Ponting brace for new challenges

Arms twisted in mesmeric knots,Shane Warne readies himself to unfurl yet another vicious delivery. Just a few yards away,the famous moustache and sideburns of Dennis Lillee blow backwards,as he leaps with his spine arched in customarily threatening fashion. On Lillees right,Bill Ponsford winces as he cuts one square off the wicket. And on Warnes left,the great Don points his nimble willow to the Melbourne Cricket Ground the playground of the gods.

Arrested in various artforms and eras of cricketing excellence around the circumference of the MCG,these bronze gladiators lend an aura of invincibility to the modern day colosseum. On Saturday,two such immortals shifted. Refusing to be frozen by time and space,Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting painted an enticing portrait as they walked beneath those who had already found their shrines in the temple of cricket.

New rules

At 38 and 37 respectively,Tendulkar and Ponting will continue to proceed on their journey to give sculptor Louis Laumen more headaches by finding more strokes,more runs,more wins and more legacies to define themselves by. And almost a year after playing each other in the World Cup quarterfinal in Ahmedabad a match that everybody believed to be the last one between these two timeless legends in the ODI format they are back with new rules and newer teammates to go one up on each other in the age old contest of the summer tri-series in Australia.

Like Tendulkar to one-day cricket after the World Cup final,the three-nations concept returns to the Australian shores for the first time since the Indians won against the same sides Sri Lanka being the third back in 2008. While not too much has changed since then,including talks of his retirement,it will be interesting to note that Tendulkar will face two cricket balls bowled from either end of a pitch for the first time in 20 years.

But if you ask some of the youngsters,that was the least of his concerns as he prepared on the eve of the first one-dayer in Melbourne during the optional practice session.

He brings a different kind of intensity to the side during the one-dayers, says Suresh Raina,who brought new legs to give India its first victory on this tour. While all the surrounding talk is on the fresh faces turning Indias fortunes around,a lot of Indias one-day cricket strategy still hinges on the performances of the man who has played 453 matches and amassed 18,111 runs.

How could it not,considering Tendulkar remains the only man to see the 50-over game and Tests for that matter transition from the late 80s into the 90s into the 2000s into the 2010s. He also likes this series,as he nearly scored two back-to-back centuries in the finals the last time it was played here, adds Raina. An unbeaten 117 in the first,and a 91 in the second.

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But where there is talk of Tendulkar these days,there is that wretched corollary question of when that follows. Tendulkar has 99 international centuries,a number thats worked more against than for the batsman. But the last time he played a one-day tournament,he ended up with an average of 53.55,two centuries and the second highest scorer of the World Cup. He will more than just take a repeat of that. Ponting,however,will be hoping that his new vein of form bleeds into the one-day series.

Good ol Punter

With three 60s,a century and a double century during the Tests against India,Ponting became the prototype old man in the world of cricket,a module that several aging players will follow like a religion to give their careers that extra mile. They should have just arrived for his batting session on Saturday,as the man with 370 matches and 13,686 runs under his belt put on display a microcosmic version of his turnaround.

Smacked on the wrists by Brett Lee first ball,Ponting twinkle-toed himself out of the arena,writhing in pain. Even on return,Mitchell Starc beat him first ball,Ryan Harris crushed his pads soon after and Daniel Christian dislodged his stumps with a steamy yorker. Wiping a stray bead of sweat on his brow with his thumb,Ponting readied himself to go through the routine once again. It started with a classical pull off Lee,a walking straight drive off Starc,a cut through point off Harris before playing the stroke of our times off Christian the high backlifted punch through covers.

Sometime when his career is over,that last stroke will probably resonate with the other frozen moments on the peripheries of the MCG.

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