Finally, Sachin gets membership of Club 10,000. It was great to see him join the elite company, but couldn’t it have come at Mohali itself? That’s the thought uppermost on my mind as I look back at the first day’s play at Eden Gardens. As I sat back to enjoy a heady afternoon, I was sad to see Sachin play cautiously at times and even going into his shell. He seems to be low on confidence. Maybe it has got to do with his injury that has forced him to check his strokes and he is a bit conscious about it. Hence, as India squandered a very good start from their openers, Sachin’s record just got buried because of the over-aggressive approach of the middle-order batsmen. It was a good toss to win on a pitch that was dry and slow and will progressively aid spinners. The approach by Indians was a bit unfortunate since they should be looking to bat just once. Virender Sehwag is in hot form, but Gautam Gambhir must learn to settle down and play a long innings. And for that he does not have to look too far beyond his partner. The tempo set by Sehwag-Gambhir could not be sustained and it could be seen in the way Sourav and Laxman fell. The saviour of the day was Rahul, who once again proved that he is the man in form. How many times has he done this before. He held the innings together as he middled the ball very well during his knock. Rahul’s effort is commendable because he was up against Razzaq who was getting it to reverse with the old ball. But my eye was on that character Afridi who supported Kaneria well. He brings a certain vibrancy to the game and this rubs off on the others too.
