'You can't hit middle of the bat everyday'

MUMBAI: For a while it seemed it was February 27, 1996 again. India were playing Australia in a prickly World Cup fixture and the Wankhede was bathed in milky white light for the first time. On that balmy Tuesday evening, he carted Glenn McGrath for four fours and a divine flicked six over mid-wicket in one over, almost in anger after the Aussie pace great had hurled the ball back at him to effect a mock run out.

"Saachin.... Saachin" the crowd screamed. Deliriously.

"Saachin.... Saachin" they screamed again on another Tuesday, 17 years later with the Wankhede bathed in floodlights (malfunctioning ones) again. His adversaries from that game, Glenn McGrath has retired even from IPL and is coaching young fast bowlers at the MRF Pace Academy. Another one, Shane Warne plays sporadically, is more at ease in night clubs, commentary boxes and on poker tables. Indian cricket's pied piper though was still doing to lesser mortals what he did 17 years ago. Brutalise bowlers.

Ryan McLaren felt the heat of that assault as Tendulkar, for the first time in many months shed every robe of inhibition to get his first man of the match award in any fixture, in almost two years and one month. He last won a player of the match prize on April 12, 2011 in the T20 league game against RCB at Bangalore.

For a cricketer who has pocketed such awards out of habit, the wait for it must have felt like an eternity and the smile on his face was unmissable when he was suddenly summoned after his rakish and youthful 28-ball 48 paved the way for Mumbai Indians' 65-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders.

When asked at the post match ceremony about his knock, he analysed, "If you look at the whole season, whenever I've batted, I've not been able to spend much time in the middle. But whenever I've batted, it has been aggressively."

The 40-year old batting hero has had a wretched time of late and his poor strike-rate in the powerplays and his tendency to get bowled repeatedly has been debated and criticised. Tendulkar, who has also lost his cool in front of the media when asked about his dipping form and slowing reflexes, was defiant on Tuesday too. "You can't go out and find the middle of the bat everyday," he stressed.

"This is the kind of surface where there's a bit of help upfront for the seamers. When you're striking the ball well, you should be aggressive and make the most of it. Today was one of the days when I was striking the ball well and I thought I should be the aggressive partner," he explained.

While runs and form may be in short supply in the Tendulkar tank, pride and passion aren't and his enthusiastic fielding was evidence of that. "I'm still in love with this game," he said, when asked if he was enjoying playing in the T20 tournament despite turning 40. "The passion for the game is very much there," he added.

What is also there is the drive to be the perfect senior statesman, despite the presence of mentors like Anil Kumble and coaches like John Wright. "It's all about give and take. It's not one-way traffic where I just say and don't absorb anything from my teammates. I've learnt a lot from many of my teammates. The more you discuss cricket, the better you get and the more you know. It's all about sharing."

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