It'll take Tendulkar to triumph

Whenever I think of the South African tour (Tests more than one-dayers, personal preference), I always hope this will be Tendulkar's series. The series where he finally settles the argument about whether he is indeed great or just labeled so by his fans.

For years, more often than not, his fans have had to live with the frustration of seeing the little master at the losing end of the matches he has played in. How can this man be great when his team's performance is, at best, mediocre? His individual brilliance not being in doubt, does Tendulkar have it in him to lead us to a series victory in South Africa, the performance of the rest of the team notwithstanding?

If the other guys back him up well, well and good, but if they don't, then we still win. Is that an unfair expectation? Should Sachin Tendulkar be labeled great if he scores a scintillating ton but his team loses? Once, no problem... twice, still no problem... but almost always?

It seems unfair on the face of it, but then I look at the person from whom I am expecting so much and it immediately seems to be not too much of an ask. Tendulkar is a genius; he is one of the greatest to have graced the game, compared by many with the great 'Don'. Is it too much for us to want something special from him, something we never expect or hope for from the others in the team, however good they might be?

Countless have been the brilliant innings he has played, ranging from his hundred at Perth to his ton at Chennai against Pakistan. One of the main features of most of his knocks have been - if the opposition has not been Bangladesh, and if we are not playing at home, then India loses.

Wisden released its "most valuable knocks" list and the little master is not in its top 100... is that possible? Is that correct? Fair? Does Tendulkar still deserve the tag of "the greatest" that we in India confer upon him without a second thought? Let's forget the 'Don' when we say this ... let's just say we are talking about one of the greatest after the 'Don'?

Tendulkar is one of the few players in this team, others being Dravid and possibly Laxman and Das, who have the game to score on the bouncier pitches of South Africa. His record there might not be near the greatest but the fact remains - he can do well there ... he has the game.

From the pull, cut, hook, driving on the up to straight bat defence, he has everything that is needed on the South African pitches but all that will, for the Indian cause, be of no avail unless we win. A Sachin hundred will just heat up the debate and it is only a Sachin match-winner that will settle the issue and satisfy his critics and fans alike.

The South Africans have a superb bowling attack and it needs a special person to score consistently against them. If not Tendulkar then who? With Nehra and Zaheer being fit (cross fingers) for the Tests, our bowling should be pretty decent coupled with the fact that the South African batting is similar to the Indian one in the sense that they are pretty strong on paper but, errrrr.... "They are like a cycle stand, push one and the entire lot falls down" ... pardon me, Mr. Sidhu.

In this series, the way I see it, victory will depend on the batsmen more than the bowlers since both teams have good bowling attacks (the Indian attack, though less potent on paper than the South African biggies, would be helped a lot by the... you know ... cycle stand syndrome). Here is where the stand-up fight will be between Tendulkar-Dravid-Laxman with Ganguly-Ramesh-Das as back up against Kallis-Gibbs-Kirsten with Klusener and party (they bat pretty deep unlike our team where the batting ends at 6).

Looking at this list, I can see only Tendulkar, and if the mood takes him(it doesn't often but when it does, my word, watch out world) then Laxman as the match-winners from the Indian side. Considering Laxman's inconsistency and his penchant of getting out after looking the most comfortable batsman in the world, the onus is squarely on Sachin. He gets a big one and, more importantly, stays to see out the storm, then India will win. If Sachin fails to fire, then it will require one heck of an effort from the rest of the players to get home dry.

This is not India, where Devang Gandhi can play off the back foot as easily as he can eat "Roshagulla". This is South Africa, where if you are an Indian batsman then you need to be "something special" to be a match-winner.

Dravid, one of the better performers of the last tour there (he was pretty good, actually) is one who can give a lot of support but I somehow cannot see him as the guy who runs away with the match. If anyone can do that then Sachin can. We can depend on the Ramesh-Das-Ganguly- (cameo by some tail ender) to get runs in India, not so in South Africa where at best they can be a support cast. I hope, I pray and what more can I say - Go Sachin.

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Mail Sriram Ranganathan