da heads bet： The fourth wicket stand produced 24 runs in 15 overs, to which Tendulkarcontributed 9 in 45 balls. It was worse than tentative and diffident, itwas supine and unbecoming.

da dobrowin： Sambit Bal05-Jan-2007

‘Tendulkar pottered and scratched, paddedand swiveled, nudged and tapped and the Indian innings came to astandstill’ © Getty Images
Watching Sachin Tendulkar bat today was depressing. The bowling was good – Shaun Pollock was on the mark, Paul Harris was turning it from therough. The fielding was sharp. Perhaps Tendulkar had a bad back. Perhaps hiselbow was hurting. But none of this quite explained the crawl thathe subjected himself to.He looked like a man weighed down by his own doubts; a man who didn’tbelieve he could take runs off a debutant spin bowler. He ended up making thepitch look more unplayable than it perhaps was, and plunged his team intodespair. It would perhaps be harsh to put the onus of India’s collapse onone man, but without doubt, it was during those 15 overs whenTendulkar and Rahul Dravid convinced themselves run-scoring was beyondtheir means that South Africa took a stranglehold on the match.India started the day with the right intent by sending Virender Sehwag toopen. Some might argue that Sehwag, who knows only one way to playspinners – either I dismiss them out of my sight, or they dismiss me -would have been more useful in the middle order to counter Harris, but themotive was positive. It sent a message to opposition: we are here to win.True, India were set back by the loss of two early wickets and theconfusion over whether Tendulkar could come out to bat at No 4, mustn’thave been easy on the nerves, but Dravid and Ganguly had batted fluentlyenough to bring India to a position from where a 300-plus target for SouthAfrica looked quite achievable. In the context of the match, the 84they put up came at a fair clip. Ganguly, after a streaky first-ball four,had batted with composure and panache to score 47 off 89 balls before hewas suckered into a jab outside the off stump by Jaques Kallis.What followed was inexplicable. Tendulkar pottered and scratched, paddedand swiveled, nudged and groped and the Indian innings came to astandstill. Harris was bowling over the wicket, and landing a lot of ballson the rough outside the leg stump, but from Tendulkar, there was simply nointent.And he seemed to have infected Dravid with his approach, because runs driedup from the other side too. Dravid had scored 36 from 88 balls whenTendulkar came in. He made only 11 from the next 46 and hit no more fours.The fourth wicket stand produced 24 runs in 15 overs, to which Tendulkarcontributed 9 in 45 balls. It was worse than tentative and diffident, itwas supine and unbecoming.

‘He looked like a man weighed down by his own doubts’ © Getty Images
An hour later Dinesh Karthik, all of 21 years old and only in his10th Test, showed what intent and confidence, combined with skill, canachieve. He swept Harris from the rough, cut him when he shortened hislength, and reverse swept him from outside the leg stump. Kallis was cut and flicked off the pads, Steyn was cover-driven and suddenly the demons seemed to have vanishedfrom a wearing pitch. Had the tail-enders stayed with him a bit longer, helooked likely to stretch the Indian lead beyond 250.In Tendulkar’s case, it was the opposite. He arrived at the crease at ajuncture when the match was on the line, and instead of imposing himselfon the proceedings as you would expect of a player of such skill and stature,he let the occasion wear him down. Soon the bowlers acquired such a gripthat every run felt like a struggle. Watching it was embarrassing.India might still go on to the win the match. But if they don’t we knowwhere they let it slip.