Master versus BlasterIt doesn’t get any better than this. For the first time on Mumbai soil, we will see a fully charged up Akhtar taking on Tendulkar
Posted On Friday, May 16, 2008
Mikhil Bhat
Almost a month after the Indian Premier League started, perhaps the one thing that still drives the crowds to the stadiums by the truckloads is the opportunity of watching team-mates become foes. And, of course, the party that begins thereafter.
Sachin Tendulkar isn’t too happy when spoken about the individual battles which enjoy numerous square-inches of the newsprint and quite a few minutes of air-time.
But we don’t mind earning Tendulkar’s ire even a bit. After all, when Shoaib Akhtar sends the hapless white ball at speeds upward of 150 Ks and Tendulkar, out of nowhere, opens his shoulders for a shot which is not only elegant but effective (and gets him runs too), it’s all worth it.
Oh and by the way, it will also be the first time that Akhtar, who is playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, will set Wankhede Stadium alight with his speed and antics. Of course, the routine conditions of whether he plays or not, do apply.
Akhtar, if he plays today, will join Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Asif as the only Pakistan cricketers from the current crop to have played in Mumbai.
Opener Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez of the Kolkata team too could be granted the honours.
Not since 1979
Pakistan has not played a match at the Wankhede since they lost a Test to India in December 1979. After that, our neighbours have only played one match — an ODI in October 1989 against Australia at the Brabourne Stadium — in Mumbai for reasons, more political than cricketing.
Akhtar, however, didn’t spend too much time in the nets yesterday. The Pakistan speedster, whose five-year ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board was stayed for a month to allow him to play in the cash-rich IPL, bowled a few deliveries but none with his trademark pace.
Whether or not that has got anything to do with any niggle, not much can be said till today evening.
If all this wasn’t enough, how about having India’s most successful opening pair to lead teams that will face each other. Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly last led teams against each other when Mumbai played Bengal in the Ranji Trophy finals in February last year. Tendulkar’s Mumbai won the contest by 132 runs.
Different strokes
“But that was a five-day game and Twenty20 is different. It moves at a different pace altogether,” Tendulkar, who will lead Mumbai Indians for the second time in the IPL, said in a press conference yesterday. “Sourav is an experienced campaigner and I know for sure it’s going to be a close call. Eventually, though, what the spectators will see is good competition.”
Ganguly, on the other hand, has firepower he never had during his captaincy days for India — Akhtar and Ishant Sharma to name a few. So after his performance against Delhi, what does the Kolkata captain expect from Akhtar today?
Not so surprisingly but very funnily, his reply, which was accompanied with a smirk, was, “Take out Jayasuriya, take out Sachin, take out Uthappa and finish with five. We should be fine then.”
Nonetheless, that firepower is not really bothering Tendulkar too much. “If they have the bowlers, our batsmen are capable enough to tackle them,” the Master Blaster said. But both Tendulkar and Ganguly, the most illustrious of those who carry the tag of being the seniors, found common ground on at least one thing — seniors excelling in the shortest version of the game.
“Hayden scored a ton, Gilchrist, Hussey, Jayasuriya, I came close to scoring one, we all are over the age of 30,” Ganguly said. “It’s more about performance than age and hopefully we are proving our point well.”
• If they have the bowlers, our batsmen are capable enough to tackle them — Sachin Tendulkar
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AuthorTopic: IPL 2008 - Match 38: MI vs KKR - Match Thread + pre & post match comments (Read 7709 times)
