Tendulkar and Dhoni rested for West indies Tour

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, leading the side in the ongoing Test series against the tourists, has been rested for the entire series, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement on Friday.

Hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag will lead the team in Dhoni's absence.

Tendulkar, with 51 hundreds in Tests and 48 in one-day internationals, came close to scoring the 100th century before falling for 94 in the ongoing third and final Test in Mumbai on Friday.

All-rounder Yuvraj Singh was not named in the 15-man squad for the opening three matches as he was not fit. "Yuvraj was not considered for selection as he has informed that he is not fully fit," the BCCI said.

The opening one-day international starts in Cuttack on November 29.

India's one-day squad for first three matches:

Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma.

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10:01 PM

short of six to sachins 100th 100

Mumbai, November 25, 2011 (AFP) - Sachin Tendulkar fell agonisingly short of an unprecedented 100th hundred while Ravichandran Ashwin hit a maiden century as the third Test between India and the West Indies headed for a draw on Friday.

Tendulkar scored a superb 94 and Ashwin a robust 103 in only his third Test before India were bowled out for 482 in their first innings in reply to the West Indies' 590 on the penultimate day.

The tourists were 81-2 in their second innings at stumps for an overall lead of 189 with eight wickets in hand, with teenager Kraigg Brathwaite (34 not out) and Darren Bravo (27 not out) at the crease.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who opened the attack, removed Adrian Barath (three) and Kirk Edwards (17).

India, needing 391 to avoid the follow-on, were struggling at 331-6 before Virat Kohli (52) and Ashwin added 97 valuable runs for the seventh wicket at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Ashwin also became the third Indian after Vinoo Mankad and Polly Umrigar to grab five wickets in an innings and score a century in the same Test. He hit two sixes and 15 fours in his 118-ball knock.

It was the first time in the history of Test cricket that 11 half-centuries or more were scored in the first innings of a match, with the West Indies making six and India five.

Tendulkar looked set to complete a century of centuries as he had been timing the ball remarkably well before he attempted to drive paceman Ravi Rampaul on the up and was caught by Darren Sammy at second slip.

While the West Indies celebrated the huge success, the "Little Master" walked back dejectedly and nearly 15,000 cheering spectators suddenly fell silent at the 32,000-capacity stadium.

With the spectators applauding each run from Tendulkar and chanting "Sa-chin, Sachin", the batting star started the day with an attacking stroke when he flicked Rampaul past square-leg for a four in the opening over.

Tendulkar, 67 overnight, continued to play attractive shots as he straight-drove Rampaul for a four and then uppercut paceman Fidel Edwards over the slips for a six to move into the nineties before the disaster struck. He smashed two sixes and eight fours in his 153-ball knock.

Skipper Sammy's words came true a day after he said his team hoped to break a "few Indian hearts" by trying to get local hero Tendulkar out early with a disciplined bowling performance. In fact, his team broke millions of hearts.

It was the 10th time in an illustrious 184-Test career that Tendulkar had fallen in the nineties.

Tendulkar, who scored his 99th international hundred against South Africa in a World Cup match in Nagpur in March, also came close to achieving the feat in the fourth Test in England in August before being dismissed for 91.

India, resuming 281-3, lost two more wickets in the morning as Venkatsai Laxman (32) was caught by Marlon Samuels at gully off Edwards off the first ball he faced and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (eight) was bowled by Sammy.

India lead 2-0 in the series after winning the opening Test in New Delhi by five wickets and the second match in Kolkata by an innings and 15 runs.

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8:42 AM

Sachin's 100th Century? Big Deal!

Yes, it has been 10 matches (Tests and ODIs) since Sachin Tendulkar has scored a century, which would incidentally be his 100th international hundred. The expectations around the great man getting to the landmark are huge and every failure to get there - even if his innings was a good one - comes with its share of 'Sachin should retire now', 'I think, Petrol will reach 100 before Sachin does' and the ones used ad-nauseum, 'Sachin isn't a match winner' and 'He's selfish, he plays only for his records'. No one seemed to care about the potentially match winning innings he played during the first match of the ongoing tour against the West Indies. Everyone seemed to be waiting with bated breath for Sachin's hundred so much that they forgot how important his innings was in the context of the game.

For me, the 100th hundred remains just another milestone, not one that merits so much hype. Understandably, for a nation that is crazy about Sachin Tendulkar and statistics, the milestone is a dream come true - 100 is a magical number in cricket, one that every player yearns to reach, and it is only expected that a century of centuries be associated with so much hullabaloo. The achievement however fails to tell us anything new - Sachin still has the highest number of hundreds, runs and matches to his name. If there's one thing that it does, it will show the enormous amount of respect and inspiration Sachin commands around the world - but we didn't really need the hundredth hundred to tell us this, did we?

Getting to 30 tons was a milestone worth appreciating. He had just crossed Don Bradman's tally - the other half in the World's Greatest Batsman Ever debate. The 35th hundred too had a lot of significance, since Sachin had become the person with the most number of hundreds in Tests and that was a reason to rejoice. The 50th hundred? Well, we already knew how good Sachin Tendulkar was. 100 hundreds? About time, can we get on with the cricket please.

India's top priority right now in Tests will be to get back the No. 1 ranking and ensuring that the fans are made to forget the debacle at England (not with a worse one, mind you!). The majority seems to echo these thoughts, with a recent poll on Cricbuzz indicating that India winning was far more important than Sachin's ton. A significant 61% wanted an Indian win even if that meant Sachin failed.

Sachin's career has always been under scrutiny - by people who are waiting to pounce on every opportunity to show to the world that he's the best and by the others who are trying to prove someone else is. These have hardly affected the man, but for perhaps the first time he has shown that he is vulnerable to pressure from outside.

The hype around the 100th hundred unfortunately has been a deterrent to the Master Blaster. Having averaged a brilliant 78+ in Tests last year, Sachin's average has dropped to the forties since his last century, but that includes the disastrous tour to England where no one except Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid managed to hold his own. Sachin's average still does not merit the outrageous calls by many to drop him based on his poor performances or get someone younger in lieu of him. A famous personality on Twitter asked his followers how long it will be before Sachin is dropped for his disappointing show. Unfortunately, this clearly shows the obsession we have towards records and statistics - It's a hundred and no less that is expected from Sachin. A stellar batting effort to save the game or a gritty knock to help the team avoid follow on, etc, would hold absolutely no value in relation to a scratchy 100 on a belter of a track. If he fails, people will still reckon it is time for Sachin to hang his boots up because they are unable to wait for him to get to the elusive figure.

It's about time we stop obsessing over Sachin and his around-the-corner ton. The 100th ton proves nothing except what has already been said, written or discussed. There are more important things India have to set their sights on and if Sachin helps India get there with a ton, fantastic!

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9:05 AM

Tendulkar very closer to 100th ton, Dravid crosses 13,000-run mark

Mumbai, Nov 24 (IANS) Rahul Dravid Thursday became the second player in the world to score 13,000 runs in Test cricket after Sachin Tendulkar, who himself was 33 short of his 100th international century, as India ended the third day of the third and last cricket Test at 281 for three in reply to the West Indies' first-innings score of 590.

Dravid missed his hundred by a mere 18 runs, though he crossed the thousand runs in the calendar year, and Tendulkar was still there batting on 67 and with him at stumps was V.V.S.Laxman on 32.

All the top-order Indian batsmen, barring Virender Shewag (37), got half-centuries, Dravid top-scoring with 82 (149 balls, 11x4) was involved in two good partnerships -- 71 for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir and 86 runs for the third with Tendulkar.

Gautam Gambhir (55) and Sehwag gave India the customary rousing start, knocking up 67 runs at over five runs an over, after off-spinner Ravichandran Aswhin (5/156) picked up his second five-wicket haul as the West Indies innings came to a close within 15 minutes of the morning play.

Sehwag brought up the 50 of the innings, greeting Darren Sammy with a huge six over the covers.

Sammy, however, was rewarded for his accuracy in his third over when he pitched it just short of driving length and it nipped back enough to rattle Sehwag's stumps. This was the third time the Indian opener was dismissed by the West Indies captain in the series.

India were 74/1 at lunch break, and in the second session Gambhir and Dravid got going untroubled. Dravid reached the milestone of 13,000 runs with a classic drive for four off Sammy as he moved from 19 to 23.

Gambhir reached his half-century with a lofted shot over mid-wicket off Sammy and a ball later struck the medium-pacer to the on for a four.

The re-introduction of fast bowler Ravi Rampaul did the trick. Gambhir looked good for a big innings when he tried to hook a bouncer and was adjudged caught behind. The Delhi batsman was seen shaking his head as he walked off and the TV replays and snickometre were not conclusive.

In walked hometown hero Tendulkar to a rousing welcome from the crowd in the hope of his hundredth international century. Even he looked confident and secure, timing his shots to perfection till an intended late-cut off Devendra Bishoo was dropped by Carlton Baugh.

He was on 58 then, but there was no hint of such an aberration as he drove off Rampaul for four or upper-cut Fidel Edwards sailing 15 rows into the stand for a six.
Dravid was also in great touch, getting to his half-century off 99 deliveries, and was on his way to his 37th Test century. Unaccountably, he tried to cut off-spinner Marlon Samuels and missed. The ball took the bail off.
Earlier, the West Indies, resuming at 575/9, survived just 3.1 overs before their innings folded up, last man Bishoo being bowled by Ashwin, who finished with five for 156.

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8:57 AM