2008
Gathering Them In
The previous year had seen Sachin Tendulkar get back among the runs with a bagful of 90s and just a wee bit short on the three-figure knocks. But in 2008, he got back to adding centuries to his kitty – four in Tests and one in ODIs. Even more satisfying was the fact that they came against quality opposition such as Australia, his favourite prey. He smashed them for three Test tons and one ODI century. The other ton of the year came in a Test against England. Tendulkar didn’t play many ODIs, figuring in just 12 of the 32 that India played that year, often opting out to conserve himself for Test cricket.
After crossing the 14,000- and 15,000-mark in ODI runs the previous two years, Tendulkar went past 16,000 runs in 2008. He played a dozen ODIs and got 460 runs and three fifties, but in Tests he made more than 1,000 runs for the fifth time in his career. The tally of 1,063 took him past the 12,000-run mark in Test cricket.
Tendulkar Continues to Charm Sydney
‘Yes, the SCG is one of my favourite grounds. It’s one of those grounds where you walk in and you get a good feeling. This knock today was a little different from the others. Through the year 2007, from Ireland onwards, I missed a lot of hundreds, so it was extremely important to begin 2008 in a nice way. (And) yes, Harbhajan was a calming influence for a change at the crease. When I entered the nineties, I didn’t look at the scoreboard at all’ - Sachin Tendulkar after the match
THE SITUATION
It was the second Test in a four-match series against the top-ranked Australians. Australia had won the opening Boxing Day Test at Melbourne by a whopping 337 runs. India had to win at Sydney if they wanted to give themselves any chance to level, if not win, the series. Despite the Tendulkar hundred, India lost the Test to go 0-2 down in the series. However, they did fight back to win the third Test and the fourth in Adelaide ended in a draw, despite another century from Tendulkar.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss against Anil Kumble’s Indians and chose to bat. R.P. Singh struck early, removing opener Phil Jaques, caught behind by M.S. Dhoni for nought. He added the dangerous Matthew Hayden to his kitty before Ricky Ponting (55) and Mike Hussey rescued the hosts from 27 for two and steadied the ship with a 92-run stand. The truly outstanding performance came from the burly Andrew Symonds, whose unbeaten 162 helped them to 463, which included half-centuries from Brad Hogg (79) and Brett Lee (59).
Anil Kumble triggered a minor collapse in the tail, bagging four wickets to match teammate R.P. Singh’s effort.
The Indian innings got of to a stumbling start with Lee bowling Wasim Jaffer for three. Rahul Dravid (53) and V.V.S. Laxman (109) took the score to 183. When Laxman pulled Hogg through mid-wicket, it was his third successive hundred at the SCG. But Dravid and Laxman departed in quick succession. It was left to Tendulkar and Ganguly to carry out the repair work; the southpaw played the aggressor while Tendulkar was watchful. When Ganguly fell to the Hogg-Hussey combo for 67, India was on 293 for four. Tendulkar brought up his fifty from 96 balls. Then Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni and Kumble departed, leaving India at 345 for seven, with Sachin on 69.
Harbhajan (63) stood strong as Tendulkar moved towards his century. By the time he left, Tendulkar had not only crossed the three-figure mark, he was on 133 and India had soldiered on to 532. Tendulkar remained unbeaten at 154.
Tendulkar’s innings was a beauty. It was his first century in 19 months against opposition other than Bangladesh, whom he had bludgeoned for two centuries in successive Tests in May 2007.
In Ganguly’s company, Sachin was content to wait for the loose ball, while the left -hander pounded the bowling. Then, when he was left with the tail, he hammered Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee. He inspired Harbhajan who, in his inimitable style, was severe on Clark and had an almost equal share in the 129-run stand, contributing 63 of 92 balls. Tendulkar had R.P. Singh (13) and later Ishant Sharma (23) for company as he crossed 150.
India had a 69-run lead, but Australia’s 401, aided by brilliant hundreds from Matthew Hayden (123) and Mike Hussey (149), once again put India on the backfoot. Needing 333, they collapsed for 210 with Ganguly (51) and Kumble (45 not out) being the chief contributors. Tendulkar made 12 in the second innings as India went down by 122 runs; another Tendulkar century was lost in an Indian defeat.
Did you know…
» This was the match during which Harbhajan Singh was alleged to have made a racist comment to Andrew Symonds. He was handed a three-Test ban after Mike Procter, the match referee, ruled that Harbhajan had breached the ICC’s Code of Conduct. The incident occurred when Harbhajan was batting with Sachin Tendulkar during India’s first innings on Saturday. It was alleged that Harbhajan had an argument with Symonds, during which he called Symonds a monkey: the episode began to be called ‘Monkeygate’. The Indian team management appealed against the ban. The charges were dropped by judge John Hansen after Tendulkar was called in as witness. His statement saved Harbhajan. A few years later, Harbhajan and Symonds became teammates in the Mumbai Indian team, which was led by Tendulkar.
» It was here that Harbhajan Singh overtook the 1,000-run mark in Test cricket.
A Century for Tendulkar at Sir Don Bradman’s Home Ground
It was a joy to watch though I’d rather he scored against someone else. It’s a great privilege to play against Sachin, who is one of the greatest of all time - Brad Hogg after the match
THE SITUATION
India had lost the first two Tests, but won the third in the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. A cracker of a match at Don Bradman’s home ground produced a second century for Tendulkar in the series, but the Test ended in a draw and India lost the series 1-2.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
India won the toss and elected to bat. They sent in a unique opening combination of Irfan Pathan and Virender Sehwag. The move backfired, with Pathan falling to Mitchell Johnson for nine in the eighth over. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid put on 48 before Johnson snared his second victim, sending ‘The Wall’ back for 18.
In walked Sachin Tendulkar. Brett Lee sent Sehwag back 30 runs later and Ganguly departed with the score at 156. Tendulkar was on 40 when V.V.S. Laxman joined him. Over the next 32 overs, they put on 126 runs and had the Australians looking helpless. When in the 47th over Stuart Clark strayed on to Sachin’s pads, the maestro tucked the ball away to mid-wicket to register his 88th Test half-century of only 77 balls, including five fours and a six.
A little later, Tendulkar carted Brad Hogg for 13 runs, including a four and a six, taking his score to 87. Six overs later, batting on 92, he smashed Michael Clarke’s first delivery for six over long on and followed it up with a boundary to long of to bring up his 39th Test hundred. At last he had a century at Don Bradman’s home ground.
Laxman got his half-century two overs later but fell to Lee for 51. Tendulkar went on to score 153 and, with help from skipper Anil Kumble (87) and Harbhajan Singh (63), he took the score to 526.
The Australians replied strongly with 563 runs, courtesy centuries by Matthew Hayden (103), Ricky Ponting (140) and Michael Clarke (118).
Trailing Australia by 37 runs, the Indians put together 269 in their second innings for the fall of seven wickets. This included a sparkling 151 from Virender Sehwag. Sachin was run out by Johnson for 13 and the match was drawn, but Tendulkar’s appetite for runs was beginning to seem even more insatiable than before.
Did you know…
» This was Adam Gilchrist’s last Test match. His ODI game against India on 4 March, two months later, at Brisbane, would be his last international game for Australia.
Century at Sydney in a Winning Cause
‘ Tendulkar answered many questions about his recent performances with a knock that was quite clearly the difference between the two sides. It was said that he never scored in any game of consequence, and he has now scored in two crucial games - one to get the Indians into the finals, and another to make his team go one-up in the finals. What’s more, he had never ever scored a century on Australian soil. That was a record that must have irked him, and he has remedied that situation as well ’ - Steve Waugh in the Hindu, 4 March 2008
THE SITUATION
In the Commonwealth Bank Series, which involved hosts Australia, India and Sri Lanka, India started with two washouts against Australia and Sri Lanka. They went on to win two matches and lost three till they came to the last league match against Sri Lanka. Tendulkar, who had scored only 128 runs in seven matches before this, made 63 of 54 balls and carried India into the final.
In the first of three finals, for which India and Australia had qualified, India won the first game by six wickets. They went on to win the second final too, and won the CBS trophy, making up somewhat for the 1-2 loss in the Test series.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Australia won the toss and chose to bat on a not-so-quick wicket that augured well for the spinners. The dangerous duo of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden stepped out to take first strike for Australia, but Praveen Kumar, who had four wickets in the previous league game against Sri Lanka, drew first blood, snaring Gilchrist and Ponting early on.
Ishant Sharma induced Michael Clarke to edge a beauty of an of -cutter to M.S. Dhoni and the hosts were reeling at 24 for three, but best-mates Hayden and Andrew Symonds put on a 100-run partnership. Harbhajan Singh removed Symonds for 31 but Hayden made 82 before falling to the ‘Turbanator’. Aided by Hussey’s 45 and Brad Hogg’s unbeaten 23, Australia finished with a tally of 239 for eight.
India began with a 50-run partnership between Robin Uthappa and Sachin Tendulkar. Uthappa was the first to go after a sweetly timed pull shot of James Hopes was picked up inches of the turf, next to the square leg boundary line, by a diving Mike Hussey Gautam Gambhir was run out soon after for three, leaving India rattled at 56 for two.
Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh began the rescue job. Halfway into the 19th over, Sachin pulled a short delivery from Hogg to reach his fifty of only 56 deliveries, studded with four hits to the fence. Hogg got his revenge, albeit with Yuvraj’s wicket, two balls later. India’s total stood at 87 for three at this stage.
Tendulkar, now joined by fellow Mumbaikar Rohit Sharma, overpowered the Australian attack. Sharma matched his senior partner stroke for stroke to bring up his second half-century of the tournament of the last ball of the 37th over. Sachin had moved to 90 by now and was in sight of his first ODI century in Australia.
A little later, Tendulkar carved a delivery from Hopes through gully to reach his 42nd ODI hundred. Sharma was bowled by Hopes for 66 with the very next ball, but Tendulkar and M.S. Dhoni took India to a win with 25 balls to spare. Tendulkar was adjudged Man of the Match.
In the second final, Tendulkar made 91 and India won the match by nine wickets to grab the trophy. It was India’s first memorable title win in Australia since 1985, when they had won the WCC trophy. Tendulkar had 399 runs in 10 ODIs in the series. He got 271 of them in the last three innings of the tournament with scores of 63, 117 not out and 91.
Did you know…
» This was Sachin Tendulkar’s first hundred in 39 ODIs in Australia.
» It ended a lean period for Sachin Tendulkar, whose last ODI ton had come in January 2007 against West Indies. In between, he had played 37 ODIs, in which he was dismissed six times in the 90s, including three times on 99.
» This was also the first time in almost 10 years that Sachin Tendulkar scored a hundred in an ODI final. The last time was in 1998–99 against Zimbabwe at Sharjah.
Tendulkar Goes Past the 12,000-mark
‘I don’t think that (a century) is everything. As you have seen in this Test series, I have gone in almost four or five times in crucial situations and I have been able to play. That is very satisfying, when you deliver when the team needs it the most and that is what I have been able to do in this series’ – Sachin Tendulkar after the series
THE SITUATION
Sachin Tendulkar had a great series but a century eluded him in the first three Tests. He made 13 and 49 in the first Test, 88 and 10 not out in the second, and 68 and 47 in the third. It was time now for a century and Tendulkar obliged with a hundred in the final Test of the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The hosts led 1-0, going into the match. The first Test at Bangalore was drawn while India registered a 320-run win in the second at Mohali. The teams drew the third Test at Delhi and headed into the final Test at Nagpur, which India won to wrap up the series 2-0. Tendulkar made 396 runs with one century and two fifties, the second highest after Gautam Gambhir’s 463, which included a double century.
The series saw the departure of two of India’s legends. Anil Kumble, captain for the series, had to miss the final Test because of an injury sustained in the third Test at Kotla, which required 11 stitches on the webbing of his left hand. It would have been his farewell Test. Then, in the final, it was Sourav Ganguly’s turn to bid goodbye. Both had announced their retirement.
M.S. Dhoni, who had captained the side in the second Test at Mohali, once again led India in the final Test after Kumble was injured. In the final stages of the fourth Test at Nagpur, in a fitting gesture, Dhoni asked Ganguly to lead the team in one last time as India wrapped up the game and the series. Dhoni led the team in the second and fourth Tests that India won.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Stand-in skipper Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat on a wicket he believed would not deteriorate too fast. India opened with Virender Sehwag and debutant Murali Vijay (33), and they put on 98 runs before the deceptive Shane Watson snared Vijay with a short delivery.
Dravid walked in to join Sehwag but lasted only two deliveries, failing to score and falling to the guiles of another debutant, Jason Krejza. Next in was Sachin Tendulkar. Sehwag left at 116 and V.V.S. Laxman joined Tendulkar.
Tendulkar was aggressive, reaching his fifty with a cover-drive of a flighted Krejza delivery in the 41st over. Laxman got his fifty half an hour later, in an identical fashion, and of the same bowler. When Krejza had Laxman caught behind for 64, Sachin was only nine short of his hundred.
Tendulkar, now partnered by Sourav Ganguly, moved to 99 with a single of the last ball of the 71st over. Then began the long wait. He played out an entire Mitchell Johnson over without getting a run. In the next over, Ganguly took a single of the fourth ball, leaving Sachin to face two balls from Krejza. He did not score of either. Ganguly then played Johnson for another maiden over.
After three dot balls against Krejza, Tendulkar cut a short delivery to backward point for four, to get to his 40th hundred.
At 109 he finally fell leg before to Johnson and India finished with a total of 441 with healthy contributions from Ganguly (85) and Dhoni (56). Debutant spinner Krejza bagged eight for 215 in 43.5 overs.
In reply, Australia made 355, aided by 102 from Simon Katich and 90 from Michael Hussey. Harbhajan Singh bagged three wickets for the Indians.
With an 86-run first-innings lead, India posted 295, to which Sehwag (92), Dhoni (55) and Harbhajan (52) contributed substantially. Tendulkar made 12 before being run out. Krejza again impressed with four wickets, as did Watson with an identical number.
Chasing 382, Australia were bowled out for 209 with Matthew Hayden (77) alone crossing fifty. Harbhajan and Amit Mishra took four and three wickets respectively. Australia’s bright spot in the match was debutant Krejza, whose 12 for 358 in 74.5 overs won him the Man of the Match award.
Did you know…
» In the second Test of the series at Mohali, Sachin Tendulkar overtook Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 runs in Test cricket. With his score at 88, Tendulkar also crossed the 12,000-run mark.
» The final Test at Nagpur marked Sourav Ganguly’s last international appearance for India. He made 85 and 0.
» This was M.S. Dhoni’s first match as full-time skipper. He made 56 and 55.
» It was also V.V.S. Laxmans 100th Test, and he marked the occasion with 64 and 4.
Tendulkar Soothes Mumbai’s Wounds with a Winning Century
‘ I enjoy playing against him. He’s the greatest I’ve ever bowled to. You want to play against people like that. You want to test yourself - Andrew Flintoff before the series
THE SITUATION
The English cricket team won a lot of fans even before the two-Test series for the Pataudi Trophy began. The first of the two Tests was played barely two weeks after the dastardly terror attack on Mumbai on 26 November 2008. The England team, which had contemplated returning after the attack that took place on the same day as the fifth ODI in the seven ODI series, did go back home but returned within two weeks. They had three days of nets in Abu Dhabi after the last two ODIs; the three-day warm-up game in Vadodara was cancelled. The Indians played the first Test without proper match practice.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
England won the toss and elected to bat on a track that both captains believed would take turn and bounce as the match wore on. English openers Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook gave their team a solid start, putting on 118 for the first wicket. Then, aided by a fine 123 from Strauss and a gutsy unbeaten 53 by keeper Matt Prior, England finished with a first-innings total of 316.
India replied with a modest 241 and only skipper Dhoni (53) managed to make an impact. Tendulkar was caught and bowled by Andrew Flintoff for 37. Flintoff and Monty Panesar took three wickets each.
In reply, the English declared at a score of 311 for nine with Strauss posting his second century of the match and Collingwood returning a score identical to Strauss’ 108.
India needed 387 to win. If they got there, it would be the highest successful fourth-innings chase. Virender Sehwag, as only he can, regardless of the format, turned on the heat. Feeding of the memories of his triple century (319) against South Africa at the same ground nine months earlier, he took on the English bowlers with a vengeance. Smashing James Anderson (15 in the first two overs) and Steve Harmison (33 in the first four overs) all around the ground, he made 83 of 68 balls. India finished the day at 131 for one, needing 256 more to win.
Rahul Dravid left at 141, Gautam Gambhir at 183 and V.V.S. Laxman at 224. But one man stood rock steady - Tendulkar. And in Yuvraj Singh (85 not out of 131 balls) he found a great ally.
Partnered by Yuvraj, Tendulkar cruised to a watchful half-century (of 107 balls) and India were 261 for four. Yuvraj followed suit on his Test comeback, with his half-century coming of 76 balls, with a cut to point of Anderson. Together they put on 163 until Tendulkar was one short of his 41st Test hundred and India four runs short of victory. A paddle shot round the corner of Swann handed Sachin his fourth Test hundred of 2008 and India an emphatic win for a 1-0 series lead. Tendulkar’s mature and patient knock took 196 deliveries. He had finally led India in a successful run-chase in the fourth innings and what’s more, he was there to hit the winning runs.
Did you know…
» England spinner Graeme Swann made his debut in this match and took two wickets in each of the two innings.
» This was the first time Sachin Tendulkar scored a century in a successful run-chase in the second innings of a Test.
PARALLEL LIVES
Viswanathan Anand: By now acknowledged as one of the all-time greats in the game, Anand had yet another productive year. Playing Vladimir Kramnik in the match play format in a clash in October, he beat the Russian 6.5 to 4.5 to win his third world championship. Earlier in his career, he had won the world title in the knockout format in 2000, beating Alexei Shirov in the final at Tehran, and in 2007 he won a double round robin FIDE World Championship in Mexico City. In 2008 he took the world title in the old-fashioned match play situation against Kramnik to end all dispute about a unified world champion.
That summer, Anand won the Rapid Chess World Championship at Mainz by beating the youthful Norwegian, Magnus Carlsen, who was almost 21 years younger than him, 3-1 in the final. It was his ninth title at Mainz.
At the start of the year, Anand topped the category 21 Morelia-Linares tournament, ahead of Veselin Topalov, and retained his No. 1 ranking. Once again, he crossed the 2800 mark in Elo rating. In the period from April 2007 to July 2008, he was on top of the world rankings five out of six times and had held the No. 1 ranking for a total of 15 months. Ironically, even as he was winning the world title in October, he dropped out of the top-3 for the first time since July 1996.
Leander Paes: It was a mixed year for Paes who, with Mahesh Bhupathi, failed in his attempt to land a second Olympic medal as they lost to Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, the eventual winners. However, Paes did ensure another Grand Slam title in the mixed doubles and also maintained his streak of winning at least one ATP men’s doubles title since 1997.
He added more silverware to his personal Grand Slam collection by taking the US Open mixed doubles title with Cara Black. It was his fourth mixed doubles Grand Slam, with a third partner after Lisa Raymond and Martina Navratilova.
On the men’s doubles front, he won the ATP title in Bangkok with Czech Lukas Dlouhy, the fourth Czech player with whom he was winning an ATP title. Paes and Dlouhy also reached the final of the US Open and the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
THIS ALSO HAPPENED IN 2008
On 23 March, India test-fired nuclear capable surface-to-surface missile Agni-I with a range of 700-900 km and later, on 28-30 April, set a world record by sending 10 satellites into orbit in a single launch. In May, Indian scientists successfully test-fired Prithvi-II, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
The year had begun with the price of oil crossing US$100 per barrel, but India Inc. was at its best as Tata Motors bought the British automobile companies Jaguar and Land Rover from their American owner, Ford.
Bill Gates in July announced that he was stepping down from Microsoft to focus on his charity and foundation work. But the big business news of the year was the collapse of Lehmann Brothers, who filed for bankruptcy in September and set of a chain of events leading to an economic meltdown that left the world reeling.
The scourge of terrorism refused to leave India alone. On 13 May, Jaipur was rocked by blasts that killed more than 80 people. On 25 July, Bangalore was stunned by a series of seven blasts that killed two and left the city in shock. Then Ahmedabad was wracked by a series of bomb blasts that killed 45 people and injured many more.
Between 26 November and 29 November, Mumbai was held to ransom by terrorists as they decimated the city with a co-ordinated attack across 10 places, killing more than 175 people and leaving more than 300 wounded. Worse, the violence played out as a horror film, live on television. It was an attack that would scar the city and change its mental landscape forever.
In between these terror tragedies, a stampede at the Naina Devi Temple in Bolaspur, Himachal Pradesh killed 162 people and injured more than 400. And in China, an earthquake in the south-west killed 69,000 people in May.
Sportspersons gave India a few moments of cheer as Abhinav Bindra on 11 August became the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal. Ten days later, within a span of 24 hours, wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijender Singh added a bronze each as India returned from the Olympic Games with their highest ever medal tally, promising a better future for sport in the country.
Sachin Tendulkar, on 5 May, was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan along with Pranab Mukherjee and singer Asha Bhonsle.
On 21 July, Radovan Karadzic, a Serbian politician, was finally brought to book for genocide against Bosnian Muslim and Croats in the siege of Sarajevo, after a 12-year manhunt. In Asia, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, faced with the prospect of impeachment, resigned on 18 August, a week after his 65th birthday.
As the year drew to a close, Barrack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American president in American history.