Sachin Tendulkar said he felt both very good and relieved after warming up for next week's first Test at Lord's with 171 against England Lions. The 63rd first-class hundred from the batsman nicknamed the 'Little Master' revived India from the depths of 14 for three but, arguably even more importantly, gave Tendulkar invaluable time in the middle ahead of Thursday's start of the opening match of a three-Test series.
"I was a little apprehensive. I wanted to go out and spend some time in the middle in a match situation," Tendulkar said after Saturday's innings, which saw India end the second day of this three-day fixture on 336 for seven in reply to the 'A' side's 413 for eight declared. "I'm feeling quite relieved that I've managed to play more than 200 balls," said Tendulkar, who in total faced 236 balls with one six and 26 fours.
The 34-year-old, Test cricket's leading century-maker with 37 in 137 matches, added: "I'm feeling very good. I wanted to get in plenty of good, quality practice before Lord's.
"I had gone a couple of weeks without playing any kind of cricket, so this innings was important for me. It brought me back to reality, and I'm excited about the Test match coming up," said the India batsman, who scored his first Test hundred as a 17-year-old at Old Trafford in 1990.
One member of the Lions attack could find themselves included in the England Test squad, which is to be named on Sunday after fast bowler Stephen Harmison, suffered a recurrence of his hernia injury.
Graham Onions took three wickets for 69 runs and Stuart Broad two for 54. Chris Tremlett, who had Tendulkar dropped on 39 and 53, finished the day with one for 40 while all-rounder Tim Bresnan - who'd earlier made a career-best 126 not out, had none for 45.
Broad, who has played nine one-day internationals, said he'd tried not to be distracted by talk of a Test call.
"I always aim to take wickets in every innings that I bowl, whether there is a Test call looming or trying to get in the Leicestershire side," said the 21-year-old son of former England opening batsman Chris Broad. "I knew I just had to go out, bowl aggressively and take some wickets. I got two but it could have been more really."
Broad, reflecting on the reprieves given to Tendulkar, added: "Chances go down in every innings, you do extremely well if you hold every one. "If they'd been taken, we would certainly have been in the lead position because Tendulkar was only on around 30.
"But then a player of his class goes on and gets 171 it was pretty faultless really. He looked in great touch. Full credit to him he's played magnificently there."
Comments
Comments are closed.