LONDON – As the epochal century of centuries loomed, it looked like Sachin Tendulkar was suddenly batting on a bed of nails. His eyeballs widened and the stare became more pronounced; surely, his hands were sweaty inside the gloves and his footwork took to its own fancy too.
England captain Andrew Strauss, then, pulled off a masterstroke. With the new ball just four overs away, and Tendulkar on 91, he tossed the old one to Tim Bresnan; Tendulkar would have expected Kevin Pietersen, who had bowled the previous over to be given one more over. His eyes lit up; his adrenaline shot up. The moment had arrived.
He lunged forward for the drive, missed the line and promptly turned away in his inimitable bluff; but the roar that followed told him that umpire Rod Tucker had not fallen for it: it must have sounded to him like the roll of thunder, like a furious storm in the deepest of oceans. He looked back sharply, first in shock at the celebrating England players and then in dismay at the skies; finally, he tucked his bat under the arm and blowing hot air walked away ever so slowly.
The Oval that had plunged into silence quickly gathered its wits and rose to salute the luckless little master; but the mood suddenly changed: victory was in the air again and the festivities resumed with even more vigour.
About an hour later, the 0-4 whitewash was done and dusted. Suresh Raina, who looked like he was in a trance, was rapped in front of the stumps; but he was even more zapped because umpire Taufel had not heard or noticed the edge. A second duck completed his miserable tour, at least i
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