Bangladesh Cricket - Lessons of Passion and Team Work

It was the 18th of June 2005, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. Former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds strolled around the pleasant little town ahead of Australia's first game of the NatWest series. "It's only Bangladesh!" he thought. As the teams entered the Sophia Gardens and the crowd filled in (a small crowd), many expected a stereotypical mauling from the all-conquering Aussies. They made 249 runs in their 50 overs batting first. Many thought they might as well have declared for 150! But the 'minnows' were in a mood to upset the applecart. Riding on a phenomenal 100 from Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh roared their way to 250-5 in 49.2 overs. The most shocking game of cricket had just been played out. And as Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Rafique celebrated one of the finest and most inspiring wins in the history of the game, Adam Gilchrist looked on from behind. He knew he was witnessing a new chapter in world cricket - one that despite lacking in statistical strength, was by far going to be one of the most inspiring.

Bangladesh weren't done yet. Dav Whatmore (their coach back then) had just started his magic. (Remember: Whatmore coached Arjuna Ranatunga's Sri Lankan team to a World Cup title in 1996) Two years later, at the Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Bangladesh shocked India out of the World Cup 2007. Batting first, an already under-turmoil Indian team was shot out for a measly 191. After that, there was little doubt about who was going into the next round and who was going home. Bangladesh's team work had done it again!

But was that all? By no means! Later the same year, Bangladesh chased down a challenging 165 against the West Indies (they had Christopher Henry Gayle in their ranks back then) in the World Twenty20 in South Africa. Once again, skipper Ashraful showed off his fantastic abilities with the bat, hammering 61 runs in 27 balls. But to me, the Man of the Match yet again was Bangladesh's team spirit.

The long journey is not over yet. Qualification to the Asia Cup finals of 2012 having beaten both the World Cup finalists in back-to-back games is perhaps Bangladesh's greatest cricketing achievement yet. But I expect more in the coming years.

But what makes Bangladesh special? Do they have big names? Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza and, now, Shakib-al-Hasan were and are certainly great players in their own right, but in the cricketing world, they'd hardly qualify as big names. So why have Bangladesh succeeded in doing what Zimbabwe, Kenya and others like them haven't been able to do in so long?

What makes Bangladesh such an inspiration is that they're probably one of the only teams in world cricket in a long time who've understood and highlighted the fact that cricket is a team game. Dav Whatmore, to me, deserves a lot of accolades. Remember his stint with Sri Lanka. When Sri Lanka entered the World Cup of 1996, they were barely the favorites! They certainly did have Ranatunga, Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, Aravinda de Silva and Vaas amongst them, but again, at the time, not really big names. Sri Lanka won the World Cup of 1996 through the greatest of great strengths - team spirit. And as Whatmore flew into Dhaka, he brought in with him the same old idea of 'team spirit', teaching his young kids that to win a game, it wasn't enough if you performed alone - you also have to back the others and make them perform just as well.

Watching Bangladesh on the field is a treat. They're certainly nowhere close to being a skilled and crafty unit. But they play intense. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and give 105% in all that they do. They're not easily satisfied by personal milestones of hundreds or five-fors. They want the same for their fellow teammates as well! They're passionate about their cricket and fearless against the Big Boys. They're out there to enjoy their game and keep it to that - short and simple.

Like Symonds said, "they're only Bangladesh," and that's why they're so special!

Virat Kohli - An Extraordinary Batsman! But - let him be

Virat Kohli is off to a flyer! The kid is just 23 years old but has played 8 tests and 85 ODIs, blasting his way to 11 hundreds in limited overs cricket and boasting of statistics that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Stephen Waugh would have envied at his age. He's even played two World Cups, winning both, one as captain and the other as an irreplaceable player. He's the fastest to 11 hundreds in ODI cricket in terms of games played and on comparison of his stats to the great men mentioned above when they were his age, he's miles ahead. He's now the talk of the town in the World of Cricket. Many call him the 'next big thing' and say he's destined to become a legend!

Well, there's not much to disagree upon there! But nonetheless, Kohli's just come in. He's getting settled, seems to be in his comfort zone, is in the form of his life! But - let him be.

India's fanatic cricket-loving public often tend to blow things out of proportion, making mountains out of molehills and finally decrying it all when things go wrong. Kohli is fantastically well talented. He's got the intensity to make it big at the highest level. He's got commitment in bundles for his team in whatever he does. He's got the aggression that the team desperately needs in these dire circumstances.

But with great power comes great responsibility. With Rahul Dravid gone and Sachin Tendulkar growing old (yes, he's mortal), Virat Kohli shoulders the responsibility of holding together a batting line-up that represents 1.2 billion hearts. The last thing he now needs is added pressure from his followers, goading him to do some number-chasing and unfairly comparing him to great legends of the past and present.

Virat Kohli is young and is learning everyday. He's got his own troubles - a tendency to get easily frustrated when things are going awry and a loose tongue (not to mention his fingers) on the field. In short, he's hot blooded. But then, every youngster is! A youngster becomes a stalwart only when he grows out of it, depending on simple self-belief to get in top performances rather than on expletives and fiery fury.

But what makes Legends like Tendulkar, Ponting, Lara and Waugh? Is it their numbers? It certainly is. But Legends go much beyond just mere numbers. They are men who have stood the test of time and the rigors of changing tides of international cricket not for one year or two years or three years, but for over a decade and more! They are men who have played a variety of bowlers, faced a variety of oppositions in a variety of conditions over more than just one generation of players and have still come out on top. But have their careers been flawless? Certainly not! A man whose career has been flawless is not a legend. He simply hasn't played enough.

Kohli's times of tension shall come. They must come, inevitably. If they don't come, it means he's still just a 'new kid on the block'. Many talented young men like him have come and gone - causing strong ripples across the World of Cricket, just like he does today, but fading away with time, all too short-lived. Kohli must guard himself against that. His primary objective right now is to play his heart out for his country. The world must not divert him from that and push him into number-chasing. One does not set out with the intention of becoming a legend. One sets out with the intention of winning his country glory against the test of time, hence becoming a legend. But for now, Virat Kohli is an extraordinary batsman but nothing more.

Super Sachin buried under the Stats

"When I was 10 years old, I used to sleep with my bat under my pillow. I used to visualize myself waving my bat at a cheering Indian crowd after scoring a century. I believe in childhood dreams."

Sachin Tendulkar said the above line in an interview to the Times Of India on the completion of 20 years of international cricket for India. It's now March 2012 and Sachin Tendulkar is into his 23rd year of living his childhood dreams. Tendulkar's comment above is one of the most inspirational lines ever. Tendulkar's statistics are even more mind-boggling - 15470 runs in 188 Test matches with 51 hundreds at an average of 55.44, 18260 runs in 461 ODI games with 49 hundreds at an average of 44.64. I wouldn't go into the world records. They are far too long to type out and there are far too many to cover. In a nutshell, Sachin Tendulkar has done everything a man made out of flesh and bones holding a piece of willow in his hand can do on a 22-yard-long piece of land.


But Beside The Point, Sachin Tendulkar's super-stats quite often tend to become bigger than the man himself, leading fans and followers to forget the man behind the big figures.


On reaching his 100th international ton against Bangladesh at Dhaka (that's 10000 runs in hundreds alone!), Tendulkar looked up into the sky, symbolically dedicating yet another milestone to his long-gone inspiration - his father. And as he lifted his bat in the air, the exasperation of 370 days of going century-less showed rather clearly on his face. At the end of the innings, Tendulkar made himself clear - 

"It's been a tough phase for me. I was not thinking about the milestone, the media started all this, where ever I went, the restaurant, room service, everyone was talking about the 100th hundred. Nobody talked about my 99 hundreds."

Tendulkar has often been compelled to change his natural game in order to break records. He's never enjoyed batting in the 90s. He's never enjoyed batting 10 runs short of a world record. 100 often seems twice as good as 99. 10000 seems thrice as good as 9999! Tendulkar's career has often been reduced to numbers. Often, the number-chasing not just bogs down Tendulkar, but it also hurts the team. 


Sample this -


Tendulkar, apart from his 100 international hundreds, has been dismissed in the 'nervous 90s' 10 times in Test matches and 18 times in ODI cricket. That in itself is a world record! Out of the 49 hundreds that Tendulkar has scored in ODI cricket for India, the team has gone on to lose 27% of the time. That compares rather poorly when contrasted against Ricky Ponting (Australia has won 86% of the time when he scores a 100), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka has won 86% of the time) and Virender Sehwag (India has won a whopping 93% of the games in which Sehwag scores a 100!).


There seems to be no doubt that number-chasing hasn't worked too well for Tendulkar. It's led to a lot of turmoil! So why can that be? Well, he said it himself! "The media started it." Tendulkar's performances have very often been blown beyond the team. The country and its people often look at the player as an individual rather than a team-man. Indians don't really care if India loses the game in case Tendulkar breaks records in it. There is constant pressure on the man to go from 10000 to 15000 to 17000 to 18000 to 20000 and beyond. It's all about numbers. It's all about stats.


When the records don't come, he is out of form. When the team loses, it's because of him. For many, Tendulkar is Team India. His stats are the stuff of legend and he is buried under them. But how many times have we looked at Tendulkar, the team player? How many times have we looked at the man behind the numbers? Allow him play his natural game while he's at it. Because that's why he's there!

Irfan Pathan - Another Instance in a Growing Trend?

Irfan Pathan is back! And he's back in 'full swing'. After a long hiatus, Irfan, who also happens to be my favorite Indian all-rounder in a long time, has fought off almost everything a cricketer can find in his way. "In life, you have more bad days than good days. I just try to enjoy every moment," said Irfan on his comeback tour to Australia. It's hard to dislike somebody like Irfan Pathan. He's out there giving 100%, whether in form or not. He never lets his famous smile fade away even in misery. And his unending reservoir of energy certainly does quite a bit to fire up the others around him! For Indian cricket today, he is the Comeback Kid! And it's about time too.

But Beside The Point, Irfan's comeback tells a story about Indian pacemen. Irfan isn't the first to make a remarkable comeback of this sort after a long holiday from the Indian dressing room due to injury, form issues or other unknown/concealed reasons.

Rewind back to early 2006, when Zaheer Khan was dropped after continually dismal performances. In the 2003 World Cup final against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Zaheer, opening the bowling, bowled an unending string of wides in his first over, granting the bulldozing Aussies a flying start which they gleefully capitalized upon to end up with 359 mammoth runs for the loss of just 2 wickets. Zaheer failed to improve and, in 2005, the BCCI dropped him from the Grade-B contract to the Grade-C contract. Zaheer got flayed during the 2006 tour to Pakistan. Many proclaimed the end of his career. Zaheer struggled to find rhythm and control in his accuracy, variety in bowling and menace in his pace and skill. All in vain. Zaheer ended up in the wilderness for nearly a year, during which time he went over to England to spend his time playing cricket for Worcestershire.

That holiday did the trick! Zaheer came back into the team late in 2006 for the tour to South Africa due to injuries to mainstream pacemen. The Zaheer who flew into Johannesburg then was a completely different Zaheer to the one who was earlier flayed by batsmen in different parts of the world. He decided to pick on Graeme Smith and the poor South African skipper had trouble playing more than 4 deliveries from the rediscovered Zaheer Khan. The man swung it a mile! But the harder part was that you could never tell if he'd swing it into you or away. Zaheer bowled with extraordinary ease, getting wickets at will and making the ball dance in the air. All of a sudden, in a matter of a month or so, India had gotten back its premier fast bowler - smarter, sharper and slier.

Munaf told a similar story, finding himself in the dark woods after a string of terrible performances, before making an extraordinary return during the 2011 World Cup at home. Munaf went on to become one of India's many successes in the World Cup triumph - frustrating the opposite end with nagging accuracy.

Looking into Irfan's story, one finds on comparison with Zaheer's and Munaf's stories the wonders that a short holiday of sorts can do to a young Indian paceman who seems to have lost everything. Instead, on bringing him back a year or so later, you tend to rediscover an all new lethal weapon - more skillful and full of guile. The new Irfan Pathan seems to bowl with greater adaptability. He seems to sense the pitch and the conditions early and decide on what sort of a role to assume - wicket-taking or run-containing. He's regained some of that spectacular swing that he'd seemed to have lost after shocking Pakistan in Karachi with a Test hattrick. He's hungrier and fitter, smarter and sharper.

But next on the list - can we do the same to Shanthakumaran Sreesanth?

Rahul Dravid - Putting Indian Cricket First

"If you play a lot of games, you can pile up a lot of numbers."

That comment above puts, in a sentence of his own words, Rahul Dravid's approach to cricket. Dravid didn't care much for big, astronomical figures. He wasn't interested in adding zeroes to his run account or boasting of world records. To him, the team came first. India was paramount. The Indian fan was paramount. He never considered himself to be beyond the game or beyond the team, even. To him, he was a representative of India and strived to add to its glories.

His comment at the Don Bradman Oration in Australia late last year put in a nutshell the reverence he had for the country, its cricket and, more importantly, its diverse people -

"Indian cricket is not all about money and power, it is something else. It is the only dressing room in the world where 15 players speak 15 different languages and yet play together for the love of cricket".

But Beside The Point, what strikes me most is his willingness to lead from the front, time and again, putting Indian Cricket first. Recall the incredible 2001 Kolkata Test against Steve Waugh's rampaging Australians - can there ever be a greater Test victory for the Indian team? Walking in to join VVS Laxman in a situation where even the most optimistic fairytale prince would have given up hope, Dravid, ill and on antibiotics, demolished Australia's well-founded hopes with a classic 180, snatching victory where there seemed to be none. Or in 2003, in Adelaide, once again against Steve Waugh's legendary Aussie team, when Rahul Dravid with his trusted sidekick, VVS Laxman, plotted the downfall of the Kangaroos in their own backyard. Who would have thought that India would ever win a Test match on Aussie soil against that incredible unit! Dravid made the impossible. But again! In 2002, against England on a green turf at Headingley where you'd rather graze cows than bat, Dravid dug in, sweating out over 400 minutes, making 148 runs, putting India first, giving them an extraordinary victory on English soil. Nasser Hussain, the English skipper, was flummoxed! But for Dravid, it was nothing new. Yes, Dravid believed in the impossible. He believed in standing his ground for hours together, tiring the hapless opposition with a stubborn straight bat, hitting the ball onto the ground ball after ball, over after over, session after session, day after day. McGrath, Akram, Lee, Flintoff, Akhtar, Harmison, they all came running in, but the Wall would not be breached. Not until the Wall decided to let go himself! Laxman said his friend suffered from dehydration almost all the time. Well, the reason is all too obvious, isn't it?

But Dravid's credentials at putting the team first go much beyond his batsmanship. They, rather controversially at times, influenced his captaincy as well. On the famous tour to Pakistan in 2003-04, Dravid, as stand-in captain for an injured Sourav Ganguly, declared the Indian innings with Sachin Tendulkar on 194*. Many cried foul and called it 'sacrilege'. Mumbai, almost immediately, went ablaze. Tendulkar himself came back to the dressing room rather sulkily. But that's how it was for Rahul Dravid. The team came first, irrespective of who or what is batting out there in the middle. Dravid won back some captaincy credentials later on though, beating Sri Lanka 6-1 at home in 2005. Dravid then won 14 ODI games on the trot, as captain, to beat the earlier record set by the West Indies for most consecutive ODI wins. But all was to be forgotten as India got pummeled and pasted, pulverized and punished in the 2007 World Cup. India exited at the end of the first round and on arriving at home, Dravid exited the Bangalore Airport through the cargo gate. Angry fans shouted slogans, calling for his axing. Dravid, the captain, was all but over. Dravid, the batsman, though, wasn't done yet. He went on to amass runs on the tour to England and remained India's most dependable, putting Indian cricket first.

Dravid retired from international cricket on the 9th of March, once more, putting Indian cricket first. The team is in crisis. Young talented men are having to be satisfied with a seat on the bench for months together after having traveled nearly half the world across to England and Australia. Selectors are struggling, lacking the guts and determination to phase out the senior citizens of Indian cricket, much in contrast to their Australian counterparts (they threw away Ricky Ponting without a second thought!) But Dravid decided to put his hand up, lead from the front, selflessly stepping aside and setting a much-needed trend for his other legendary comrades to follow. "It's time for the next generation", he said.

Rahul Dravid takes his willow into the sunset. Indian cricket just lost its most selfless servant. The world of cricket just lost its most dignified citizen.

Indian Cricket - Basking in Glory One Day, Rolling in Mud the Next

When you look at the Indian Cricket Team's sky blue (or is it marine blue?) jersey, towards the top right corner, just above the BCCI's much famous emblem, you'd see a new addition post the 2011 World Cup win - three golden stars - standing for the three greatest (arguably) achievements in Indian sport - World Cups 1983, 2007, 2011.

Indian cricket, through its extraordinary fan base at home, has been able to raise a simple game into a huge commercial market - one of the biggest corporate industries in Indian history. As a result, the BCCI has been able to make its name, breaking records, becoming the world's largest and richest sport governing body yet. Players here, are not just players. They are sought after celebrities! There is hardly any commercial on television these days in the country which doesn't feature a cricket star.

In 2008, the BCCI, emulating (atleast in an attempt to do so) football's English Premier League brought in the Indian Premier League - done with an intention to discover latent hidden talent in the vast hinterland of the country. Well, atleast that's what the BCCI said at the presser! Here's my take - the BCCI wanted to choke out the rebel Indian Cricket League set up by Zee Network's Subhash Chandra which had the big, influential support of Kapil Dev. Here's how the ICL started - Zee Sports was denied broadcasting rights by the BCCI for a particular India series. Zee Network vowed revenge, and they had it. The ICL took the stuffings out of Indian domestic cricket, pulling young talent out and mocking the BCCI. The BCCI had enough! They let loose Lalit Kumar Modi and his fantastic brainchild - the IPL. The IPL was a big hit! It had everything that a business enterprise in India ought to have to succeed - Cricket, Corporates and Celebrities. Millions of dollars in cash were being doled out by the Rich and Famous of the Indian society, and players were being sold like goats in a butcher's shop. In short, Indian cricket and the Indian Rupee, both, were losing their value, being mocked at.

In the 2009 edition of the IPL, lured by the whopping success and the astronomical digits of currency that featured in the previous edition, many in the ICL fold began to leave, and through the generous and humanitarian 'amnesty' offered by the BCCI, joined the IPL and started to count the cash. The IPL moved to South Africa - due to security concerns following the 26/11 fireworks in Mumbai. Well, again, that's what the BCCI said at the presser. But LK Modi had bigger ideas - he was moving out to capture a whole new market, one that promised more cash to the kitty. Another success, and Modi promised South Africa that he'd be back one more time. He came back alright! But this time, not with the IPL. He came back with something completely new! Something at the international level - modeled (or so he claimed) on football's Champions League. Now, South Africans, rather than supporting Mumbai and Bangalore, got the chance to support Cape Town and Durban! 

Yet another success. Lalit K Modi was becoming a phenomenon - one that was growing even bigger than the BCCI itself! The BCCI now had enough of him. "How on Earth could one non-cricketing individual take over attention from the sporting world's largest governing body?! Who the hell is this idiot?!" They let the cat out of the bag. Scams started flying all over the place! In a couple of days' time, Lalit K Modi, the phenomenon, was becoming the Most Wanted Man to sleuths across the country. Lalit K Modi was finally dumped into the nearest gutter. He was gone. And to this day, he lives in a God foresaken locality, somewhere in the world where none shall trouble him (only he can trouble others!)

Meanwhile, the players were basking in the glory, bathing in money. Some of them bought motorcars, aircraft and choppers with the money, some others used it for hair transplant and still others threw it around the house, not knowing what to do with it. Young men 17, 18, 19 years of age were earning in a day what Sunny Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth earned in half their careers! Money took centrestage, cricket followed it closely behind. 

But the IPL wasn't all bad - it threw up raw, young, energetic talent that might have gone to rot if it hadn't been detected. Meanwhile, the national team sat in the sidelines. Gary Kirsten, the erstwhile coach, cried from behind the stage that his players were slowly tiring out, getting exhausted and losing match fitness. India failed in a couple of World Twenty20 tournaments, ironically, both held immediately after the IPL. What was supposed to be training for the World Championship, became the cause for failure! Foreign legends like Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke wisely chose to stay away. "Australia is more important than Mumbai or Kolkata," they said. It was out in the open - 50 days of non-stop, rigorous, competitive T20 was taking its toll on what people finally discovered to be 'human bodies'. "T20 letting down the nation!", people cried.

In 2011, India entered the World Cup tournaments as hosts and frontline favorites. The team prepared hard, Gary Kirsten worked hard, trying to help India win the Cup after 28 years. The world, seemingly, was behind India. They were fascinated by India's meteoric rise - dethroning the all-conquering Australians and claiming the top spot in Test cricket. Legends and experts warned India against lowering their guard. Sir Vivian Richards famously said, "I'll tell you from experience that the favorites don't have a divine right to victory." Finally, by God's grace and by some fantastic display of guts, grit and gamesmanship, Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted the World Cup trophy on the 2nd of April, 2011 at the Wankhede in Mumbai. Sachin Tendulkar made a record 99 international hundreds (a figure on which he remains to this day). Amazingly, Rahul Dravid was left out of this historic squad (not that he was ever under consideration in this form of the game). The talk of senior citizens to be phased out from Indian cricket was immediately overshadowed by what is today the third Golden Star on the Indian jersey. Gary Kirsten resigned as his contract came to an end. Many begged him to stay him on, some even offered him citizenship! (not a bad idea) But Guru Gary was homesick and wanted to go back to Cape Town. At any rate, he'd done for the Indians what he had initially promised he'd do! 

But as summer comes to an end, winter follows on its heels. And so, Indian cricket quickly ran into trouble. No sooner had Gary Kirsten's flight landed in Cape Town than the Indian team lost quite remarkably and most shockingly in England, meekly surrendering their top spot to the Poms, only after a week or two ago, beating the Caribbean schoolboys black and blue in their own backyard. A whitewash of the cleanest proportions! Indian cricket's weaknesses were quickly exposed - their senior citizens (or the Terrific Trio) were aging faster than the speed of light. Their young batters, fed well on flat tracks back home, couldn't cope up with the swinging fortunes of the Duke ball in England. The Indians returned without a game in the bag, but the troubles were downplayed and quickly forgotten as the Englishmen came over to India, only to get pummeled. Shortly afterwards, the Caribbean schoolboys came over as well, and left with fractured ambitions, taking quite a beating at the hands of a suddenly furious and ferocious Virender Sehwag. "Yes, I need to get some runs. I will now go get some runs," said Sehwag a day before he decided to, not just surpass, but shatter to pieces Tendulkar's record for the highest ODI score. 219 - Sehwag was basking in glory. Gayle called the mauling 'child abuse'. Pietersen said he hadn't played like that even in his dreams! And so, just a few weeks after the England mauling, Indian cricket was back, basking in the glory. It became certain that the Indians were tigers at home and cats outside. 

Soon, the Australia tour followed. The recent successes at home pushed the Indians to think that this was 'India's best chance to win in Australia'. After all, the Aussies had just gotten thrown out of South Africa, made to break dubious records, before neighbors New Zealand came over to aggravate the tensions and add insult to injury by winning a Test at Hobart! 

The Aussies are angry and wounded. Their ego had taken quite a beating! And who better to pour out the emotions on than the Indians? After all, it was the Indians who, the last time they'd come over, beat a legendary Aussie team in the Commonwealth Bank! It was the Indians who, just last year, dumped them out of the World Cup Quarterfinals! Going back even further in time, it was the Indians who, in Kolkata, had ended Steve Waugh's amazing run in Test victories! The kangaroos waited at home, sharpening their knives, looking to slice away at the famous Indians who were still basking in the glory of having stamped their authority back home. The Indians, sure enough, landed at Melbourne. And the Aussies, sure enough, feasted on them. It was nothing short of a pasting! Another whitewash of the cleanest proportions - and the Aussies had undone all that the South Africans and the New Zealanders had done to them over the last half year. Michael Clarke basked in the glory as the Indians, for the second time in less than a year, rolled in the mud. Clarke broke all his personal records at will as his teammates had a ball. The out-of-form senior citizen of Australian cricket, Ricky Ponting, won back some pride towards the sunset of his career (hasn't retired yet, mind you!).

The Indians called for reinforcements. The senior citizens ran back home as people called for their sacking - all except one - the man who was above all scrutiny, perhaps even above the team - Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, the Legend, was still on 99. And even though his friend Shane Warne predicted with definite certainty that the magical 100 would be on Australian soil, Sachin unfortunately proved the famous fortune teller wrong.