Sachin Tendulkar Could Not Score A Hundred After Four Drops And Getting Reprieve Off Two Close Calls

An innings of substance, not style reads the heading of an article on cricinfo referring to Sachin's innings against Pakistan in Semi-Final at Mohali. How long and how far someone would go to defend Sachin Tendulkar. Indian media always try to hide shortcomings of Sachin Tendulkar and hype the talent and achievements of Sachin Tendulkar. His inability to stand pressure is well known. There is no other cricketer in the history of the game that was as well supported and protected as Sachin Tendulkar, but still he fails when the occasion demands the best out of him. For what reasons is he called the 'God Of Cricket' when he cannot be at his best at the biggest of the occasions. After this nervous innings of Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan in Semi-Final, I do not think anyone right in his head would call him 'God Of Cricket.'

If there is something that got India going against Pakistan, it was Sehwag's innings. Had Sehwag not scored at that pace, Sachin would not have survived. In fact, he was dropped four times and got two close reprieves. Had Sachin got out, someone would have taken charge of the innings, but with Sachin's presence at the crease and the way he was playing under pressure, it put a lot of pressure on the other youngsters around him.

If there is anything that won India the game, it was their bowling. Bowlers bowled perfect line and length. Indian bowlers showed great discipline and conceded negligible extras. That is where India won the game. But the jury decided to give the Man Of The Match to Sachin Tendulkar for crawling to 86 after getting record number of reprieves in one innings.