Critics of Sachin Tendulkar emphasize the fact that despite the many achievements in his career, he never reached a century in the Lord’s – as if the ground posed a great challenge to the batsmen! The laurels and esteem are rather due to the historical significance of the Lord’s than any extraordinary merit of the pitch or the ground. In fact, the pitch hardly poses any special challenge to the batsmen. Further, the ground is also known to have a slope on one side.
Normally, a national team plays a Test or ODI at Lord’s only against Team England – unless of course in the case of World Cup and/or other big ICC tournaments. Moreover, the English bowling line have not put up a good show – at least for the last two decades.
Over a career spanning 24 years, Sachin Tendulkar has played only 3 ODI’s and 5 Test matches at the Lord’s. That he hasn’t scored a century in this legendary ground is a fact highlighted by those who hate or despise the legendary batsman. A few facts against claims like one should have a special knack to crack at the Lord’s, Sachin could never tame the pitch there, and so on.
Sachin has not scored a century at the Lord’s in any international match. But not many know the fact that Sachin had faced perhaps the best ever bowling line up – at the Princess Diana Memorial Match held on July 18th. The match was between MCC Eleven and The Rest of the World Eleven. Sachin was awarded The Man of the Match – in a match where he faced a challenging bowling line which included –
1. Glenn McGrath
2. Javagal Sreenath
3. Allan Donald
4. MacMillan
5. Anil Kumble
6. Amir Sohail.
The match was quite interesting with the Rest of the World team batting first. Chander Paul’s century helped them score 261 in all. Chasing the score, MCC’s Sachin Tendulkar scored 125 runs from 114 balls, leading the team to victory. There were 15 boundaries and 4 sixes in the innings that graced the famed Lord’s.
Score card
He very well plundered the balls by Amir Sohail, McGrath and Donald. You may watch the balls continuously fly over the head of the great bowler, McGrath, in the following video clipping.
You may argue that Sachin has not scored a century in any international match against England at Lord’s. But please never claim that the legendary batsman could never tame the legendary ground, the palace and home of Cricket – The Lord’s.
During the lunch time show after Sachin's last Test innings at lords.
Geoffrey Boycott : "Sachin maybe a great batsmen but he has never been on the Lords honours boards!"
Harsha Bhogle : "So whose loss is it more, Sachin's or the honours board's?"
-article by Harikrishnan, Shereen S Hameed
