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| Wagon Wheel: Sachin's perfect double |
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| Category: Hawk-Eye |
| Written by Luke Tagg |
| Wednesday, 24 February 2010 19:59 |
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Sachin Tendulkar's record-breaking double-century in the second ODI against South Africa in Gwalior was, by definition, the greatest limited overs innings ever played. To call it perfection would be nothing short of unkind. Perfection is a silly old term reserved for far lesser mortals and couldn't begin to do Sachin's knock justice. The genius of the innings lay in its art. If there was a chance offered to South Africa I didn't see it. Sachin hit a record 25 boundaries in the innings (beating Sanath Jayasuriya's record of 24, set in 2006) yet each and every one of them was a shot of rare beauty. Edges? There weren't any. Miscues? Not here. Each and every four that was struck was sweeter than the last and most of them weren't even chased by the fielders. It was a chanceless innings. It took 2,961 One-Day Internationals for someone to score a double-century and had you asked me before this game who I thought was the msot deserving of being the first to score one, I'd have said Ryan Sidebottom. Just for laffs. It could only be Sachin - he has the most ODI runs, the most ODI centuries and the most respect of any batsman in world cricket, and he's also one of the nicest blokes around. You could begrudge most other contenders if you were so inclined, but not Sachin. As a South African I'm happy to suffer the defeat, the series loss, the humiliation, the pain - it's all worth it to see history being made. The wagon wheel of his disturbingly beautiful innings reveals the all-round class of the man. Don't blame the bowlers - nobody on Earth would have got Sachin out, so perfect was his shot-making. He scored all around the wicket off seamers and spinners in equal measure. He turned off-side lines into on-side boundaries and gave himself room to turn straight balls into wide ones. He came down the track and hunkered deep back in his crease. He played short balls as well as he did full ones and mixed confident caution with fearsome attack. There was no bowling to him - it was a timely lesson in the art of cricket, taught by the greatest master of all. Here it is - the most perfect ODI innings ever played:  Hawk-Eye: India vs South Africa, 2nd ODI, Gwalior 
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