One final time. One final time India will take the field with Sachin Tendulkar. Thursday, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, begins the final instalment of Tendulkar’s multi-levelled retirement.
First, many years ago, he said he would not play Twenty20 internationals. Last year he had enough of the one-day game. This year everything must go: he has already bid farewell to first-class cricket with Mumbai and even retired from the Mumbai Indians and the Indian Premier League (note of caution: nobody really ever retires from the IPL).
Now he will be all gone after this second Test against the West Indies is over.
Wonder about that for a moment: a cricket world without Tendulkar remains unimaginable. But do not wonder for too long, because it is doubtful the West Indies will give you that much time in the first place.
Their batsmen were abysmal in the first Test in Kolkatta, the match over in three days and India only batting once. They might get a better batting surface in Mumbai though, what with everyone wanting a first hundred in nearly three years from Tendulkar.
Even the curator at the ground, Sudhir Naik, cannot help but be swayed by the force of this farewell. Groundsmen the world over can be contrary, cussed souls, often purposely sabotaging the home side. Not Naik though, who has not only produced good wickets recently, but appears keen on contributing to a goodbye hundred.
“I will be happy if he gets a hundred because I want that,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I also want the century because he is our boy, Bombay boy. He has done so well all his career, so let people remember him forever [that in his] last match [he made a century].
“He is good enough to do it himself. He does not need my help. This wicket is good enough for batting so that might automatically help him.”
More than the challenge – or not – the wicket may offer, the concern is about the challenge, or lack thereof, posed by the West Indies.
After that first morning at Eden Gardens, they looked exactly like what they were: bit-part actors, rushed in to make possible a grander scene not because they are indispensable, but because, you know, they were hanging around with a little time to spare.
The problem is that it is in the shorter formats that a truer, clearer sense of the West Indies is apparent, not over five days. They have a workable bowling attack no more and can hardly afford the news that Kemar Roach’s shoulder injury – which made him sit out the first Test – has forced him to return home.
It is their batting that is the real problem; over two innings in the first Test there was a solitary half century, from Marlon Samuels. Many of them got starts across both innings. In the second, four of the top five made over 30; there were eight double-figure scores in the first innings and the entire top five batted for at least 40 minutes, which is ample settling in time.
Their coach Otis Gibson sounded a little fed up in the run-up to Mumbai.
“There is only so much talking any coach can do,” he said. “When you play five batsmen, and you sit down and stress the importance of those five batsmen, and you set yourself a challenge of batting a day and a half in the first innings, it is then up to those five batsmen to negotiate whatever the opposition bowlers throw at them and hang around for five days.
“[But] When you have a run-out and a couple of soft dismissals within those five batsmen then it puts pressure on everybody else. That is exactly what happened. We have to get better. We have to learn those mistakes and try not to repeat them.”
If not sending Tendulkar off with a 101st international hundred, India will at least be confident of bidding him adieu with a 72nd Test win of his career. But in years to come nobody will remember anything about this Test series, not Rohit Sharma’s century, or wickets for Mohammad Shami.
None of the detail will matter as much as the big picture, forever altered in Mumbai by the departure of Tendulkar.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
Uefa Champions League last 16 draw
Juventus v Tottenham Hotspur
Basel v Manchester City
Sevilla v Manchester United
Porto v Liverpool
Real Madrid v Paris Saint-Germain
Shakhtar Donetsk v Roma
Chelsea v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Besiktas
Sweet%20Tooth
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It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
RESULT
Uruguay 3 Russia 0
Uruguay: Suárez (10'), Cheryshev (23' og), Cavani (90')
Russia: Smolnikov (Red card: 36')
Man of the match: Diego Godin (Uruguay)
The specs
Engine: 4 liquid-cooled permanent magnet synchronous electric motors placed at each wheel
Battery: Rimac 120kWh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power: 1877bhp
Torque: 2300Nm
Price: Dh7,500,00
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
WWE Super ShowDown results
Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin to retain his WWE Universal title
Finn Balor defeated Andrade to stay WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns
Lars Sullivan won by disqualification against Lucha House Party
Randy Orton beats Triple H
Braun Strowman beats Bobby Lashley
Kofi Kingston wins against Dolph Zigggler to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Mansoor Al Shehail won the 50-man Battle Royal
The Undertaker beat Goldberg
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
On sale: now
