100 wickets for Tendulkar as 'captain courageous' is felled

When Sachin Tendulkar succeeds with the bat you better watch out. There will be no respite as the broad blade of that extra heavy bat comes down hard on the ball, sending it searing across the turf. Teams across the world know what Tendulkar can do with the bat. With the ball however, very few people have been at the receiving end. Australia however, know only to well what it is like to stopped dead in their tracks by Tendulkar the bowler. Today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa, Tendulkar picked up his 100th One-Day international wicket. Only two games back, Tendulkar notched up 10,000 runs in the same form of the game.

Well, this was just another instance of Tendulkar falling short with the bat and coming good with the ball. After being dismissed for 12 with just 16 on the board, Tendulkar chipped in with the ball. Having bowled only 11 overs earlier in the series, Tendulkar must have been itching to have a go at the Aussie batsmen. The fact that he was stuck on 98 One-Day wickets too must have added to Tendulkar's keenness. One must remember that it was late in the innings of the second Test at Kolkata that Tendulkar was given the ball. Bowling with great control, Tendulkar managed to land his leg breaks in exactly the right spot. Mixing up googlies and straighter ones, the Mumbai master blaster foxed the Aussie batsmen. Returning the figures of 11-3-31-3, Tendulkar started the Aussie slide.

And that is not all, Steve Waugh and the Australians will have wounds that go back to the 1997-98 Pepsi Triangular Series. At another Nehru Stadium, in Kochi, Tendulkar scalped 5/32 off 10 overs and sent the Aussies packing. On that occasion, Tendulkar was the man of the match as well.

Here at Goa, the land of sun and sand, fun and frolic, Tendulkar could have had wicket number 100 much earlier than he eventually did. He came on to bowl at 142/3 when Steve Waugh was a bit of a nervous starter. Flashing hard at a well tossed up off break, Waugh only managed to get the inside edge of his bat to the ball. Vijay Dahiya moving the wrong way made a complete hash of things, not even going for the catch.

Ajit Agarkar was not about to make the same mistake. A long time friend and state teammate, Agarkar judged the ball to perfection as Waugh's hoick spiralled to him at long on. When the catch was held, all hell broke loose in the stands. The cheerleaders and drummers waiting for the smallest opportunity to cheer the Indians went berserk. Tendulkar too was visibly elated. And why not? Having struck his 10,000th limited overs run off Shane Warne, what better man to dismiss for a landmark 100th wicket than Steve Waugh.

Not one to be satisfied, Tendulkar foxed Darren Lehmann two overs later with an offspinner that bounced and turned. The southpaw was committed to the cut shot and the ball went straight to the waiting hands of Yuvraj Singh at point. Ending with the impeccable figures of 10-0-35-3 (he had bowled Adam Gilchrist to take wicket No 99), Tendulkar had made a mess of the Australian middle order.

Man with the golden arm, partnership breaker, utility bowler... call him what you will. As William Shakespeare once put it ever so eloquently, "A rose by any name would smells as sweet."