Ind-SA 2nd Test : India Wins, Series Is Drawn

It took some great batting from Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman and Dhoni to post the imposing total which finally got us the innings win. But Amla, the one man whose committment almost thwarted India's chances of victory, almost achieved the impossible. Winning a test match in the last two overs was nothing short of a one-day experience. Harbhajan held his nerves to bowl that delivery.

India won the match, drew the test-series and retained the No.1 ranking in tests with that last wicket of Morkel. Great win!

Ind-SA 1st Test : Tendulkar's Century In Vain

As India lost the first test to SA, that too on home soil in Nagpur, the only thing to cheer about was Sachin's century. Sachin has scored 34 centuries in 1st innings and 12 in the 2nd innings. Of these 12, India have drawn 5 matches, lost 4 and won only 3 of them. Which means, more often than not, his century has been in a losing cause.

 

Tendulkar's 2nd Innings 100s in Indian wins

Score	Match Innings	Opposition	Venue	Date
104*	3	Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	27-Jul-93
155*	3	Australia	Chennai	06-Mar-98
103*	4	England	Chennai	11-Dec-08

Tendulkar's 2nd Innings 100s in Indian defeats

Score	Match Innings	Opposition	Venue	Date
122	3	England	Birmingham	06-Jun-96
113	3	New Zealand	Wellington	26-Dec-98
136	4	Pakistan	Chennai	28-Jan-99
100	3	South Africa	Nagpur	06-Feb-10

Tendulkar's 2nd Innings 100s in drawn matches

Score	Match Innings	Opposition	Venue	Date
119*	4	England	Manchester	09-Aug-90
124*	3	Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	24-Feb-99
126*	3	New Zealand	Mohali	10-Oct-99
176	3	West Indies	Kolkata	30-Oct-02
100*	3	Sri Lanka	Ahmedabad	16-Nov-09

But Sachin is not to blame for the loss because we have always been defeated due to a weak bowling attack. To win a test match, its imperative that you get the opposition out in both innings, 20 wickets to be claimed. We could not even get 10, hence proving that the bowlers were neither effective in taking wickets nor in curtailing the runs. Even Sachin had stayed long enough he would have run out of partners because we had one more day of play left; too much to ask.

Hopefully we will do better in other matches and at least try to draw the series.