An aggregate of 571 from eight innings with an average of 71.37. Almost unimaginable, if you consider that he doesn’t have even one unbeaten innings. One century — he missed two by whiskers — and five 50s. This sums up Sachin Tendulkar’s performance in the ongoing World Cup, defying all expectations, and all that goes with the law of averages in cricket. When Sachin scored 523 in 1996 event, it was the highest-ever aggregate in a World Cup. He, in any case, has aggregated more runs than anyone else in World Cups, and his projected aggregate at the end of this Cup would probably make the target almost unassailable. He has passed the 400-mark only twice before outside the 1996 and 2003 World Cups. The first time was when he totalled 401 at an average of 44.56 in Australia during the 1991-92 Benson and Hedges triangular seires, and then, during the ‘desert storm’ series in Sharjah in 1997. But never before has Sachin played with as much consistency as he has done this time around. His scores tell the story: 52, 36, 81, 152, 50, 98, 5 and 97 so far. And he has at least two more matches to go — the Super Sixes game against New Zealand, and the semi final. If India make it to the final, you add another game. So what is it that he is doing to click? For one, his place right up the order. Opening is something Sachin likes doing in one-dayers. And when the man in question is Sachin, you give him what he likes and wants. After being reinstated at top of the order, the onus was on Sachin to prove that he deserves to be there. And nowhere else. Another thing that has gone largely unreported is that he has taken three ounces off the very heavy bats he plays with. That is something, considering the shape of his back, that would have made strokemaking a lot easier. And it’s about time too, as his fans would say. He is also batting rather relaxedly, with a belter — Virender Sehwag — taking some of the early pressure off his shoulders. Sachin has also done away with a couple of strokes that had landed him in trouble earlier — like stepping out to the spinner and the across-the-line swat.
