Steyn vs Tendulkar

Hundred number 51 wasn’t easy for Tendulkar having had to survive through Dale Steyn’s fiery spells of relentless swing bowling on the third day of the ongoing Test match against South Africa. But it ranks very highly on his extraordinarily long list of awesome knocks.

What an outstanding display of cricketing skills this contest was. As Steyn bowled ball after ball of accurate late outswing deliveries, Tendulkar countered by some excellently judged leaves and playing with soft hands when squared up. And squared up he was on more than a few occasions, with the ball either missing the bat or finding the edge and dropping short. In my two decades of watching cricket, I haven’t seen such an outstanding display of sustained outswing bowling. Steyn was remarkably accurate and consistently got the ball to swing from different lines. While Tendulkar faced and survived without ever dominating more than two-thirds of the deliveries bowled by Steyn on the third day – Tendulkar faced Steyn’s entire first spell of the morning  uninterrupted –  he was too hot to handle for the other batsmen with four wickets falling at the other end. This battle between Steyn and Tendulkar was more than worth the sleepless night I endured to catch it live and yet another reminder as to how exhilarating Test cricket can be.