Legends Month: Best of Sachin Tendulkar

While the Australian Test summer of 2003-04 played out largely as Steve Waugh’s farewell lap of a doting nation, its final act hosted a virtuoso act from a star who some had prematurely assessed as also beyond his best.

Sachin Tendulkar had forged a reputation as perhaps the pre-eminent batter of the era that Waugh's team (and then that of his captaincy successor, Ricky Ponting) came to dominate, but when Sourav Ganguly led India to Australia in November 2003, the star's power seemed on the wane.

In the year prior to the opening skirmish at the Gabba, the Little Master had endured a trot as lean as any in the 14 years since he'd arrived as a teenage Test player against fierce rivals, Pakistan.

Only two scores in the 50s (both against New Zealand) and five single-figure totals in his past eight innings meant an average of just over 21 heading into the four-match campaign against Waugh's number-one team.

A third-ball duck in the opening Test was followed by an equally inauspicious 1 (from six balls faced) in the first innings of the next Test in Adelaide, where India's other batting luminaries sparkled to secure their team a 1-0 lead and the prospect of an historic first series win on Australia’s turf.

Then, before a large crowd packed into an MCG in the throes of redevelopment ahead of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, India’s batting deity went for his one and only golden Test duck against Australia, smartly snared from a too-fine leg glance by keeper Adam Gilchrist off Brett Lee.

Adding to Tendulkar’s increasing despair was the sight of India opener Virender Sehwag treating Australia’s bowlers – minus Shane Warne (serving a doping ban) and Glenn McGrath (ankle injury) – with disdain on the way to a Boxing Day special of 195 from 233 balls.

So when Waugh’s caravan rolled into his home town, and the SCG bulged with fans waving souvenir red rags peddled by a local newspaper in deference to their hero's toweling talisman, the chances of Tendulkar stealing the limelight appeared less likely than Waugh opening the bowling.

But among the qualities that carried Tendulkar to the peak of Test cricket’s individual batting benchmarks was a certainty that, while he might be occasionally quietened, he could never be fully quelled.

On winning the toss at Sydney, Ganguly envisioned a first innings total so hefty that any chance of India relinquishing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they had so stunningly regained at home three years earlier would evaporate in Sydney's baking New Year’s heat.

It was a justifiable thesis given the way bat had trumped ball throughout that summer, with barely a drop-in pitch in sight upon which to sheet the blame for an unprecedented return of five double-centuries plundered across six Tests (including two that featured Zimbabwe).

That number would have been six if Sehwag had not holed out trying to reach his in a single blow.

Thus, the holidaying fans who flocked to the first three days at the SCG hoping to experience one final Waugh story instead bore witness to an extended showcase of Tendulkar's sublime talents.

For 10 hours and 13 minutes, across three days, the then 30-year-old harnessed a year's worth of frustration into an endless highlights reel of punched drives, crunching cuts, deft flicks, impregnable defence and even the occasional hook shot as Australia’s attack haplessly searched for mercy.

By the time Ganguly provided it by foreclosing India’s first innings at 7-705 early on day three, Tendulkar had posted the highest score of his gilded Test career to that point and appeared likely to bat on until he ran out of able partners.

Or the scheduled five days elapsed.

The tale of his imperious dominance is perhaps best reflected in the opposition's bowling returns; Lee’s 4-201 from almost 40 overs remains the most expensive innings effort by an Australia bowler at home; Jason Gillespie’s 45-over workload has not been equalled by an Australia quick in almost 15 years since.

Despite his deserved player of the match recognition, Tendulkar's achievement was effectively lost amid the post-game valediction for Waugh and recognition of India’s achievement - avoiding a series defeat in Australia for the only time in the past 30 years.

However, his unbeaten 241 proudly stands as the highest individual Test score by an India batter on Australian soil and it provided the launch pad for a glorious final phase of a Test tenure that extended an extra decade and yielded 19 more centuries.

As well as longevity and productivity records that will likely never be toppled.