Sachin Tendulkar: Farewell party begins

Mumbai: The buzz around Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th and last Test match is such that the contest starting Thursday might well be the last Test match to draw a full house in the country. Seen against a worldwide drop in Test match attendance, a full house on five days could well be a modern record.

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The West Indies are almost incidental to the plot. But Dhoni is warning everyone not to judge the visitors on just their performance in the Kolkata Test, which India won in under three days.

“They are a fantastic side, they have good fast bowlers, a good spinner and batsmen who have made runs all over the world,” Dhoni said at the media briefing on the eve of the Test.

On their part, the West Indians skipper is hoping first to take the match into a fifth day. While that would not be an achievement in itself, remaining competitive in the Test for longer might seem a good thing given the West Indies’ recent record in the longest format. There is a suggestion of one change in the visitors’ line-up with a fast bowler, possibly Shannon Gabriel, coming in for spinner Veerasammy Permaul.

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Dhoni said the pitch was too damp on Wednesday to judge how hard it would be on the first playing day and after. Insider information on the surface is the grass is being given a close shave with the intention of letting the match go to near full distance while also giving Mumbai’s favourite son the best chance to play a substantial innings.

The Little Master was looking good in a couple of attacking strokes past mid on in the last Test until a questionable umpiring decision cruelly cut short his stay.

When Sachin was reminded he has the last chance to score his 52nd century here to make it one for each of the 52 Tests Don Bradman played, Sachin, with his trademark shy demeanour, said he would give it his best shot.

“Most of all I am looking forward to spending time with my family,” he said even as we chatted about his first Test appearance and the fantastic journey that is to end after 24 years with this Test match.

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The betting market may be underestimating his chances of scoring a century in his last appearance on the premise that even Bradman, who was overcome by emotion and had tears in his eyes when he was bowled by Eric Hollies for a duck at The Oval in 1948.

Sachin seems in a far better frame of mind to make the one big effort to please his fans with the combination of creativity in strokeplay and solidity in defence that has marked his career. And Sudhir Nayak, who is the curator, may have made the pitch with Sachin in the mind with a bit of carry that may ease the playing of strokes while giving the pitch an even pace.

UMPIRE RECALLS SACHIN'S DEBUT

UMPIRE RECALLS SACHIN'S DEBUT

DC/Bipin Dani

Dubai: The Pakistani curator who had prepared a green top pitch for Sachin Tendulkar's debut Test in Karachi in Karachi (November 1989) would not have thought that the 16-year-old boy would become the world's highest run getter.

One of the on-field umpires of the Karachi Test, John Holder, said it was the greenest wicket he had ever seen. “It was also rock hard and ideal for Pakistan's three genuine fast bowlers -Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis,“ recalled Holder.

Holder said Waqar, another debutant, bowled fiery spells. “He was young and eager to impress. He bowled lightning fast from my end,“ said the West Indian-born English umpire.

Apart from the debuts of Sachin, Waqar and Salil Ankola, it was the first time neutral umpires officiated in a Test match. John Hampshire, from England, was the other umpire. The two had officiated in all four Tests of the series.

Mumbai: As legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar walks out for India in his final Test at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium from Thursday, his fans across the world will have a chance to own specially designed mementos. Sachin 200 memorabilia will be available for pre-orders exclusively on collectabillia.com and flipkart.com.

The popular websites have already been selling a host of items related to the Master Blaster and have launched a new range in limited numbers to meet the rising demand for such products.

These six products, however, will give a chance to the fans to own a personally signed memento by the 40-yearold veteran rather than a digitally signed one. The products are available in the price range of Rs18,800 to Rs3,83,680 and include bats and replica balls.

The lowest priced item in the list will be the Sachin Tendulkar 'The Ultimate Cricketer' Signed Retirement Vertiramic Unframed that is priced at '18,880 while a bat co-signed by Tendulkar and Aussie great Donald Bradman has been priced at '3,83,680.

All the products have been officially licensed by the International Cricket Council, the governing body of the sport, and have been tagged for authenticity. Tendulkar, who will draw curtains on his 24year-long career with the Wankhede Test, will become the first ever cricketer to have played 200 Tests.

Currency collector's gift to the Master

DC/ Moulin Parikh

Mumbai: ?After being bombarded by gifts from all and sundry, retiring great Sachin Tendulkar had said that his sprawling Perry Cross bungalow too is proving small. In fact, the Master even requested his well-wishers to not bring in anymore gifts as he was finding it difficult to accommodate everything.

However, amidst the mountain of gifts he's received, the one custom designed for him from a man from Morbi, Gujarat is sure to find an eye-catching space in his Bandra villa. A passionate currency collector, Ratilal Paramar is in Mumbai ready to gift Sachin his collection of Indian currency notes bearing the runs he will score in first and second innings and the number of balls he faces.

With the match scheduled to take place on Thursday (14/11/2013) he already has a note with these numbers. “I am here with full preparation. I have notes, which have numbers from 0 to 400.

So if Tendulkar even scores 400, I will present him with the one with that number,” he said excitedly. Parmar, who has devoted last four years collecting such unique notes, presented his collection to Rohit Sharma based on his 209 against Australia after the Indian team’s practice session on Wednesday.