A fitting tribute

India's victory in the first Test against England was a fitting tribute to a nation still in mourning following the terror attacks in Mumbai ... and Sachin Tendulkar's hundred in the final session a fine example of courage under adversity.

It was not an extravagant century, but certainly an extra-ordinary one as it came in the fourth innings and paved the way for a famous victory. In many ways it was a career-defining knock and can be rated among the best in the history of the game.

The demands for batting in the last innings of a Test match are different, particularly when chasing a stiff target, like the one India faced in Chennai. It requires extra resolve, great determination and lots of guts and gumption.

As the room for risk is minimal and time to recover minimum, the batsman has to be circumspect and calculative at the same time. Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath were great fourth innings batsmen - ditto, with Steve Waugh among the modern greats.

But Gavaskar could only take India to the cusp of victory, on two occasions, with a great fourth innings knock - a gritty double hundred in a drawn cause against England in the late 70s and a painstaking 96 against Pakistan in the mid-80s in a famous Test which India lost narrowly.

Vishwanath, on the other hand, is best known for his last day heroics in Tests. But Tendulkar took last day batting to new heights in Chennai. And, that it resulted in a victory for India, will make it all the more memorable.

Yuvraj Singh's role in the victory cannot be undermined either. It has come at the right time for the left-hander who has just turned 28. If he needed one knock to cement his place in the Indian side, he has just played it.

It was a great sight while the two were in the middle. Tendulkar calm and reassuring while Yuvraj throbbing and thriving under adversity. If the former proved that the present was safe for Indian cricket, the latter provided enough proof that the future too is bright.

I think England lost the plot in the middle session on the fourth day when with a little bit of aggression they could have batted India out of the Test. Instead, they got bogged down and plodded along aimlessly.

The match was lost and won in that session.

l l l

One of the most difficult decisions in the life of a sportsman or sportswoman is to time their exit. Many have meandered along meaninglessly; quite a few have quit hurriedly regretting it in leisure while only a select few have got the timing and technique right. Annika Sorenstam, who bowed out in style on Sunday after the Dubai Ladies Masters, is a worthy addition to the third category.

Quit when people are asking 'why' and not 'why not' is a famous saying. But, in case of Sorenstam both 'why' and 'why not' become irrelevant because Sorenstam was the face of women's golf for more than a decade and as one 'tribute' suggested she leaves at a time when 'she needs her sport far less than it needs her'.

In many ways, Sorenstam's exit matches that of Don Bradman's for sheer emotion and execution. The Don was famously bowled out for a second ball duck by Eric Hollies when on the cusp of achieving a cent per cent Test career average and even after more than half a century we are not sure how it happened.

Sorenstam's final outing was more realistic but equally romantic. She was not in line for the title at the final hole of Dubai Ladies Masters having fallen behind the leader the previous day. Yet the 38-year-old Swede managed a final birdie to give her career a fitting farewell. It was good enough for a tied seventh position.

The best tribute to the living legend was paid by the eventual winner Anja Monke who waited for a couple of minutes on the 17th tee after hitting her tee shot so that she could see the most famous woman golfer finish her farewell round on the adjacent 18th green.

Golf without Sorenstam will certainly be like Formula One without Ferrari even though my analogy may seem strange.