Mick Hartley

Sometimes sport can just…well…hit the spot: 

Sachin Tendulkar’s heroic status will be implanted even more firmly on India’s psyche after he dedicated his stunning last-day performance in the first Test match to the victims of the Mumbai atrocities. Tendulkar brought up his 41st Test century with the boundary that secured a six-wicket victory and by doing so inflicted upon Kevin Pietersen his first Test defeat as England captain.

Tendulkar, who rarely shows his feelings on the pitch, spoke emotionally about what his performance meant to him. “This was one of my best hundreds, given the conditions, the surface, the target and especially after what happened in Mumbai,” he said. “By no means am I saying that this will help everyone forget what happened in Mumbai, but I’d like to thank England for coming back and playing. We have witnessed a wonderful Test match and people enjoyed the cricket the way it’s supposed to be.”

Revealing that two parents from his daughter’s school lost their lives in the atrocities, Tendulkar, who was born in Mumbai, said: “I don’t think India winning and me scoring a hundred will help those who lost their lives, but if we can help by contributing in some small way then we will do whatever we can to do that.

“It is a terrible loss and our hearts are with them. From my point of view I see it as an attack on India, not just Mumbai, and I’d like to dedicate this hundred to all those who have gone through such terrible things.”

The comments at the bottom of the report are wonderful:

"Irrespective of the result, this match will be forever etched in the memory of one billion Indian by the spirit in which it was played.
No words can describe the feeling of thankfulness towards the england's team to be with us in such a testing time."

"We indians are overwhelmed by the wonderful gesture shown by the England team by coming back to India after the terror attack. Thank you for supporting us."

"Despite losing England will remain eternally the greatest friend ever of India. Well done Kevi's boys!
You might have lost the test match but you have won the respect and affection of the one billion Indian people for your support of India in its hour of need. Thank you!"

And don't miss Tunku Varadarajan, on how he finally passed the Tebbit test:

If anyone had any doubts that cricket is a magnificent game – or that England (as Britain is called when kitted out in whites) and India are magnificent, humane, manly, kind, resilient, fraternal nations – these were dispelled over the last five days in Chennai (né Madras).  […]

There is a kind of Englishman who is admired by Indians, who was admired, even, in the old colonial days. I know that because my parents' generation speaks of the type. Amid the boors and oiks that England is so good at producing (and was so good at exporting to its colonies), there is – and always has been – the Upright Englishman.

Eleven of them took the field in Chennai, and for three days and a half outplayed an Indian side that had been expecting no contest. And so I cheered for Strauss, and Swann, and Monty, and Pietersen – yes, Pietersen. Let no one say he's not English. England lost the Test, in the end, but what of that? They were snuffed out by magic that was, somehow, appropriate for the occasion – magic conjured to meet the standards of eleven men of courage, eleven Upright Englishmen.