Tendulkar turns it around

Hi everyone, thanks again for all the feedback from the last update!

Firstly, to answer the question I had about the model of camera I work with, I currently use is the Canon EOS 1D Mark III. For anyone looking to buy a good SLR camera, I would recommend a Canon or Nikon, which is what most sports photographers use. Both brands come in a range of models with varying features and prices, not surprisingly, the more features the higher the price!

However with both Canon and Nikon the cheaper models use a lot of the same technology that goes into their high end cameras, so you still get a very serviceable camera. Another point to consider is that most of the expense in building up a good kit of camera equipment is in the lenses rather than the actual camera body. Lenses are interchangeable between the various models of a particular brand, so if you decide to upgrade the camera body at some point, as long as you stay with the same brand, the lenses won’t need to be replaced.

On to the photo for today. Given that Sachin Tendulkar is celebrating 20 years in the game, I have selected a photo of him. I have been lucky enough to see some very memorable innings from the Little Master. His century in Melbourne during the 1999 Boxing Day Test and his double hundred in Steve Waugh’s final Test, at the SCG in 2004, are two that immediately come to mind. Another of his brilliant innings I’ve been fortunate enough to see is the innings that where I took this photo; his first innings century in the third Test in Chennai in 2001.

This series was one of the best I have seen. It was my first trip to India and I’ve been lucky enough to return to a number of times since, it’s a place I really love visiting. With the series tied at one all going into the final Test, the match had a number of twists and turns along the way to India’s thrilling two wicket victory. Tendulkar’s century was one of many highlights and also helped India to what would prove to be a crucial first innings lead.

This is an unusual photo, at first glance it looks like a fairly ordinary straight drive, until you notice that the wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist is standing in front of the batsman! Shane Warne was bowling at the time and was consistently bowling outside leg stump. This often leads to a bit of a stalemate, as the batsman can use his pads to protect his wicket, with no worry of lbw. However, Tendulkar came up with a far more rewarding tactic, turning his back to the bowler, waiting for the ball and then playing what I think is best described as a straight drive behind the wicket. He played this shot a few times, each time for four.

It is one of the things that makes cricket great, when you can watch two masters battle it out and it doesn’t get much better the Warne against Tendulkar. On this occasion Tendulkar came out on top and it was amazing to watch his inventiveness to counter Warne. The timing to play such a shot, waiting for the ball to come from behind rather than having the ball coming head on is remarkable. I’d never seen a shot played like that before and haven’t seen it since.

This photo is shot from a similar angle as the photo from my last post of Dwayne Bravo, quite straight, at a very fine leg with the batsman at the near end. As I mentioned last time, I generally start each ball focused on the batsman, which in this case worked well, as Tendulkar turned in my direction to play the shot. I like the way it almost looks like he is playing a conventional drive, but then with Gilchrist facing the other way in front of Tendulkar, puts the shot into context.