Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly may accept graded runs
elsewhere but are not that made on their respective home-turfs.VVS Laxman waited
for 115 games before he finally got a chance to play a exam match at his home
ground in Hyderabad. As the stylish
artist played with his common languid elegance against New Zealand, it seemed
that the Hyderabadi would create a record that even the like Sachin Tendulkar,
Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly haven't been able to do. That of scoring a ton in
their first match on home ground!
But that dream was short-lived as Laxman got dismissed for 74
thereby disappointing a huge Sunday crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium.
The crowd at Upal thus underwent the same feeling that spectators at Wankhede,
Chinnaswamy stadium and Eden Gardens
have undergone in the past.
Tendulkar has played 8 Tests at the Wankhede but has only one
century to his credit here versus Sri Lanka
way back in December 1997. While he still has 6 fifties and a 50 plus average on
this ground, the lack of Test hundreds before of a crowd where he is ‘GOD' is
something that surely rankles the master-blaster. Tendulkar also appeared in a solitary
Test at the Brabourne stadium against Sri Lanka
in December 2009. He scored 53 in the first essay but didn't get a chance to bat
in the second as India
won the game by an innings. Shockingly, the Mumbaikar was once booed on
home-turf by a section of the Wankhede crowd after being dismissed cheaply in a
Test match against England
in March 2006.
Dravid has the worst home ground record out of the Big Four.
In eight Test appearances at the Chinnaswamy stadium, ‘Jammy' averages an abysmal
21.71. He has scored only 2 fifties on this ground, both against Australia
in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Interestingly not a single Test was played in Bangalore
when he was the Indian skipper from August 2005 to July 2007.
Last, but definitely not the least is DADA! Again like
Tendulkar and Dravid, Ganguly played exactly 8 Tests at his beloved Eden
Gardens before retiring from international
cricket. The ‘Prine of Kolkata' averaged just 31.42 in his own kingdom with 1 fifty
and 1 century to his credit. The hundred came against Pakistan
in his final Test appearance in Eden Gardens
in 2007 to send 90,000 people in the stadium into raptures. Fans at Eden
Gardens also got the opportunity to
see their beloved son captain the national team on four occasions in Test
matches.
Ganguly's best moment at this ground would undoubtedly be leading
India to a sensational
victory in the famous 2001 Test against Australia.
Many experts believe that this win heralded the dawn of a new era in Indian
cricket which ultimately culminated with the team reaching the pinnacle of Test
cricket in 2009.
So will Laxman help India
maintain that record in the ongoing Hyderabad Test? Look out this space for more.
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