Pujara, Rohit dispel the 'gloom'

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar may have missed out on a fairytale hundred, but there were two young Indian batsmen who managed to notch three-figure scores. The first came off the bat of a young man who stood for a good part of his innings watching Tendulkar from the other end. The second came off the bat of another young man who remains the torch-bearer for Mumbai in Team India after Tendulkar.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma showed that the future of India's batting was in good hands. Pujara played a big one for the first time in this series, setting himself up mentally for the tour of South Africa that lies ahead. Sharma took off from where he had left in Kolkata, adding meat to the restored reputation and further cementing his spot at No. 6 in the Indian team.

The two centuries were scored in contrasting styles. In the morning, when Pujara resumed at an unbeaten 33, the West Indies pacers - Tino Best in particular - showed renewed energy running in with the ball. There was pace to counter and Pujara did well, staying around, getting his runs and not let the momentum break with Tendulkar batting at the other end.

He does admit the litmus test will arrive when he heads overseas in December for a Test series. For now, he's happy the century helped the team in setting up the total.

"A good performance in a Test always counts regardless of who you're playing," he said after the match, adding that on Friday, it was also the big moment that egged him on to do well. Starting with a boundary off his very first ball, he struck 11 more in his 167-ball innings to carve out 113 runs.

Sharma was a little more prolific. He got his 111 not out off 127 balls, with a life when batting on 85. Caught at long on off Shane Shillingford, Sharma was on his way back to the dressing room when umpire Nigel Llong stopped him to check if the ball was legitimate. It wasn't as the off-spinner was guilty of overstepping by quite a distance and his innings resumed from where it had paused.

Laced with 11 fours and three sixes, he took on the West Indies attack and did a VVS Laxman by playing expertly with tailenders, and got to the landmark. He now has a whopping 288 runs in just two Test innings.

To make the day's proceedings more interesting for Sharma, a source close to the batsman revealed that he'd signed up with a multinational sports-apparel giant that worked with Tendulkar for years.

Both the youngsters made it count on a day that won't be forgotten anytime soon.

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Shweta Pandey

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