Tendulkar yearning to taste final glory in World Cup: Roebuck

SYDNEY - Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Muttiah Muralitharan are determined to shine in the World Cup, which begins today, but know one man’s high is another’s cruel disappointment, according to noted cricket columnist Peter Roebuck.

“Tendulkar, Ponting, Kallis and Murali bring a ton of experience and a pile of yearning to this World Cup campaign. Each champion is driven by a particular desire, an ambition that ranges from bowing out in style, filling the only remaining gap on the record, reviving a faltering career and overcoming a curse that has paralyzed a team,” Roebuck said in his syndicated column for the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Between them these veterans have known many great days, and all of them can look back with satisfaction. But they are not inclined to rest upon their deeds. In these twilight years, they still step out with purpose. Ponting looks eager, Kallis has been girding his loins, Murali has been polishing his technique and Tendulkar has been preparing mind and body. Don’t bet against them.”

“Of course, only one of them will taste that final glory, or none at all, for England or the West Indies or Pakistan might disturb the day. In that case, the defeated will leave the field and the game disappointed. That is the nature of sport,” he added.

Roebuck further said that if the quartet can be parted, Tendulkar might be deemed the most desperate to succeed.

“Although his cricketing immortality was long ago established, and although his feet continue to twinkle and his bat to sound like a sirloin, his race has almost been run. Certainly, it is his last chance to lift the trophy. That the tournament is played in his homeland and the final is to be staged in the city of his birth adds piquancy to the prospect,” Roebuck wrote. (ANI)