New Delhi: Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar catched up with his great contemporary and one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Brian Lara after the West Indies registered a great win against hosts England in the second Test match of the onging series yesterday at Headingly.
Shai Hope led the struggling Windies to an astonishing five-wicket win on Tuesday as he became the first batsman to score hundreds in both innings of a first-class match at Headingley.
Set 322 to win, Windies won the match by five wickets with Hope returning 118 not out – his second hundred of the match after 147 in the first essay. It was their first win in England since 2000 and saw them level the three-match series at 1-1 after they suffered a humiliating innings and 209-run defeat inside three days in the first Test at Edgbaston.
Interestingly, it was the first of the two shock results in the last 24 hours. Today, Bangladesh defeated Australia by 20 runs in Mirpur.
Minutes after the Windies hit the winning run at Headingly, Tendulkar took to Twitter to reveal that he had in fact talk to legend Lara to tell that the win was a much needed one for the Windies.
I was speaking to @BrianLara about the test result and I said it was much needed for @westindies and world cricket! Well done @wiplayers
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 29, 2017
The post became an instant hit with thousands of cricket fans hailing the Little Master for supporting the Windies team. Here are some of tweets:
Yes true Master. It's a much needed victory for revival of Cricket in WestIndies. Congratulations WestIndies. Hard luck @englandcricket !
— Sachin Tendulkar FC (@SachinsLovers) August 29, 2017
Hope WI cricket board will not ruin things again by dropping good players from team.
— अखिल (@AkhilSaroch) August 29, 2017
Well done Sachin sir. It's time to support @westindies cricket team..
— Vinu Thakur (@v_be_like) August 30, 2017
Great to see WI are backing their strength! High intensity from windies players. Brilliant knock by the two which register a historical win!
— Deepankar kaushik (@sachinDeepankar) August 29, 2017
This is the true spirit!!! Tweeting about other match not only to india's... That's y we luv u sachin sir..
— Deepankar kaushik (@sachinDeepankar) August 29, 2017
Pls speak to Sangakara too and save SL cricket
— Jai Chiranjeeva (@ChiruFollower) August 29, 2017
Yes Godji Test Cricket is very important for growth of players and cricket..Good Night God Ji...
— Henu Madhan (@henugreat) August 29, 2017
So true.. for fans like us who have grown up watching the West Indies dominate world cricket ..hope this is the start of the resurgence
— Ramas (@Ramas1731) August 30, 2017
Once a formidable force, the Windies have been reduced to a team of second string players with established plying their trade elsewhere as mercenaries. Then, there are also the administrative issues including those of selection processes, reducing once a proud team to mediocrity.
But at Headingly, they found two heroes in Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite, the later just missing his second hundred of the match by five runs. Brathwaite scored 134 runs in the first innings.
