18 October, 2000

Good day, all.

The other day, Sachin Tendulkar entered his name in yet another section of the record books, when he became the highest run scorer in the history of one day internationals.

That he took 83 less ODIs to overhaul previous record holder Mohammad Azharuddin is not as important a statistic as this other one -- that in the top ten list of highest ODI run-getters, Sachin is the only one averaging 42+.

Funnily enough, on ESPN that day, Indian commentators (in this case, Harsha Bhogle, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sunil Gavaskar) for the first time publicly voiced a question many cricket fans have been asking all along: All said and done, is Sachin merely a flat-track bully capable of scoring only on docile pitches?

There's a quick answer to this one: If it was all that easy, why then haven't other batsmen, who too have played a lot of cricket on the selfsame docile pitches, scored as much? Or as consistently?

However, the question does deserve a slightly more analytical look. So take the facts that we do know -- Sachin has scored 20 of his ODI centuries in conditions that are 'sub-continental'. In other words, on Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi wickets, plus Sharjah.

Which fact seems, prima facie, to back up the theory that Sachin is a big scorer only on flat tracks.

Does this then mean that Sachin is not technically competent to play quality pace, on testing conditions as obtaining in countries like England, Australia, South Africa and the West Indies?

If you look at his ODI record, it would certainly appear so. But then, what do you do with that other important statistic -- namely, that he has 11 Test centuries in those very conditions, against the finest fast bowling combinations of our time?

Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves of the obvious. In ODIs, the best of fast bowlers are looking, from ball one (unless of course the conditions are very very helpful) to contain. Through containment in the first 15 overs, they look to put pressure on batsmen, and force the errors that will give them their wickets. In other words, they stick to basic length and line, and wait for the batsman to get himself out. In Tests, on the other hand, quality fast bowlers look to attack the batsman -- they look to get him out, not play the waiting game.

In other words, Test cricket provides the real test of whether a batsman can cope with quality quicks on quality pitches. And the figures appear to show that Sachin Tendulkar has passed that test with more than decent grades.

That brings up the question of his ODI performances. I suspect, from things he has said and things you notice when you watch him play, that he tends to go out there carrying a double mental burden. On the one hand, he tells himself that it is up to him to get the side off to a flier and, in the process, disrupt the line and length of the opposition's main bowlers and thus make it easy for the ones who come after him. And on the other hand, he seems, until this last tour, to have lacked faith in some at least of the batsmen who follow in the order. He appears to have developed a mindset that some of his peers in the lineup will let the side down -- whether he believes they are incapable, or are deliberately playing below peak ability, is something he is reticent about.

So then he tries to straddle the fence -- score quickly, yet play safe. Never mind Sachin Tendulkar -- there is no mortal who can do that with the desired degree of consistency.

This mindset of wanting to defend, to build the innings, is alien to his one-day mental makeup, and it is this, I suspect, that has caused quite a few of his dismissals over the past couple of years.

So maybe the answer lies there. The answer lies in his captain, and his coach, telling him in so many words that the team is comprised of 11 players. That his job is to play the game the team wants of him, and to leave the rest to, well, the rest. He needs to be told, and that in categorical terms, that the team is best served, in the one day format, when he plays the unbridled aggressor.

Sure, that brings with it the risk of the mishit going to hand, of a cheap dismissal every now and again. But the gains far outweigh the risk. For when Sachin goes after a bowler, the impact outlives his own tenure at the wicket. Of the many examples you can think of, take the most recent one. Glenn McGrath is the ultimate apostle of line and length, of ice-cold nerve and a rocklike steadiness at the bowling crease. He bowls with a patience spiders would envy, putting it there and keeping it there on the ideal length and line ad infinitum, until the batsman, weary of waiting for the bad ball that never comes, commits the error.

And yet, in the space of three overs, McGrath was reduced to, well, an Agarkar, shall we say? When Tendulkar danced down, twice in succession, to mock the 'ideal line and length' with flat hits back over mid off, McGrath lost it. The man with the laser-guided delivery broke, went drifting to leg, and got taken for runs in that region, and hence taken out of the attack.

Sachin got out soon after, yes. But if you look at McGrath, he was never the same bowler in that game, even in his second and third spells. The shellacking had crippled his nerve -- and that, to my mind, is the real value of a Tendulkar at the top of the order.

Sure, I'd love to see Sachin score centuries, who wouldn't? But if I were leading the side, I would want only one thing from him -- a blistering assault on the opposition's lead bowler(s). A 40 in 25 may not do "full justice to his abilities", as the pundits say, but it does exactly what the team requires -- it daunts the opposition, puts them on the defensive early, and lets the lesser batsmen come out with confidence.

Equally importantly, it allows Ganguly -- who in the early overs needs the ball in the right slot -- to play the waiting game, to wait for that point in the match when the initial bounce is no longer a factor, and then go down the wicket to pace and spin alike and take over the mantle of aggressor.

To me, that seems the ideal partnership, the ideal scenario for an Indian team on the mend. What say you?

Till tomorrow, then... take care...

Mail Cricket Editor