Sachin's turn at bat
Ajith Kumar
We all know that Sachin Tendulkar epitomizes genius at batting crease.We run short of adjectives in describing his batting style. He has the great anaytical brain of the Sunny Gavaskar, to rectify minor faults creeping into his game,to overcome the little bad patches soon and also in setting goals and in achieving them like a perfectionist.
Then he is blessed Graeme Pollock's natural talent (also wielding a heavy bat like him!) and a technique as good as Barry Richards. As Harsha Bogle said before, his ability to produce great innings consistently is really amazing. I am quoting Ajay Jadeja here"After 20 years people will be asking me,how was it like playing with Sachin?,Nobody will be bothered to ask about my game".
Apart from his batting talent Sachin's greatness lie in his ability to be level-headed, ie, not let big expectations of others including countrymen affect his batting. Sure,his paediatrician wife and the strong backing of his family,especially his elder brother Ajith being the soothing influence.
I wonder how even Sir Don Bradman would have conducted himself if he were to play cricket in the pressure atmosphere of today. However there are realms where our Sachin needs to prove himself. All but two(both against Zimbabwe)of his one-day centuries are made in Asia, renowned for flat batting tracks. Sure, he had done well in World Cup 92 in Aus, and in NZ in '94 when he was first promoted as an opener. But we have seen how Sachin struggled on seaming pitches and in swinging conditions in onedayers in SA (sure,burden of captaincy in one tour), Eng,WI and also in NZ recently.
Also,he does not have a great record in Toronto where the ball moves around. The sight of Sachin struggling against the movement of Javagal Srinath and McGrath in the Diana memorial match last year is still vivid in mind.Then he hung on and later feasted on other bowlers (Aamir Sohail etc). He knows well that the game in England is going to be different. He knows better than anyone as to what he ought to do there, to succeed in big way. Given his mental makeup and attitude he must have already chalked out strategies to counter and conquer all. His shedding of weight in a big way comes from his own realization that to scale previously unscaled heights in his sport he needs to do far more than honing his great talents at the nets.
Also the rest from nonstop cricket must have done him a world of good.We should laud the selectors for that as Sachin should have been raring to go to Sharjah.Once in a blue moon Indian selectors put priorities of the nation before their own priorities!!. Anyway Sachin will be aware of the black mark on his otherwise glittering oneday career. He is raring to go. And he is going to come up trumps.Hope you all(including Harsha Bogle)will agree with me.
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