da bet7k： ©CricInfo Irrespective of the score, whenever Sachin Tendulkar comes to bat he isunder pressure
da pinup bet： Mark Waugh24-Apr-2001
©CricInfoIrrespective of the score, whenever Sachin Tendulkar comes to bat he isunder pressure. The pressure comes from all those people who look up tohim, who pray that he gets a century, who cheer like India has already wonwhen he comes in to bat, and who silently troop out of the stands once hegets out. When a visiting team comes to India, they know whom the Indianslook up to. While they love watching India play, there is no doubt thatTendulkar is the player they love watching most. There is a buzz when hecomes in to bat and if he fails, the crowd goes quiet for the rest of thegame.The great player that he is, Tendulkar gets a fair bit of adulationwherever he goes. Australians love their sportsmen and know a championwhen they see one. Out here in Australia, he is seen as a great champ andis highly regarded by everybody who follows the game.
©AFPOne of the significant reasons for this is the praise that Sir Don Bradmanlavished on him a couple of years ago. Sir Don had said that Tendulkarreminded him of the way he used to play. While I don’t quite agree with that the little I’ve seen of Bradman on film proves he was in a different league people in Australia sat up and took notice. Whenever Sir Don spoke,Australians did take note of what he said, and while some like me may nothave agreed with him on this point, their regard for Tendulkar only grew.Like most Australians, the first look I got of him was when he came ontour in the early nineties. He was only 18 years old, but handled theconditions remarkably well. He scored two Test centuries, including one inPerth, and negotiated the pace and bounce of the pitches with consummateease. All who saw him on that tour knew that he was a player to watch outfor. And Tendulkar has proved just that in the subsequent years.
©CricInfoDuring the nineties, Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and yours truly have oftenbeen spoken of as the best in the batting business, along with Tendulkar.However, I would rate Tendulkar higher than the rest. Lara comes closebecause he is a proven match-winner, but he does give the oppositionchances. Tendulkar is technically superior, has every stroke in the bookand some of his own, and above all is remarkably consistent.But these are not the qualities that set him apart or make him the greatplayer he is. Those qualities are in the mind. His aggression, hisknowledge of his abilities and limitations and his awareness of what theopposition bowlers are capable of are what make him remarkable. He alwaystries to control and dominate and this makes him an extremely dangerousplayer when he gets going.The only flaw, if one can call it that, is that he can get carried away. Ibelieve Tendulkar recently admitted that this is a drawback in his game.Sometimes he gets into the mindset of wanting to hit every ball to theboundary, and that over-confidence sometimes leads to his dismissal. Butif I know the guy, he will soon be working on that aspect of his game as well.While Tendulkar is a master of both forms of the game, he has the one-daygame worked out pretty well. This was in evidence in the one-day seriesbetween India and Australia. In the first two games he was in ominoustouch but was dismissed because of his over-confidence. He decided he wasworth more than 35 explosive runs in each match and changed his approachin the third game. Result: a superb century in which he did not murder theopening bowlers like in the first two games, but still managed to get acentury at more than a run a ball.
©AFPAdd to that the fact that he is an underrated bowler and you know whythe Indians love this wonderful cricketer so much. It would be verydifficult to pick any one knock and term it as the best I’ve seenbecause Tendulkar has always saved his best for Australia. It is alsovery difficult to predict how many centuries he will get before heretires. I reckon he’ll play another 8 to 10 years, and would besurprised if he does not get more than 40 centuries.I personally love to watch him bat from my position in the slips. While Ikeep hoping he gets out, I must admit that his strokeplay is a treat towatch from that position. A great ambassador for the game, he is oneof those players who will be regarded as an all-time great long after hehas stopped playing.
