NEW DELHI: Legendary Sachin Tendulkar, whose name now adorns the Test series between England and India — alongside Jimmy Anderson, shared his tips for the inexperienced Indian batting unit in Headingley, Leeds for the start of the five-match Test series.Led by Shubman Gill, who faces a trial by fire not just as a batter but also as a captain, India come into the series as a team in transition. With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin retired in the last six months, India are in uncharted territory in many ways.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Three of India’s potential top order batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair – would play their first Test in England. Only Nair and KL Rahul average over 40 against the red ball in the UK.“If you look at it, Yashaswi has now travelled a fair bit. He’s been to South Africa, he’s been to Australia and he’s played against some reasonable bowling attacks. So, though he’s new, he’s had that exposure,” said Tendulkar in a virtual media interaction. “KL Rahul, again, has been around for a long time now and is an experienced player.
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Which aspect of Sachin Tendulkar’s advice do you think is most crucial for the Indian batting unit?
“If Sai Sudarshan plays, I’ve had a look at him, he looked impressive. The technique looks good to me. Shubman has a fair amount of experience now.
“And, if you look at Karun Nair at five, then Karun also has tasted success at international level. So, I feel up to five, there is a reasonable amount of experience. Karun has played County cricket also.“Every day, every session may produce a new challenge. Sometimes the journey would be smooth, sometimes it would be rocky. But that’s part of a long series. There are going to be ups and downs. Not all sessions are going to be smooth. And, it won’t be a comfortable ride all the time.“But when you are in a dominant position, we must make it count. And make sure that the opposition pays a price for that. So, the sessions won should be the focus of the team. How many sessions can we win in a Test match? And then we need to go hour-by-hour, session-by-session, and then, you know, day-by-day. But take small steps at a time and keep constructing on that solid foundation.”Tendulkar stressed that the first Test in Headingley will be pivotal to how the series shapes up.“First Test is always important. To build a solid foundation in Headingley is going to be critical. And if we are able to do that, then we could construct something that we would remember, you know, 20 years down the line,” stated Tendulkar.
While India will be figuring their way out in England, they will also have to face the ‘Bazball’ challenge – an aggressive approach to playing Test cricket, introduced under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.Tendulkar stressed that it is the beauty of the sport where shots and playing style evolves. He recollected when former Zimbabwe batter Andy Flower played the reverse sweep against India spinners and it was considered a unique choice. The 52-year-old even recalled his sweeps were considered a ‘dangerous’ shot against Shane Warne.“I know that England have been playing aggressively. And that’s their style of play. This is the brand of cricket that they have decided to play. And one should not be too overawed by how they are playing. They will play their brand of cricket and we need to play our brand of cricket, whatever brand suits us to our playing combination,” claimed Tendulkar.“With time, a number of things are changing. The formats of the game have become shorter and that has encouraged players to play different brand of cricket.
“I remember in the year 2000, when Zimbabwe had come to India, Andy Flower was playing reverse sweep against our spinners. I said at that time that Andy is 8-10 years ahead of the rest of the guys, as far as that shot is concerned. And today it is considered a normal shot.“With time a number of things change. I think the approach which has changed is mostly because of the change in format, which has allowed the batters to go out in the nets and practice that shot.“I remember when I was playing against Warne and I swept the ball, number of guys would say it’s a dangerous shot, but I felt totally comfortable playing that shot because I had practiced (it). So, it eventually boils down to whatever approach you adapt. If you’ve practiced, then you feel comfortable.“The eventual thing that both teams look to do is they want to own that space. And by using this approach, if you can own that space and put pressure on each other, so be it,” he added.
James Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar with the new trophy for India vs England Test series. (Pic courtesy – BCCI)
The Anderson-Tendulkar TrophyTendulkar revealed he found out about the decision to name the trophy after him and the former England seamer Jimmy Anderson a month ago. While travelling in Spain, the Master Blaster was notified of the decision and admitted it was a “nice recognition.”At the same time, he deemed it important to reach out to the family of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, whose name featured on the trophy earlier. After discussions with the BCCI, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the ICC Chairman Jay Shah, Tendulkar was able to convince the stakeholders to present the winning captain with a newly-instituted Pataudi Medal for Excellence.Tendulkar, who scored Test hundreds in England on tours of 1990, 1996 and 2002, recollected the time he heard of Jimmy Anderson and his legacy to the sport.“The first time I heard about him was from Nasser Hussain. Jimmy had just started playing for England and Nasser spoke very highly about him. He said that he is a bowler to watch out for. But I don’t think at that point of time, in 2003, even Nasser thought that Jimmy would get 700 wickets [704 wickets] for England. It’s a remarkable career,” said Tendulkar on Anderson who played 188 Test matches.“I have always believed that one can play for a short span with a lot of talent, but to last for over two decades as a fast bowler requires a lot of focus, a lot of discipline, concentration, dedication, grit.“There have been so many challenging moments in his life as far as injuries are concerned. There are aches and pains. You are a fast bowler, you are obviously going to get injured. There are aches and pains, but you wake up in the morning and start a new day with as much zeal and commitment. It takes a lot. The way he has been able to overcome all the challenges and deliver year after year, season after season, has been remarkable.“What I found special about him was his wrist position and the subtleness in his variation. A batter is constantly observing a bowler and trying to pick those signals. Every bowler will give you some signal. That’s when you kind of come to know whether it’s going to be an outswinger or it’s an inswinger or a bouncer or a slower bowler, whatever, with those small signals. His variation was so subtle. A number of times batters were not able to pick.“He was quite good at bowling reverse swing and hiding the shine and those kind of elements in your action. He adapted his action to that. If you see his action early on in 2003-2004 and then towards the second half of his career, it had changed and he adapted. He continued evolving. That is the key ingredient to being a successful athlete. You have to constantly rediscover yourself, evolve and introduce new things,” added Tendulkar on the England seamer who played his farewell Test last July, on the eve of his 42nd birthday.
