The Hindu : `I have not seen a batsman better than Tendulkar'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

`I have not seen a batsman better than Tendulkar'

By Rashid Latif

As I was sitting in the stands watching Sachin Tendulkar unravel his genius, I found myself wondering if I have ever watched a better batsman. I could not think of anyone surpassing the diminutive maestro — not even Viv Richards. Tendulkar is cricket's `Kohinoor'. Nobody comes even remotely close.

Tendulkar looked like a man possessed in this match. I have never seen him field with the kind of aggression he showed on Tuesday. Not normally given to showing his emotions on the field, he was reacting furiously to misfields and bad throws off his bowling. I think the clips of those moments should be preserved for posterity. It was as if he wanted this game to be the best of his life. Sourav Ganguly must have sensed his mood, for he gave him those extra overs.

Tendulkar's genius was apparent in the way he made the few adjustments to his batting. He was constantly looking to get inside the line of the ball and work it to the on-side.

Most of his fours came through mid-wicket, square-leg or past fine-leg, with those delicate flicks with his heavy bat.

He proves his genius in every second or third match he plays. And he has been doing it for 14 years. We are very fortunate to have been born in the same era as Tendulkar and watched him in action.

As good as Tendulkar was, I am concerned with Pakistan's near inability to defend a total as big as 330. It played the game with six bowlers and still nearly came unstuck. What is more significant is that the Indians were chasing under lights. If any of the regular batsmen had stayed till the end, the Indians would have been 2-0 up by now.

I think Shoaib Akhtar has fitness worries. He is not bowling as well as he can. He is not able to use the new ball the way only he can.

Shahid Afridi was Pakistan's obvious hero. He should always be played against India. The feeling in the Pakistan camp is that the Indian bowling comes under pressure against Afridi. I spoke to him before the game and he said he was pumped up.

The Indian bowlers had neither the pace nor the bounce to force him on to the backfoot. The only way one can succeed against Afridi is by pushing him on to the backfoot. That is why he should always be played on the sub-continent's slow wickets. I also liked the way he was willing to go for the pull or the hook against the Indians. It is a new facet of his batting he has apparently been working on. He also picked up the wickets of Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh.

Pakistan did well enough to cut down on wides and no-balls in this game.

I felt Pakistan erred in sending Moin Khan up the order, Shoaib Malik should have been sent instead, for his batting ability is a little under-utilised. Abdul Razzaq is also turning out to be one of the world's most dangerous batsmen in the final overs.

The way things are shaping up, the team making fewer mistakes would take this one-day series. Pakistan's bowling is superior to that of India's and its batsmen have also put up 300-plus scores in both the matches.

To me, Pakistan is now the favourite.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News Update

Stories in this Section

Cricket

Fans are the biggest winners

`I have not seen a batsman better than Tendulkar'

Gilchrist leads fightback

Musharraf praises Tendulkar and Balaji

Tamil Nadu takes first innings honours

Four TN players for academy training

Tennis

Agassi in last eight

Sukul upsets Mathew

Football

Felix stars in Mahindra's big win

Athletics

Shobha sets National record, qualifies for Olympics

Chess

Ganguly, Gokhale join leaders