The Hindu : Sport : Tendulkar not for neutral venues

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Tendulkar not for neutral venues

Chennai: Sachin Tendulkar said he was personally not in favour staging the Ranji Trophy knock-out matches on neutral venues.

He told presspersons here on Monday, “You don’t have the atmosphere in a neutral venue. If you play home or away, you have the home crowd rooting for its team while the other side will be up against it. This is a part of the learning process, particularly for the young cricketers.”

Tendulkar, however, added the BCCI should monitor the nature of the pitches for these matches. He was lavish in his praise for the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

“This is among my favourite grounds in world cricket. The ambience is great and it gets the best out of you. I like the pitches here. The ball comes on to the bat and the bounce is true and even.” Tendulkar revealed he was feeling a tad unwell going into his innings. “Finally, the heat got to me and I was a feeling a little uneasy after my hundred,” he said.

Test schedule

Queried about India playing only a handful of Tests this year, Tendulkar said though the cricketers would love to play more Tests, it was up to the BCCI to manage the schedule.

The IPL, he said, would eventually benefit the young cricketers. “You play so many matches, you travel together, you rub shoulders with the best cricketers in the world.”

Wasim Jaffer said batting with Tendulkar was ‘fun.’ The Mumbai skipper said, “When you are batting with the master, you do not want to get out.”

Mental strength

Jaffer said scoring a triple hundred was a lot about mental strength. “You feel like playing a lot more shots after reaching the hundred or the double hundred. But I applied myself.”

He said Mumbai would be content with taking the first innings lead in order to give its bowlers rest before the final. “We will bat for an hour tomorrow. And we will bat again if we bowl out Saurashtra,” he said. — Special Correspondent

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