Tendulkar a stroke-making master

[King]

By Mark Nicholas At a dinner in Leeds on Friday night, Sachin Tendulkar talked about playing under pressure. Nobody is better qualified to do so. He said the only way to cope with the extraordinary expectation that has followed his career was to see pressure as a subjective rather than objective force. He was happy if he satisfied himself and happier still if he retained the respect and support of his team. Most of us feel pressure from the outside - though Sir Ian Botham is dismissive of this, saying that pressure makes kettles whistle - and it increases the more we consider failure or letting others down. For some sportsmen, and for those actors who take to the stage, the fear of failure can be almost unbearable. This terrible fear has ruined many a talent. At a young age, when it became apparent to Tendulkar that he was to live his life within an extreme and often unreasonable spotlight, he decided to be his own critic - to be fair but also firm and to have an inner circle of friends and family to whom he could turn when he became uncertain. Thus, he reads little but listens keenly to the circle. He charts his own course, understanding that things, people, life all change but that they also stay the same. He didn't say it himself because he has been too busy batting to study French, but for India's finest, it is a case of plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. All of which is why he can bat as he did yesterday and has done throughout the one-day series - in the free-wheeling and free-spirited style of his untarnished youth. He might as well be a different person from the one who searched for the ball during the Test matches and then, on the occasions that he found it, rarely put it away with conviction and never with abandon. He was studious, timid even and frustrated by the shackles of time that overcame him. Rather than fret, he batted without ego or reference to a magnificent past and therefore made something of his opportunities. That was then, this is now. His innings then were worth enough to help India steal the Test series. Now they are setting light to each ground at which he appears. Indian people go mad for this man. At times yesterday, it was as if Leeds was Mumbai so utterly did the orange, green and white of India obliterate England's presence. In one over from Jon Lewis, he eased four perfect boundaries from his mighty sword - two drives and two cuts, each a little different from the other but all beyond reproach. He bats with the symmetry of straight lines and the geometry of acute angles and at the core of his wondrous play is the purest technique in the game. Yesterday Tendulkar set a tone of imperious control that even this Indian one-day team, at its profligate best, would not relinquish.

[Cricketics]

i like his commentry.... don't really follow much of his articles but as a commentator he is good.. this was was nicely described by him...mark nicholas took an int'view of tendulkar after we drew the first test @ lords.. that was nice too... it was shown too..