Articles on Tendulkar in the British media

[mishra]

What is your age?

We got our Black and white tele during reliance cup.

[deepak_sach]

We got our Black and white tele during reliance cup.

When?

[mishra]

When?

1987 Worldcup was called reliance cup. Our family used to live in Kolkata those days. Ticket prices and tv were at the same rate. We bought TV. Then everyone in our building used to come and watch Ramayana and my frnds used to join me for cricket. Good old days...

[SachDan]

Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman – the genius, the builder and the artist http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/jul/15/genius-builder-artist?cat=sport&type=article It is hard to think of three batting contemporaries who have had such an impact on a nation's cricket fortunes as this trio of Indian superstars about to face England. Dileep Premchandran The Guardian, Fri 15 Jul 2011 12.42 BST Since the three Ws played a pivotal role in West Indies's emergence as a cricket power, it is hard to think of three batting contemporaries who have had such an impact on a nation's cricket fortunes as India's middle order. They have been slotted into boxes that they each dislike – the genius, the builder and the artist – but for 15 years, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have been united by a common purpose. When Laxman made his debut in November 1996, India were far from being cricket's pre-eminent power. Hard to beat on spin-friendly surfaces at home, they were soft touches away, a fact amply illustrated in the Boxing Day Test of 1996, when South Africa skittled them for 100 and 66 in Durban. India had produced great batsmen before them, most notably Sunil Gavaskar and the two Vijays, Merchant and Hazare. But away from home comforts, their task usually involved digging trenches and saving face. The numbers are revealing. Half the nation's 110 Test wins have come in the period after Laxman's debut. Before then, India had won 13 of 139 Tests overseas. Since, they have triumphed in 24 of 83. In the last decade, when they came into their own, they have won more (22) than they have lost (19) away. As they take guard in England for the last time as a group, they remain a fascinating study in contrasts. Tendulkar was the prodigy who took the elevator while the others climbed the stairs, to paraphrase a lovely Vinod Kambli quote about the man he once shared a world-record partnership with. By the time Dravid and Sourav Ganguly made their debuts at Lord's in the summer of 1996, he had played 39 Tests, scoring nine centuries along the way. Born within two years of each other, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman belonged to the 1983 generation, the chosen few from among thousands of boys who took to bat and ball in earnest once Kapil Dev's unfancied team pulled off one of the great sporting upsets in the World Cup final at Lord's. India in those days was nothing like what it has become post-economic liberalisation. If you came from middle-class families, like the three did, pursuing a career in sport was frowned upon. You were encouraged to study hard and then take up a job that guaranteed financial security. In the mid-1980s, you had to be a household name such as Sunil Gavaskar or Kapil Dev to make decent money from cricket. If you were a teenager then, life after school invariably involved some sort of sport. There were no PlayStations, trips to McDonald's or the other little luxuries that children from fairly well-to-do families can take for granted now. Dravid grew up in a quiet residential suburb of Bangalore, where the roads became temporary pitches every evening. Laxman had his first lessons at his grandmother's house, guided by his uncle and older brother. Tendulkar, a John McEnroe wannabe as a small boy, played most of his early cricket on the grounds of the small housing society where his father, a poet, had been given an apartment. Their career trajectories were very different too. Tendulkar arrived like a meteor, one of those once-in-a-lifetime prodigies who actually lived up to the hype. He made a century on his first-class debut and was considered unlucky not to make the tour of the Caribbean when still just 16. Less than a year later, he did play against Pakistan, showing great maturity in tackling a bowling line-up that could boast of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He was still only 17 when he made his first Test hundred, a match-saving 119 at Old Trafford in the summer of 1990. As an 18-year-old in Australia in 1991-92, he had scored a sublime hundred at Sydney and a courageous one on a Perth trampoline where most of his team-mates froze. Peter Roebuck was moved to say later: "Between them, those two innings expressed Tendulkar. The rest has been a struggle as genius wrestled with adulthood." There have been rough patches since, but for the most part, his 22-year-long career has been a remarkably rare example of performance matching sky-high expectation. Dravid made his first-class debut a few months after Tendulkar's first Test century. Laxman, who seriously contemplated following his parents into the medical field, waited another two years to test the waters. Both made steady rather than spectacular progress and were well accustomed to the cut and thrust of the domestic game by the time the national cap came their way. Dravid made 95 on debut and a superb 148 at the Wanderers not long after but was not always a composed and assured figure in those early years, when his stolid style and sedate scoring invited a fair bit of criticism. He reinvented himself enough to score a dazzling 153 at Taunton during the 1999 World Cup, but the label of being an old-fashioned type of player never quite went away. Laxman's plight was worse. With no middle-order spot available, he often had to open the batting. There were times when it came off, as during a glorious 167 against Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee at the SCG in January 2000, but there came a point when he decided that he had had enough, that if the selectors wanted him to play, they would have to find a spot in the middle for him. In his first 20 Tests, Laxman averaged 27. Then came Eden Gardens and that famous 376-run partnership with Dravid, Indian cricket's equivalent of the parting of the Red Sea . Both men built on that success in the years that followed. Between then and 2006, Dravid was consistency personified. In England in 2002 and Australia a year later, he scored more than 600 runs in a Test series. He, Tendulkar and Ganguly were instrumental in the Headingley victory of 2002, and in Steve Waugh's farewell series 18 months later, the trio along with Laxman and Virender Sehwag aggregated more than 2,000 runs. With John Wright as coach and Ganguly as captain, India started to hold their own in alien conditions. Victory in Pakistan for the first time (in 2004) was the pinnacle of that era, but once Wright gave way to Greg Chappell, the scenario changed. Ganguly was dropped, Laxman's dodgy knees were held against him and while Tendulkar struggled with a shoulder problem that eventually needed surgery, Dravid's form dipped with the cares of captaincy. On the tour of England in 2007, there were no hundreds, even though Ganguly and Laxman averaged 50. Dravid managed just 126 runs, while Tendulkar departed with two half-centuries. Few imagined that they would be back. But under Gary Kirsten, each man found inspiration in different ways. Dravid scored a career-saving century against England at Mohali (2008), while Tendulkar put together the most prolific year of his career in 2010. Both have superb records against England, but not one of Laxman's 16 centuries has come against them. The Australia-slayer is most at ease on fast and bouncy pitches, but the horizontal deviation that typifies most English surfaces has frequently been his undoing. That said, he has enjoyed two of the best years of his career, battling crippling back problems to script epic victories against Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa in the last 12 months. Their departure, and Father Time's tap on the shoulder could come soon, will not mean the panic button for Indian cricket but it may be a while before the middle order has such a monolithic feel to it. Dravid's solidity and powers of concentration, Laxman's gift for charting a course out of a crisis and Tendulkar's uncanny ability to seek out pastures new have not just inspired Indian cricket's greatest moments. They have acted as a spur to a generation. When Virat Kohli spoke emotionally after the World Cup final of Tendulkar having carried Indian cricket for two decades, he could have been talking of Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Anil Kumble as well. Like the three Ws – Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott and Sir Everton Weekes, who made their debuts within a month of each other in 1948 – they have achieved all this without the clash of egos that can often tear a team of big personalities apart. There is no mistaking the mutual regard. After a pristine 178 from Laxman at Sydney in 2004, Tendulkar (who made 241) said: "I certainly wasn't going to try what he was doing, because he was in such great touch." While they have not yet revealed an exit plan, it is fairly certain that cricket lovers in England will not see them together once this summer is over. With more than 35,000 Test runs and 99 centuries between them, they have helped define Indian cricket's most successful era. And all this while proving that the adage about nice guys finishing last is just nonsense.

[Roshanrocks]

Nice article :nice:

[mishra]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2014451/Warning-Tendulkar-Indians--summer-really-HOT.html The wonder of Sachin What a prospect is in store for the first Test at Lord's next week. Sachin Tendulkar is poised on 99 international centuries and has never made his way on to the famous honours board at Headquarters. Now England have to try to stop arguably the best batsman of all time - yes Australia, even better than Bradman. - from reaching 100 centuries in the 2,000th Test Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2014451/Warning-Tendulkar-Indians--summer-really-HOT.html#ixzz1SG506NTq

[SachDan]

Sachin can Lord it with ton of tons By JOHN ETHERIDGE The magical, masterful little batsman from India has hit 99 international centuries and can reach his ton of tons next week in the First Test at Lord's. One hundred hundreds for your country is a bit like scoring 200 international goals, 150 tries or amassing 20 majors in golf or tennis. When Tendulkar passes the astonishing milestone, it will be a tribute to his talent, hunger, longevity and desire. He has been playing for India for 22 years, untainted by scandal. England Test captain Andrew Strauss will be trying to prevent him scoring his historic hundred but is gushing in his praise. Strauss said: "It goes without saying that scoring 99 hundreds is a phenomenal achievement. "He seems to be playing as well as ever. It's an example to us all. If you're hungry, there's no reason your powers should decline when you get older. "It's the overall package with Sachin. Technically, he is fantastic and so is his mental strength because he is under so much pressure. He's also a very dignified and humble man." Tendulkar made his India debut at 16 in 1989 and at 38 he is stronger than ever. In his last Test series against England, he scored a match-winning century in Chennai in December 2008. Then he thanked each England player for returning to India despite the Mumbai terrorist attack a few weeks earlier. Kevin Pietersen was England's captain that day. He said: "I watch him bat and wonder how he makes it look so easy. To cap it all, he is a true gentleman." England's best chance might be to unleash 6ft 8in fast bowler Chris Tremlett against the 5ft 5in little master. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan insisted: "Tremlett bowled well against Sachin in 2007 and he is a much better bowler now. "England might go aggressive and test him with a few short balls though even that tactic doesn't normally affect him." Tendulkar has never scored a Test century at Lord's and says he is not anxious about his imminent landmark. He said: "I'm not thinking of records. If I enhance my enjoyment then, naturally, the standard of play becomes higher. If I play well, things can happen. I don't need to go chasing them." Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/cricket/3698029/Sachin-can-Lord-it-with-ton-of-tons.html#ixzz1SHfKuJgZ

[gaurav92]

“Inside the stomach of some geniuses, smoulders a defiance that is abnormal, a will so powerful that no ordinary barometer can register it.” There were torrential downpours, floods, lightening and thunder. There were long dry spells, scanty rains and there were landslides too. But that never stopped this man. He fought against all odds with great fortitude. He tackled every problem with a positive mindset and never relinquished in the battle of strife. To every question raised, he had an answer, to every problem encountered he had a solution, and to every plan plotted he had a strategy. Someone rightly said “He is a magician, he could well convert a barren land into a lush green paradise”. Full Article Here

[SachDan]

Why Sachin is still the best in the business and how can he be stopped! By Michael Vaughn After India’s tour to England in 2007 it felt as if we had seen the last of Sachin Tendulkar in this country. Chris Tremlett was bowling well against him and Sachin looked a bit fearful of the short ball, which tends to happen towards the end of a player’s career. Ryan Sidebottom was also causing him a lot of problems, he didn’t score a hundred in the series and averaged only 38. To think he is still on the circuit, playing better than ever and is on the verge of a 100th international century is a phenomenal achievement. People ask why he is so good and what sets him apart from the rest? I played in an era of great batsmen but Tendulkar is top of the list simply because of the pressure and weight of expectation he has coped with. He is more famous in India than their prime minister or president and has had to deal with the kind of pressure that status brings whenever he walks to the crease. When he arrives at the wicket everything is perfect. His technique is great. There have been various theories about batting over the last decade or so with buzz words such as trigger movements and forward presses. Tendulkar just stands still. He is dead side on. If you sat down with a pen and paper to draw the perfect batsman, you would sketch out Tendulkar’s profile. He is side on with a nice simple back lift. His shoulders are aligned to mid on and he plays straight. He gets his head over his front leg and plays close to his body. Tendulkar does everything that any good coach would teach and he has been playing in that simple fashion for the whole of his career. When he was struggling with his elbow injury in 2007 he went through a phase of trying to defend his wicket, but just recently he has started to attack again which is when he plays at his best. It is the same as Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting. Whenever they looked to defend you thought you could get them out. When great players such as these guys attack and score quickly they are beautiful to watch. Their feet move more positively, they get in position quicker and Tendulkar will arrive here looking to take the bowlers on because he knows they will be aggressive towards him. Like all batsmen, he is at his most vulnerable early in the innings to the fuller delivery nipping back. A ball pitching on off stump and coming back through the gate will cause him problems. I have seen him driving through balls early on and be bowled or lbw on a number of occasions. England could also undermine him with bounce, which is why Tremlett will be key. England should open with Tremlett but the difference from four years ago is that he will not duck and weave. He will take the short ball on. The best players see the short ball as a scoring opportunity not to just something to evade. If the ball is swinging, James Anderson nipping back a ball that pitches on fourth stump [an imaginary stump outside off] and hitting middle or off will be very dangerous. Indian batsmen, Tendulkar included, go a long way over to the off side with their pad. England have to back that line up with disciplined fields. The mid-on has got to be dead straight for Tendulkar. You can’t allow him to see the gap straight down the ground. Your midwicket also has to be straight as well so when he looks to the leg side does not see an easy scoring option. If he looks at those field settings and thinks “I can’t pierce those gaps†he will play square through extra cover. If he does that, and the ball nips back, you are in the game because if he misjudges an in-swinger you could have him nicked off and caught in the slips. To nullify Tendulkar’s threat England will want pace in the pitch so their short balls or length deliveries are zipping through to the keeper. It is just a case of whether the administrators will let that happen. They will not want three day matches. Tendulkar is box office and that equals a lot of money for the Test match grounds. They will want four or five day cricket to maximise their takings. Lord’s will be packed with fans hoping to see history made. There is an air of goodwill from everyone towards Tendulkar that other great players have not enjoyed. I have never heard anyone say anything bad about him. Normally when you have a guy who is the greatest sportsman in his field, he is seen as selfish and makes enemies. Not Tendulkar. He is great around the team, young players and the opposition. He was always generous with me, perhaps because of his time at Yorkshire. I was an academy player when he became Yorkshire’s first overseas cricketer in 1992. I was sat on the park benches under the old dressing rooms at Headingley when he made his debut. He was looked like a schoolkid aged about 12 when he walked out to bat. He did not play a huge amount for Yorkshire but he was very popular. The Yorkshire dressing room introduced him to Tetley Bitter and he loved it, which is why we call him “Yorkie†even now. He remembered those times ten years later when we played against each other in Test cricket. I was playing well in 2002 and had a good chat with him during that series. I asked him about playing in Australia later that winter. He said the only way to be successful it to attack. He said you have to be positive against Warne and McGrath otherwise they will get on top of you. It was good advice and set me on my way. But England have to remember Tendulkar is only human. He makes mistakes. They must also forget the verbals. Let the ball do the talking instead. It is what he has done with his bat for 20 years. Nice read. Few good,interesting observations from Vaughn. If English bowlers manages to apply those tactics practically, then we are in for a great contest!

[Cricket Tragic]

Occasionally the good and the great can tinker with fate. Sachin Tendulkar is as good and as great as any cricketer of any generation and he is heading to Lord's with landmarks galore on the horizon. Indeed there is a script for this week that even the odd Bollywood writer might find a little too far-fetched. Sachin Tendulkar comes to Lord's, the home of cricket, to play in the 2000th Test of all time. It is probably his last chance to appear in a Test on the sacred ground, where his highest score up to now has been a bewilderingly paltry 37. On the boards in the Lord's dressing rooms there is no mention of Tendulkar. In the past the engravers have not even double-checked the spelling of his name. As it happens Tendulkar has 99 international hundreds. If not Mumbai, then Lord's is the place for that 100th century, to set the record right before he even contemplates retirement and further beatification. Perhaps he reaches his ton with a trademark driven six off Graeme Swann, caught by one of the members in the pavilion, which takes India to victory. Cue rousing music, not a dry handkerchief in St Johns Wood and Tendulkar ton-up T-shirts for sale within seconds of the "little master" being carried back to the pavilion on his team-mates' shoulders. Tendulkar says such thoughts have not entered his head. "I am not thinking of records," he says. "I am just thinking of this tour. The secret to any performance is not chasing records." Well, as the highest run-scorer in Test history, currently 2,329 ahead of Ricky Ponting, he should know. But everyone else seems to be thinking about those records. The cricketing gods, who discovered they had a disciple in Alastair Cook after the one-day international at Lord's when Angelo Mathews went on a go-slow to allow his partner a century, rarely have much truck with fairytales. The scene was set in Mumbai in April when we last glimpsed Tendulkar, in the World Cup final. He had made only 18 when he was caught behind off Lasith Malinga, whereupon he relinquished centre stage to Mahendra Dhoni. Even Haroon Lorgat, the President of the International Cricket Council, had suggested that Mumbai should be Tendulkar's stage in that World Cup. When asked to justify the choice of Mumbai for the final Lorgat said that the venue would give Tendulkar the chance to sign off in his home town. Wouldn't that be wonderful? So much for Olympian objectivity from the man at the top of world cricket. But Tendulkar after all these years – 22 as a Test cricketer since he made his debut against Imran Khan, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram in Karachi in 1989 – tends to operate by different rules now. He is a man apart. No one sledges him, although there is still time for that nasty Stuart Broad to have a go. This is what sometimes happens to the truly greats. After a while no one sledged Viv Richards (mind you, the fact that he always looked like a pocket Joe Frazier may have helped as well). Pat Pocock recalls the 1973-74 tour of the Caribbean in David Tossell's book on Tony Greig. It was a feisty series. Pocock says: "There was a deliberate effort [by Greig and the England team] to wind blokes up. It only stopped when Garry Sobers walked in. Then no one said a word. It would have been like swearing at the Pope." Sobers, Richards and Tendulkar earned the right not be subjected to much abuse. If Broad or Jimmy Anderson are inclined to have a word this week at Lord's they had better be careful. Matt Prior can remind them of the hullaballoo at the suggestion that he was sledging Tendulkar from behind the stumps back in 2007. There was an odd conversation about cars picked up by the stump microphone. Prior was pilloried by one and all and later he was at pains to explain that he did not commit such an indignity. Tendulkar, by the way, has a passion for cars and the fact that he has recently sold a Ferrari, which was gifted to him, has been a major news story in India. Andrew Strauss, who first witnessed Tendulkar at the crease as a 13-year-old at the 1990 Lord's Test, is not so petty as to refrain from lauding one of his opponents. "He is phenomenal," says Strauss, "and the best possible example to us all for his technique and his mental strength. And he is a dignified, humble man. It would be fantastic for him to reach 100 hundreds at Lord's. It would be a fairy tale for him. But I'm not a big fan of those sort of fairy tales, to be honest." Strauss then points out the attribute that really astounds Tendulkar's fellow Test cricketers – his astonishing hunger for the game: "He is genuinely still in love with the game and that is what drives him on." Rahul Dravid, who has batted with him as often as anyone, echoes this view. "Sachin's longevity comes down to the joy that he still gets from playing. After 20 years of international he still has a child-like enthusiasm." Amid all his gifts, stamina ranks high. For the majority of his 22 years at the highest level he has concentrated on nothing other than scoring runs. He did captain India in 25 Tests between October 1996 and March 2000. Having been victorious in three of his first four matches in charge, he won just one more game in the next 21. His record of won four, lost nine, drawn 12 is at best unremarkable. Captaincy was not really his thing. Nor was fielding in the slips. Most of the great batsmen since the war – except Geoffrey Boycott and Tendulkar – have resided there. The best players usually have the best reflexes, and generally they like not having to run around too much. But fielding in the slips requires great powers of concentration and it may be that Tendulkar and Boycott were more interested in conserving their energies by strolling around at mid-off. They preferred to opt out of any extra responsibilities. Don Bradman was not a regular in the slips, either, and no one has ever been compared to Bradman so frequently as Tendulkar. Moreover no one other than Tendulkar has ever been compared to Bradman by Bradman himself. This was deemed to be the ultimate accolade. But there are plenty of differences between them beyond the disparity in their Test averages. Bradman used a Swan Vesta-style bat compared to the beautifully balanced clubs of today. Tendulkar may be a little man but he must have wrists of steel to control the remarkably heavy bat he uses. Bradman, while admired by his colleagues, was vehemently disliked by many of them (who were usually Catholics). That has never been the case with Tendulkar. Never a murmur has been heard against him from the Indian dressing room. That would be sacrilege. Moreover Bradman was willing to take on the Australian board – though later on he hated being challenged by the players when he joined that board. As far as we can tell Tendulkar has never seriously fallen out with the Indian authorities – certainly not in the manner of Sunil Gavaskar, his cricketing godfather and the donor of an early pair of pads. It is amazing that Tendulkar should be at the pinnacle of international cricket for more than two decades and yet avoid any serious controversy. There was a suggestion from the referee Mike Denness that he might have tampered with the ball in South Africa in 2001. All of India was appalled (not by Tendulkar, but by Denness). And he may have been a bit grumpy after Dravid declared when he was 194 not out against Pakistan in Multan in 2004. Otherwise he just charms with the purity of his batsmanship. Hence we move eagerly on to Lord's to see whether Tendulkar can tinker with the cricketing gods. Will his fate be decided by Anderson (Jimmy), who has had his successes against him in the past, or Anderson (Hans Christian)? Whatever happens Tendulkar will accept his lot with quiet dignity while the rest of us can feel privileged to say: "We were there." http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/jul/16/sachin-tendulkar-india-england-lords-test

[Roshanrocks]

The master gets ready for the big Test Tendulkar has to cross one more sea to make the heaven that is the Lord's honours board. At 38, cricket's own Old Father Time may be ticking smooth, but Tendulkar knows a century at the home of cricket matters Lord's is abuzz with many activities: 2000th Test, 100th Test between England and India, ECB-BCCI top-brass bonhomie, ICC directors' congregation, MCC cricket committee meetings. And then there is Sachin Tendulkar. Will he or won't he? Assuming this will be his last trip to England, millions of his fans will be praying, hoping, fasting, fingers-and-toes-crossing, doing absolutely everything they can to help Tendulkar get his name on the honours board at the headquarters. Tendulkar might as well say it does not matter, but it does matter. One reason athletes strive hard to excel at what they do is they want to raise the bar. (Tendulkar has himself said that he wants to take his cricket to the 'next' level.) They like going places both dreamt and undreamt of. They like creating unimaginable stuff - take Magic Johnson's sky-hook. Tendulkar has been to all places bar the moon. He has created strokes that are breathtaking. Yet even the great man has to cross one more sea to make the heaven that is the Lord's honours board. At 38, cricket's own Old Father Time may be ticking smooth, but Tendulkar knows a century at the home of cricket matters, and time is running out. On the eve of the first Test - an historic encounter for the world but "just-another-day" for cricketers - Tendulkar walked out of the pavilion, dressed in the team navy-blue jacket, pads on, face encased in the helmet, one hand carrying two pairs of gloves, the other a pair of bats. Briefly he chatted to the assistant groundsman about the nature of the pitch. He walked with a smile towards the Nursery, the training grounds. There was only one more India player already padded up and marking his crease - Tendulkar's oldest ally, Rahul Dravid. Tendulkar did not waste any time to get ready to face the net bowler, a fellow Mumbaiite, who played at MIG Club, which is very near to the neighbourhood Tendulkar grew up in. Both spoke in Tendulkar's native Marathi. This bowler (he would not like to reveal his name) has been Tendulkar's bowling machine at Lord's for a few years and one could sense the comfort and trust Tendulkar had in him as he openly confided his doubts and his thoughts. (England could do well to grab this man as a consultant!) Initially Tendulkar asked anonymous to bowl normally with "a few deliveries outside off stump". He just wanted to get a feel. A minute it took him to hit the groove. Like pigeons strutting towards peanuts, a few of us media and the fans strutted behind Tendulkar's net. Even Michael Atherton, former England captain, and now the chief cricket correspondent at the Times newspaper, stood at backward square-leg for a few minutes, hands folded, studiously observing Tendulkar (and Dravid perhaps). It is an experience to watch Tendulkar bat in the nets. He needs no cue to slip into the zone. Five minutes into the session he asked anonymous to bowl "cross seam with a ball that has the biggest seam". When the bowler pitched a straighter one just a couple of inches short of length and checked "do you want this (length)?" Tendulkar nodded and started doing shadow practice with his left shoulder. The permanent fuss to get the shoulder aligned in the right position was back like an incurable itch. There was one delivery that jumped off short of a length, beating Tendulkar's defences. Anonymous had no clue as he had never meant anything such at the point of delivery. But Tendulkar understood the reason: "The pitch is damp and the odd bounce is possible." Just then Sreesanth walked in and told Tendulkar he would be bowling. Next moment Tendulkar noticed Arjun, his son, was about to enter the training ground along with a couple of friends. There was also Vidhu Vinod Chopra, a Bollywood director with his wife and kid. Tendulkar swiftly asked anonymous to tell Arjun and the Chopra family to sit outside. He was preparing for a Test match and no one - even his own blood - should bother him. Back in the nets, anonymous made an interesting observation. "The bat seems to be coming from behind the legs. Do you think so?" Tendulkar agreed, and said he was only trying to experiment with a new stance - stand in a position where his toes point slightly towards cover and his shoulders open up, too. "I am just trying as I feel I can sight the ball better this way." Sreesanth was finding hard to get into rhythm meanwhile and bowled a ridiculous delivery down the leg side. Promptly he was implored. "Daal barabar (bowl properly). Come on," Tendulkar said. He did not want anyone to make him lose his focus. For the next half-hour he not only focussed on fine-tuning his own batting but also became the bowling coach for Sreesanth, who was having a sloppy afternoon. It is fascinating to see Tendulkar's brain at work. He can compartmentalise things neatly. He asked anonymous to maintain a length but on a middle-and-leg-stump line. He also asked him to observe if he was opening his shoulders. His reasoning was simple; he wanted to be in the right position to play the shot especially on the dreaded Lord's slope where right-handers face numerous problems as the ball comes in after pitching. When Sreesanth teased him with a couple of outswinging half-volleys, Tendulkar "thought about playing them, nearly played them, but I resisted." There was an instance where Sreesanth bowled one slightly fuller and quicker. Tendulkar hit the shot blindly. "I did not see the ball. I don't know where it went, but I know it went straight." It showed that Tendulkar, too, at times reacts instinctively. He was not angry with himself. But there was a moment that annoyed him. It was an hour after he started batting. Sreesanth bowled one that climbed into the ribs. Tendulkar tried to fend it away, but was slow to react and the ball touched his glove. He reacted with disgust. "Chalo, bas ho gaya abhi (let's go, I am done)." Sreesanth pleaded him to face three more deliveries. The last of which, a short one outside off, Tendulkar upper-cut. The look in his eyes was one of confidence. And then he walked back relaxed to the pavilion. Sometime over the next five days Lord's might witness something special. Either way Tendulkar will still say it does not matter.

By Nagaraj Gollapudi in cricinfo :hatsoff: :canabis:

[SachDan]

Tendulkar a great player, a great man and a great ambassador for the game: Ian Botham Sachin Tendulkar is old, there's no escaping that. I can say this because when I shake his hand out in the middle before play today, it will be as one-time adversaries. And 18 years after I quit professional cricket, Sachin is the only man left on the international circuit that I played against. Tendulkar ct Stewart b Botham 35, and it was a beauty if I remember rightly, back in 1992 during the World Cup. If you'd have told me then that this little lad would still be playing in 2011, having just won the World Cup and be on the brink of reaching his 100th international hundred, I'd have said you were mad. But then Sachin doesn't deal in the ordinary. He has batted andand batted his way into the record books and he has done it with the style and grace off the field under intense pressure that no-one could match - certainly not me. I have nothing but admiration and respect for Sachin. He is an all-time great of the game, whose love and passion for cricket is unparalleled. If ever there was a role model to be had for a young cricketer, then Sachin is it. The thing I look forward to most when I turn up for commentary duty is an England win, but a close second comes highquality cricket from high-quality players. So I will walk through the gates at Lord's today knowing I'm guaranteed at least one of those things because Sachin's name will be on the team sheet. This guy is a phenomenon and if I were the England team I wouldn't feel any better about the fact that his highest score at this ground is 37. If anything, that would make me feel worse. He will be totally focused on getting to his 100th hundred, and there is no place in the world that he would rather reach the landmark than Lord's. It would be a dream, a fairytale for him if he were to make it there. The only problem for England is that he has a habit of having them come true, and when Sachin is on song there is very little you can do. Between us, I think we have the most appropriate nicknames in all of India. I'm called Iron Bottom and he's the Little Master and each time he goes to the wicket he tends to put on a masterclass. As much of a fan as I am of his, I do think our bowlers can succeed in checking his progress. In fact, I think England will win this series because in my opinion they are already the best team in the world and this summer will simply confirm it. They are the coming force in world cricket and unlike India, who have a lot of playersintheir twilight years, this is a young, vibrant England with more power to add. James Anderson and Chris Tremlett are forming the most potent opening attack in the game to rival Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. Behind them is the best spinner in the world in Graeme Swann and alongside him should be the everimproving and impressive Tim Bresnan. Stuart Broad might not be happy with that assessment - but I don't see how he justifies his place in the England team at the moment. His lengths are all wrong, his frustrations are coming to the boil too often and, crucially, he is not taking any wickets. So this is the 2,000th Test match of all time. Statistics don't thrill me - people and performances are what matter, so if Sachin gets to 100 hundreds at Lord's I'll be applauding him, not because of the numbers but because he is a great player, a great man and a great ambassador for the game. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/2011/07/21/sachin-tendulkar-is-an-all-time-great-whose-love-and-passion-is-unparalleled-115875-23286649/