Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar says the current England team is in complete awe of India’s world-class seam attack with only its skipper Joe Root looking capable of getting a big hundred. In an interview with news agency PTI, the former India captain spoke on a host of issues including India’s victory, the standard of England Test team, skipper Virat Kohli’s technical adjustments, Rohit Sharma’s dominance against the new ball and Jasprit Bumrah’s return to wickets with 12 scalps in the last two games.
Indian skipper Kohli has struggled for form in the three Tests in England so far, which include the World Test Championships final against New Zealand. Kohli’s highest score so far has been 42 in the first innings of second Test against England at Lord’s.
“Virat hasn’t had a great start. It is the mind that leads to technical errors and if the start isn’t good you start thinking about a lot of things. Because anxiety levels are high you tend to over compensate your movements. When a batsman isn’t in good form you either go too far across or don’t move your feet at all. That happens to everyone. Form is also your state of mind along with the body working in harmony,” Tendulkar said about Kohli.
Indian middle-order have also struggled so far with Kohli but Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane found some semblance of form with their 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket in the second innings of the Lord’s Test.
“They played a very crucial role considering that we were effectively 28 for 3 when they came together. Two more quick wickets and we would have been 60 for 5 and dynamics would have been completely different. They stabilised the innings.
“The idea was to do what was good for team and they did that. While doing so, the rest of the things gets taken care of. In a tight situation like this, ideally you would want all your batsmen to chip in but that is always not possible,” Tendulkar said about the Pujara-Rahane partnership.
Asked about the current England batting line-up, Tendulkar said, “This England team has had a history of collapses. I felt that is where they lost the grip and if you look at their batting, how many batters can one say, this guy can come out and get a big hundred? In this team, I don’t see anyone other than Joe Root. Teams of past had number of such players whether Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Andrew Strauss.
“Yes, they might get an odd hundred but how many can get big hundreds consistently? Other than Root, I can’t find anyone and that’s the state of their batting today. May be the reason for Root to opt for fielding first.”
On India’s remarkable victory at the Lord’s, the Mumbai maestro said, “When I saw Joe Root putting India in after winning the toss, I was really surprised and I felt that in itself was an indication that England was worried about our fast bowling attack. I actually shared a message with a friend on Friday morning around 8 am that if weather allows us, we are winning this Test match.
“The surface looked dry to me later on, because you could see that first ball from Mohammed Siraj’s new spell took off from good length and hit Ollie Robinson on the chest. That was clear indication that the surface had over-dried and hence the ball took off from there. Bowling first wasn’t an ideal decision by the England captain and credit to our openers, they were brilliant.”
(with PTI inputs)
