The mighty and the fallen
Two greats (former?) are the subject of worried examinations this week. Tony Cozier looks at what might be going wrong with Brian Lara's horror run in New Zealand, while Sambit Bal ponders the unthinkable w.r.t Tendulkar. I'm not an test-class batsman (not even a C-grade batsman really), and I have no advice to offer these greats. May I humbly suggest however, that Tendulkar at least, eschew the prodding defensiveness that has characterized his test batting of late. The fifth day's play is rapidly being set up as a dramatic stage for him: India will be chasing a target, quite possibly one out of reach for them, he will be on his home ground, the batting line-up will look to him for inspiration (Dravid will certainly look to him for succour), and England will be coming at him harder than ever before. He really has nothing to lose; dropping Tendulkar still is not an option for the Indian team; but glory, and redemption with his former followers awaits. (And may I just say, that the decision of Mumbaikars to boo Tendulkar certainly makes a hash of my description of them as knowledgeable).
posted by Samir Chopra at 8:25 AM
1 Comments:
I was quite surprised to hear the boos for Tendulkar when he was out. The best he's looked in this series was in the second innings at Nagpur when he played Blackwell around the ground. This may have been because the pressure was off at that point. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he went on to make a few in the second innings of this match: he's a great batsman and due a score.
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