Catching up on cricket

Living in the United States means that cricket action is hard to come by.  During this trip to India, I was lucky enough to watch the 2004 Asia cup matches.  I have my fair share of comments on the performance of the current Indian side and its opponents.  I will qualify all my remarks by saying that they refer to the One Day International performance of the side.

Sachin Tendulkar
There have been plenty already said about Tendulkar and how good he is.  I've also read much about how he isn't a match winner when compared to the likes of Steven Waugh, Sanath Jayasuriya and others.  Even though I'm not an expert on cricket technique, some things were quite apparent to me.

While Tendulkar has not changed much in that he remains a shrewed competitive cricketer, his approach to batting has most certainly changed.  He publicly acknowledges the change in attitude and adamantly insists that it is the right approach for the success of the team.  However, it is clear to me having watched him play three long innings in three matches that this approach will not only serve him badly but will also hurt the team.  So what is this change in attitude?

Well, simply said, Tendulkar believes that he needs to play an anchorman role in the Indian innings.  This results in him playing with quite a circumspective approach to his batting.  There are several problems to this approach.  First of all, this circumspection disallows him to take full advantage of the field placements during the first 15 overs.  Second, his emphasis on survival at the crease (with sound defensive technique) results in very poor strike rotation.  The worst thing about these changes is that he is hampering his natural batting flair.  He has developed the habit of playing across the line of the delivery exposing him often to lbw decisions.  Furthermore, his footwork has begun to suffer leading to poor offside strokes.  What I remember most vividly about Tendulkar from a few years ago was his glorious cover drives and straight drives.  They have been replaced by tentative onside strokes (even to deliveries pitched outside off stump) played with awkward shuffling of the feet.  Once in a blue moon, vintage Tendulkar is on display, but these moments are few and far between. 

This is a huge problem for the Indian side.  We already have an anchorman in Rahul Dravid.  We have great one day cricketers in Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif.  We have greater strikers of the ball in Ganguly and Sehwag.  We need Tendulkar to be, well, Tendulkar.  So someone needs to disillusion him, either the coach or the captain.  Someone needs to tell him that he needs to bat the way that he used to: with uninhibition and authority.  Only then will our side attain the balance it needs in its batting lineup.