da jogodeouro： Many are convinced that Sachin Tendulkar has not yet hit his peak.Ravi Shastri has no doubt Tendulkar will be unstoppable in the nextfour years.
Ashish Shukla05-Nov-2001Sachin Tendulkar: the best is yet to come
©CricInfo Many are convinced that Sachin Tendulkar has not yet hit his peak.Ravi Shastri has no doubt Tendulkar will be unstoppable in the nextfour years. “He is entering that stage of his career,” said Shastri,articulate as ever. “He has seen everything a bowler can possible doon a cricket pitch.” Tendulkar is 28, and everybody knows that age islike spring-time for a Test batsman, one that sees him mature andripen.Navjot Singh Sidhu, probably the greatest fan of Tendulkar, says thatevery time he sees Tendulkar play, he feels like doffing his hat, orturban, if you please.
©CricInfoSidhu tells an interesting story. “It was in Sri Lanka when Tendulkarwas frustrated with the line that Sanath Jayasuriya was bowling tohim. He was pitching it beyond the leg-stump, curling it in justenough to escape being called for a wide, and Tendulkar was unable toget him away. In frustration, after five or six overs, Tendulkar gavehim the charge and got out. After mulling that dismissal over, we sawa new Tendulkar in the next match; he had added that paddle shot ofhis which he plays so successfully these days. Now he no longer comesdown the wicket to hit over the top.”
©AFP Going by my experience, I remember that the genesis of the paddle shotwas the 1997 tour of the West Indies. The hosts were 1-0 up going intothe final Test at Guyana, so, keen to hang on to that lead,Shivnaraine Chanderpaul started bowling his leg-breaks considerablyoutside leg-stump even on the first morning of the Test! Tendulkar wasso cheesed off that he later commented critically about wanting toplay Test cricket in this negative fashion.After his stupendous 155 on the first day of the Test series,Tendulkar was grinning widely during his interview by a televisionnetwork, leaving one wondering whether it was because his partnerVirender Sehwag had said something funny. One later learnt thatTendulkar was amused by the instructions that were being passed on tohis ear plug by the producer; he couldn’t help but grin at thenumerous cross-instructions flying around behind the scenes.Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, meanwhile, is contemplating going backto Kolkata after the first Test to be with his wife and his new-bornbaby girl. Though he says he is waiting to see which way the ongoingTest will turn, if all goes well, he will take a morning flight onThursday. He should be back much before the four-day practice game atEast London draws to a close.
© CricInfoLooking at the way the Indians performed on the opening day of thisTest, former South African wicket-keeper Dave Richardson says that itonly confirmed what he has believed all these years -that India hasthe potential to be the best Test-playing nation in the world. “Iremember playing in the nets in Eden Gardens once and looking at thelocal players – they looked so incredibly talented. With the kind oftalent you and Pakistan have, they should be the best cricket-playingnations in the world – the best by a long, long way.”But then, isn’t this a mystery that has plagued all of us for many,many years?