It’s not the century of centuries but the recent low scores that’s giving tough times to Sachin Tendulkar, writes The Times Of India. “That’s why he was there at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium practice nets on a day of optional training, along with Rahul Sharma and Yusuf Pathan. He batted as if his life depended on it, but once out of the batting nets, didn’t mind sharing a word or two with the young Bangladeshi practice bowlers or poking fun at Rahul Sharma’s batting,” writes the newspaper.
“In fact, the 15-odd minutes that Tendulkar bowled to Sharma was the most entertaining bit of the two-hour practice session. When the Little Master was batting, he hit the leggie out of the ground at least five times. Rahul probably said that he would return the compliment when his turn to bat comes. As the Punjab boy padded up and entered the net, Sachin took the ball, and started bowling his nicely tossed-up leggies. Sharma was out five times (twice bowled, skied the ball twice, and got stranded mid-pitch once) as Tendulkar laughed his heart out,” adds TOI.
According to a Hindustan Times report the longest Sachin Tendulkar had to wait between two centuries was a gap of 34 innings, back in 2007. He has now played 33 without one -the one the world is looking forward to as much as the player himself.
“The wait, just over a year now, is killing for the fans. And no one exactly knows what's going on in the master batsman's mind,” writes the national daily.
Whatever it was, Tendulkar, standing on threshold of hitting a landmark no statistician imagined would be achievable and hence never kept a header for it, is not letting it go without a fight. And like most cricketers say during press conferences “we can only do whatever is in our control”, Tendulkar was doing just that --train harder and harder at the nets.
Meanwhile, even if MS Dhoni doesn’t agree, it was only R Ashwin and Pathan, who bowled well in their Asia Cup opening match, writes TOI, adding that’s what won India the game against a Sri Lankan team that struggled badly with injuries.
Even Ravindra Jadeja, whom Dhoni is playing as a specialist allrounder, seemed to have carried his poor form in Australia into Bangladesh. The skipper, too, couldn’t defend him when he said: “Jadeja wasn’t at his best and there was a point in time when we were two bowlers short. Thankfully, the part-timers did a decent job.”
“In the spin department, Dhoni’s only other option is Rahul Sharma, but it’s very unlikely that he will get a chance unless one of the spinners gets injured. The skipper has no reason to drop Ashwin and if Sharma has to play in Jadeja’s place, India will have to go in with six specialist batsmen, something he doesn’t feel too comfortable with. The only option left for MSD is to gamble with four specialist bowlers and play Yusuf Pathan instead of Jadeja,” writes the paper.
According to a report in The Indian Express, former ICC president Ehsan Mani believes that India will have to play a "significant" role in fighting corruption in the sport and has urged the cricket boards across the globe to work in tandem with their governments to eradicate the menace.
Mani said while ICC's role was limited on this issue, India can play a major role by making betting legal in the country.
"They (ICC) don't have the authority to set up the sting operations in any country so the responsibility (should be) laid on the individual boards to follow up. The problem is the illegal bookies in the subcontinent -- most of them are from India and some are in Pakistan. They work in a grey area where there is no control and monitoring," he said.
