Agnus Fraser, the former England bowler who was at the receiving end when Sachin Tendulkar got to his first ton, says Tendulkar's achievements go beyond statistics, adding that Tendulkar's 100 international centuries is a bigger feat than Sir Don Bradman's Test average of 99.94 and compares favourably with football legend Pele's 1,281 goals, according to a report in The Indian Express.
"Completing 100 hundreds has to be a greater feat than that of the late, great Sir Donald Bradman, whose Test batting average was an incredible 99.94, and it compares favourably with the 1,281 goals Pele scored in his football career or the five Olympic rowing gold medals won by Sir Steve Redgrave," Fraser wrote.
Fraser said it was clear even at that time that Sachin Tendulkar was a special talent. "As the bowler who bowled the ball that conceded the runs to allow Sachin Tendulkar to post his first international hundred, back in 1990, it was extremely satisfying for me to learn that the 'Little Master' had become the first player in the history of cricket to score 100 international hundreds," he said.
Meanwhile in an interview to The Times Of India, Sachin says there was no apparent reason to explain the year-long century drought though. “The journey to my 100th hundred became really tough with every game that I played. The expectations just kept growing. It was something I never experienced before in my career,” he says.
He also dismissed allegations that he picks and chooses his tours. “People said all kinds of things when I didn’t go to the West Indies. But I did it only because I wanted to spend some time with my family. I had been playing for 12 months before that and, if I hadn’t taken that break, I would have had to wait another 12 months. It would have meant I had to be away from the family for 24 months which would have been very long. Also, my children had school holidays, so I approached the BCCI and they graciously agreed.”
According to a article in The Times Of India, India need to pull up their bowling socks if they have to challenge the top teams in all conditions and live up to the tag of world champions. “Dhoni is an inventive leader and innovation is always welcome, especially in the limited-overs format. But even by Dhoni's iconoclastic standards, it appeared befuddling -- four bowlers of similar style, three of them parttimers, all bowling in the space of six overs. More importantly, it demonstrated the paucity of bowling options in Dhoni's arsenal. One recalled a similar situation in the recent tri-series in Australia when Raina and Virat Kohli bowled the 49th and 50th overs of the innings respectively against Sri Lanka and gave away 24 runs. It happened despite mainline bowlers Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav having overs in hand. India went on to lose that game by 51 runs after the Islanders rattled up 289. On Sunday, the result went in India's favour despite Pakistan's mammoth 329, thanks to Kohli. But it's foolhardy to expect the batsmen to consistently chase down such formidable targets,” says the TOI article .
Meanwhile Bangladesh coach Stuart Law is of the opinion that the win against World Champions India would mean nothing if his team fail to defeat Sri Lanka, according to a report in The Indian Express. If Bangladesh win, they will be tied on eight points with India but will go through to final since they had beaten India in the league stage. Law said he wants his boys to continue with the momentum and get the better of Sri Lanka. "It's very important for us as a group after all the hard work we have put in for this tournament. We didn't have a great preparation time but it has been intense. To win against India, the current world champions, is a feather in our cap.
