Sachin and Dravid are brilliant cricketers and extremely great guys off the field, says Brett Lee

Paying rich tributes to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid, Australian pacer Brett Lee described them as brilliant cricketers and extremely great guys off the field. According to a report in The Indian Express, Lee feels Dravid, who recently retired from international cricket, is an excellent player and he would be missed by his fans across the world.

"They are both brilliant cricketers and are extremely great guys off the field as well. I have a lot of respect for Dravid, he is an excellent cricketer and I have had a good time playing against him. It is obviously sad that he is leaving and the fans are going to miss watching him. I'll certainly miss playing against him," he said, showering praises on Sachin Tendulkar as well. "It is amazing! Almost unbelievable that he has scored a hundred international centuries! It's hard to believe some of the things he has achieved. He is in a class of his own, and he deserves every accolade that comes his way. A truly world class player!," he added, according to the newspaper report.

Meanwhile Aakash Chopra in his column in Hindustan Times writes that the sight of India's batsmen No 3 and 5, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, bowling the last two overs of a One-day innings in the CB Series in Australia was rather disturbing. “What made it worse was the fact that the India skipper hadn't miscalculated the overs, for the regular bowlers still had a few in the kitty. So, the only logical reasoning behind such a move had to be the lack of faith in the frontline bowlers,” writes Chopra, adding that you wouldn't blame the captain, after all.

“Our bowlers had leaked far too many runs in the final overs in all the preceding matches. The gamble of trying Raina and Kohli was radical indeed but not bereft of logic.”

According to newspaper reports, renowned West Indian mental conditioning coach Rudi Webster on Friday said India’s recent problems overseas were more psychological than technical, adding that a full-time psychologist could help the team turn things around. “Not just India, these days most of the team don’t perform well out of their own lair. The problem is basically mental. If you are not confident enough to perform well in foreign conditions then your performance can suffer. India had been doing well overseas, but their performance has dipped alarmingly in the last few series. I think a full-time sports psychologist can help them in this regard,” said Webster, according to Indian Express.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s batsmen made a mockery of supposedly helpful bowling conditions to finish the weather-affected first day of the third and final Test against New Zealand on 136 for two. Alviro Petersen was on 44 and JP Duminy on a quickly compiled 23 when umpires offered them the option of leaving the field in the murky gloom, with 21 overs remaining in the day’s play at the Basin Reserve. Play was officially stopped at 6pm local time.