As the debate on whether Sachin Tendulkar should retire continues, former New Zealand captain and batting great Martin Crowe expressed the view that the Indian maestro was "naturally slowing down" due to age but "he can fix" the problems, says a report in The Times Of India.
"Hand-eye reaction is not Tendulkar's problem; he probably is better and faster with his hands than he was in 1992. But the one thing that he can't escape from is that the body is naturally slowing down," Crowe, one of New Zealand's finest batsmen who scored 5444 runs in 77 Tests, said.
"Firstly, the back and hamstrings are probably 10 percent less flexible, and his agility and speed down by 10 percent too. Tendulkar will naturally find that he is not as quick as before. In particular, it is against fast bowling that his feet and body will find it increasingly hard to move quickly enough into position," Crowe wrote in his column for ESPN Cricinfo.
Meanwhile an article in The Hindu says that taking off a batsman stumps is the most emphatic way of dispatching a batsman to the pavilion in where no one expects the umpire to lift his finger and give the marching orders. “There’s no better sight to the start of a contest than a fast bowler running in from the top his mark, manipulating the seam and propelling the leather from between the bowling and popping crease, or just relying on sheer speed, with the objective of hitting the stumps and sending the bails flying; or the spinners bluffing the batsmen with their guile and making them fall hook, line and sinker,” says the article, adding that in the 2055 Test matches played by 10 countries, batsmen have been bowled 13540 times, trapped leg before wicket 9032 times and caught 36724 times.
“Nothing excites the followers of the game than the sheer act of a fast bowler’s triumph — beating a batsman lock, stock and barrel to castle the stumps. Once, in the course of an England-West Indies Test match on a flat wicket, the venerable BBC commentator Brain Johnston described Michael Holding’s act of uprooting Tony Greig’s stump as a “smart piece of dentistry,” adds the article.
Meanwhile a column in The DNA says that apologists for Sachin Tendulkar should find excuses even for his pathetic show against New Zealand tells you a thing or two about the sort of commercial environment for cricket in this country where a heavily endorsed player like him can choose to play on and on, regardless of his current form or the team’s future goals.
“It’s as if a whole industry has been built around Brand Tendulkar, and the entire paraphernalia of commercial endorsements faces retirement along with him. It takes time to build up a brand like Tendulkar, so you can understand the commercial angst at the very thought of letting go. Not that many commentators are saying enough is enough, even if some of them are finally ‘worried’ over his mode of dismissal these days (bowled middle stump),” says the column, adding that his endorsers would naturally love to have him continue as long as he manages to produce the odd fifty which they can drum up as a fitting riposte to his few critics.
“A century would really help their cause much better, but 25 Test innings have gone by without one and so that has become a bit muted. The trouble is he has trotted out seven Test innings without even a fifty.”
