Legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar is looking forward to Team India rewriting the history books on their South Africa as he feels the Virat Kohli and his men does have a balanced squad and well prepared, as reported by Hindustan Times.
As Kohli begins his first major overseas assignment as captain, the Master Blaster emphasized that it is important to ‘stick to basics’ and get big totals. He said, “Virat Kohli will succeed if the team succeeds. Virat should just play his normal game and stick to the basics. The team should rally around him. India can only succeed if they can put up good totals. Runs will matter and not only Virat, but the entire team has to contribute. So, it’s not only about Virat Kohli.”
In the past couple of years, the Indian cricket team has been pretty much invincible in Test matches, and Tendulkar feels that adding balance to this side will only help them. He also reckons that all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be a big asset to the team. He said, “In my 24 years with the Indian Test team we never had the balance this team has. The man who brings in such versatility is Hardik Pandya. A guy who can bowl 17-18 overs and is perfectly capable of scoring runs at No 7 or 8 is an asset. This is going to be Pandya’s biggest series and Virat will be banking on him.”
He further elaborated, “Simply because Pandya can do the job of the fourth seamer, bat like a good middle-order batsman and is a good fielder. For the first time, India can afford to play with three genuine seamers. Never before could we think of three pacers and a fourth one to fall back on – not even during Kapil Dev’s time could we enjoy this luxury. At best we would play with three quicks with Manoj Prabhakar being one of them. But this team is just so well balanced.”
In recent Test matches, Team India’s slip fielding has not been up to the mark.Talking about the same, Sachin said: “Slip catching is extremely decisive, but let me tell you India will be better off on South African wickets where the ball will come at a good pace and height. They can stand back and wait for the ball to come. In India, we can’t do this as the balls come low and we have to stand closer to the wickets.”
