Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has explained how to stay on the crease and lay against the swing in English conditions. English conditions give a lot of seam and swing which makes things difficult for the batsmen. Tendulkar, however, highlighted that batting outside the crease often forces the bowlers to shorten their length while bowling and it helps the batsmen.
While speaking to The Indian Express, Sachin Tendulkar said: “Yes, it works. Basically, what you are doing is letting the bowler know that you are outside the crease. So, the bowler has to change the trajectory and the release point of the ball.”Bowlers, who are pitching up, have to drag back the length. If someone is bowling short, you could stay inside the crease also. But to stand outside the crease is not a bad idea.”
Sachin Tendulkar was one of the few Indian batsmen, who did exceptionally well in English conditions. He smashed 1575 runs from 17 Tests at a healthy average of 54.31, including four centuries and eight fifties. He also shared that batters need to be more careful while leaving a delivery outside the off-stump.
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“Sometimes, you will think that it is a good leave, but because the distance has increased between you and the stumps, it still has time to come in and hit the stumps. If you are outside the crease, you should take a middle-stump guard, instead of leg-stump. The further you are out of the crease, the more you come towards the off-stump. It helps you judge the ball better,” Sachin Tendulkar further added.
“If you care about something, there will certainly be some restlessness. That’s only because I cared about my cricket and I wanted to do well every time I walked out. I would say, for the first 12 years of my career, I couldn’t sleep properly on the eve of the game. I would constantly think about how I will face the bowlers. What will they bowl, what options do I have? I would keep thinking and would fight my sleep,” he again shared.
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“Later, I could deal with it. I started accepting; this is how my body and mind is getting geared up for the game. It is ok, I don’t need to fight this feeling, I embraced that. I said ‘it’s okay even if I am awake at 12:30 or 1:00 at night watching TV, listening to music or whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. The reason I am like this is because I am getting ready for the game. And it’s okay as it is only part of my preparation.’ The acceptance was important. The more I started to understand myself, things became okay. (Laughs) I will not say okay completely, but I knew this was normal. I made peace with it,” Sachin Tendulkar concluded.
