A dearth of quality pace bowlers are needed in the Test Cricket, said the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who is worried a bit as he thinks there are very world-class bowlers in Test cricket now.
“Rivalries which people invariably looked forward to are no longer there because there are very few world-class fast bowlers right now. That element I am sure is missing. The quality of fast bowling can surely be better without any doubt,” Tendulkar told PTI while analysing how cricket has evolved in the past 30 years (15th November, 1989) since he made his debut.
He also said that the standard has gon down now.
“The standard of cricket has gone down which is not great news for Test cricket. The standard needs to go up and for that, I would again say that the root cause is the playing surfaces,” he said. “I think it has also got to do with the kind of pitches that are provided. If we provide fair pitches where fast bowlers as well as spinners get help, then balance between bat and ball will be restored.”
“If the balance is missing then the contest becomes weak and it fails to grab eyeballs. Test cricket must have good wickets,” added Sachin Tendulkar.
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“I feel this year’s Ashes had some of the best Test pitches in recent times. Magnificent I would say. The only time they moved to Old Trafford, you saw that Test wasn’t as exciting as the ones at the Headingley, or the Lord’s Test or for that matter even the one at the Oval. I thought those Test matches were exciting,” he said.
He also shared his thoughts on IPL and how the players are related to it.
“I think if somebody has done well in the IPL, then he is fit to represent India in T20 Internationals. It is absolutely fair. But if somebody does well in the IPL and because of that performance he is picked for Tests and even ODIs, I think there would be a question mark,” he told.
“I don’t support that unless there is an exceptional talent, who can be good across formats. Jasprit Bumrah is one example. Otherwise normal players, if they do well in IPL, that performance should only be considered for T20 formats,” he shared.
However, he rates his 1991 Test hundred at Perth as the most memorable in his career.
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“I have never liked comparisons but if you ask me, that century at Perth on that track made me realise that I was ready to play any attack on any surface. It was like I announced my arrival at the international stage,” he said.
“Having said that, the Chennai hundred against Pakistan (1999), when I was battling back-pain or not hitting a cover drive during my double hundred in Sydney (2004) or those couple of spells against Dale Steyn in Cape Town in 2011, had their own beauty and challenges,” added Tendulkar.
He has now been retired player for six years now. While talking about what he misses the most he recalled some moments as well.
“I am probably one player, who has played with five generations. One before me that had Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Krish Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammed Azharuddin. It was followed by my generation of players like Sourav (Ganguly) and Rahul (Dravid). Then came Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra. After that was Suresh Raina’s generation followed by Virat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma) and Ajinkya (Rahane). I miss the laughter, the seriousness, the celebrations. Dressing room was like a temple,” he concluded.
