When he was bowled through the gate for a second time on Saturday, there
were quite a few voices in the commentary box that felt the master
batsman’s footwork was to be blamed.
Sunil Gavaskar and
Sanjay Manjrekar, who were on air when
Tendulkar was dismissed by paceman
Doug Bracewell, felt that the master batsman
is not taking a big enough stride and is getting stuck on the crease.
To
Bracewell’s credit, he pitched the ball up despite being hit for a four
down the ground off the previous ball. On that occasion, Tendulkar
showed the full face of the bat to an over- pitched delivery.
Bracewell
altered the length a bit in the next delivery and Tendulkar tried to
play it across the line through midwicket, as the ball swung back and
found its way through the gap between bat and pad.
“He is not
taking that big stride forward,” remarked Gavaskar.
Manjerakar
agreed with the observation even as the two discussed how Virat Kohli,
who is going through a purple patch, has been showing exemplary foot
movement.
Inadvertently, Tendulkar scored a half-century he would
have loved to avoid.
It was the 50th time that cricket’s most
decorated batsman was castled.
However, former Test wicketkeeper
Syed Kirmani felt that it was not proper to criticise Tendulkar.
However,
a veteran radio commentator felt that Tendulkar’s reflexes were slowing
down.
“Age is probably telling on him. It seems he is not as
quick to play his shots as earlier,” he told Mail Today.
There is
no questioning the fact that Tendulkar, who now has a Test run-tally of
15,506 runs, has played right through his career under immense pressure
of expectations from his legion of fans. He has enthralled them on
innumerable occasions, but has also disappointed them at times.
Tendulkar
has found the going tough since the high of the World Cup. In 13 Tests
which included the disastrous trips to England and Australia, Tendulkar
has scored 814 runs at an average of 35.39, a far cry from his career
average of 55.18.
There has not been a single Test century from
the master’s blade since January 2011.
In 10 ODIs that Tendulkar
has played since the World Cup, he has scored 315 runs at an average of
31.5. There was a long wait of a year before he completed his century of
centuries against lowly Bangladesh in Mirpur.
Tendulkar has cut
down on his ODI appearances and has been focusing on Tests. He maintains
that he is still enjoying his cricket and would continue to play as
long as he feels motivated. His longevity has been such that he seen
almost two generations of players retire before his eyes.
Even
Bracewell’s uncle, John, a former New Zealand off- spinner, dismissed
Tendulkar in a Test way back in 1990.
