Sachin Tendulkar believes Lahore-born South African leg-spin googly bowler Imran Tahir can become the leading bowler in the four-Test Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series to be played at Mohali, Bangalore, Nagpur and New Delhi in November-December.
At a promotional event here on Friday when mobile payment solutions company Oxigen named the legendary cricketer as its brand ambassador, Tendulkar said that A.B. de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dale Styen and Morne Morkel would be the players to look out for, but added that the 36-year-old Tahir would be more interesting.
Tahir has played one Test against India at the Wanderers in 2013 and his two wickets came at an expensive 58 runs apiece and in 16 Test matches he has taken 43 wickets at 46.40.
“Tahir is a good bowler and we have to play him properly; he could be one of the leading bowlers in the series. The Indian team is fantastic talent-wise. I know a lot of things are said about the players. There are no short cuts for the team; the guys are committed. I am going to go a step further and say that this series is going to be exciting in Twenty20, One-Day Internationals and the Test matches, but I am looking forward to the Test series.
“Both teams have great team balance. I have never played a South African team that was an okay side, they were always a strong side. There is no difference now,” Tendulkar said when compere, former India bowler Atul Wassan, threw him a few questions to field.
Touching upon his experience against South Africa he said: “When South Africa came here in 1991 for the first time, it was an incredible experience. They could not believe playing in front of 100,000 spectators. When we went there in 1992, we received an incredible reception, taken on a parade in fancy convertibles. People lined up on both sides of the road; that was my first experience of South Africa. There was always something new to see in South Africa and one gets fascinated. It was difficult playing at high altitude venues like Johannesburg and Centurion. And talking about South Africa versus India matches, how can I forget the Hero Cup semifinal match, till the last ball no one knew what would happen.’’
TechnologyAsked to share his thoughts on the use of technology, Tendulkar described how team meetings used to be without computer and how it changed: “In 1989 the team meetings at the most would be like, sitting in a circle to discuss strategy with the coach, captain and two senior players talking about various things like how we should bowl and bat. Then it was left to each player’s imagination to think of how the outswinger will come, how to bowl the inswinger and about leg spin and googlies. So it was all about how everybody would imagine. But around 2003 or 2004 the computer entered our dressing room, an analyst was introduced and he stored all the data. Initially we all wondered what a computer was going to teach us and we don’t need all that because we had played for such a long time without any assistance. It was difficult to accept the change overnight.’’
Then the master batsman pointed out how the perception changed. “Along the way we realised that our team meetings were much smarter, cleverer and we were very precise and nothing was left to anyone’s imagination because at the press of a button everything was on the screen…how their (rival) bowlers bowled and the areas our bowers had to bowl to their batsman. It was very precise and I thought that was a big, big change. I also found the hot spot, snickometer and line decisions very exciting. The viewers also found that exciting and I have experienced the excitement at Wimbledon. And when you talk of line decisions, yours truly was the first victim; it happened in 1992, Jonty Rhodes got me out in the Test match at Durban.’’
Tendulkar retired almost two years ago and Wassan asked him if his family found him to be somewhat boring since he spends much of his time with them. “They have no choice. Life is still busy and I still bat for India.’’
