Saturday, Oct 08, 2011
Gulf News
Shahid Afridi’s statement that he had actually seen Sachin Tendulkar’s legs tremble while facing Shoaib Akhtar was a shocking revelation. While reporting some of Tendulkar’s legendary knocks against Akhtar, what has always surprised me is how he moves his feet to the right place to execute his classic square and straight drives.
If a batsman whose legs trembled against Akhtar is able to deliver such shots, then coaches around the world should instill fear in every budding cricketer. Many top batsmen have confessed that even after playing years of international cricket, they do get butterflies in their stomach before they go out to bat. However, once they take guard, the picture is a totally different one.
In school level cricket, there have been instances of a batsman fearing a pacer, but to say that a batsman playing at the international level was seen shivering is nothing but preposterous. No doubt Akhtar, who has been pulled up for chucking, can produce dangerous deliveries, but fear will be the last thing in a batsman’s mind at the international level.
Afridi, who is in the habit of contradicting his own statements the very next day, did it again by going on to laud Tendulkar and claiming to be his fan. If Tendulkar is a batsman whose legs had trembled while batting, he should not be anyone’s hero. Tendulkar has also batted against Akhtar’s doctored ball and got on top. And that he had repeatedly become Akhtar’s victim was more playing the wrong shots rather than out of fear.
Battle for supremacy
Cricket matches are often a battle for supremacy, and like a brave solider who will never pull back for the fear of a bullet, a batsman too never surrenders his wicket out of fear. Afridi, who is one of the finest demolisher of bowlers, must be the first to agree that in international cricket all batsmen, from the very start, will attempt to get on top of the bowling.
Years back, when the India-Pakistan rivalry was at its peak during the Sharjah tournaments, a debate ensued over whether Saeed Anwar or Sachin Tendulkar was a better batsman. It reached a stage where Indians fans refused to turn up for Pakistan’s matches against Sri Lanka, and Pakistan fans did not watch India’s matches against Australia simply because they may be forced to admire their anti-hero. In the process, what they missed was Anwar’s spectacular three consecutive centuries against West Indies and Sri Lanka in 1993 and Tendulkar’s glorious centuries against Australia in 1998. No one becomes a prolific scorer with fear and glaring weaknesses.
By K.R. Nayar?Chief Cricket Writer
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