It's time the system changed: Tendulkar

By G. Viswanath

MELBOURNE, JAN. 31. Australia is a country with great appeal. It has been that way for the Indians at least since Lala Amaranth led an Indian team for the first time after the War in 1948. There are interesting stories that `Bradman's Albums' and Vijay Hazare's `A Long Innings' tell us. It is all related to Donald Bradman. From the moment the team reached Darwin, each and every player and the manager Pankaj Gupta were excited about seeing the legendary batsman personally and shake hands with him.

The late Goghumal Kishenchand was delighted when Amaranth asked him to bowl to Bradman who was a few runs short of scoring his hundredth century in the India vs South Australia match. At the end of the tour the Indians did not mind being beaten by Australia because they saw Bradman bat. Even after a half a century of years, the esteem for the greatest batsman of the game has not yet changed. So is for Australian cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar acknowledged this before returning home. He did not see Bradman, but said, ``Australia is the toughest country to play cricket. I cannot put it in words. But it's different from England, South Africa or any other country. I would love to play cricket here. But their season clashes with ours. We lost, but lost to the World Champions whose confidence is very high. For some of our players success is on Indian wickets, failure is on these wickets. I won't hold anyone responsible. India's cricketing system must change. It's time.''

Three hours after the Indian team boarded a plane at Perth on Monday evening, Australian cricket's first Oscar like function began at the Crown Casino telecast live by Channel 9. January 2000 has been literally swamped by Australian cricket's glorious past, the Celebration of a Century of Australian Cricket being the first big occasion. The Allan Border Medal inauguration had in attendance 16 of the 17 past captains of Australia, from Bill Brown to Stephen Waugh. What touched one was the passion shown by the Australian players from Dennis Lillee to Shane Warne.

An Indian who reflects an Australian's passion is Tendulkar. He led the team to South Africa in 1996-97 and the West Indies in 1997, but returned home extremely disappointed. Today he returned, again disappointed, saying, ``To tell the truth we played a side which had won the World Cup and we are trying to build a team for the future and settle down. In this process there will be ups and downs. The unfortunate part of this process of securing a team for the future was that we were playing the Australians. Even settled teams struggle to cope with conditions here. There were quite a few youngsters in the Indian team. That made it even more difficult to match the Australians. We played only normal cricket.''

A good experience

``It is not that Australian cricket has improved since 1992 and Indian cricket has declined. In 1992 the Indian team had Ravi Shastri, Srikkanth, Siddhu, Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Azharuddin, Kiran More, Manoj Prabhakar. Srinath was a newcomer, so also Venkatapathy Raju. Hirwani was also there. We had an established team then, still we lost 4-0. Myself, Sourav and Srinath were the only ones who were here in 1992. So we were aware that this would be a very difficult tour. There might have been expectations, but personally and as a team it was not very high. The performances could have been better. Unfortunately nothing of this sort happened. Yes, it was a good experience playing here. But I don't think Indian cricket was exposed thoroughly.''

Tendulkar did not want to blame his teammates.``Yes, it is true that a Test series is fought on equal terms and there is no such thing superior and inferior teams before the start of a match. But at this level every player has to adapt to new conditions. It is easy to say that, but actually it's a very difficult job. Players do make a sincere and honest effort, but still things don't go their way. Australia is the toughest to play cricket. I would say that we had the strength in the bowling department, but its also important to perform in diverse conditions and on foreign soil. We have to perform as a team also. Even the batsmen. Somehow we are not winning abroad.'' ``We played the Australian team on their wickets. They have the confidence of a team that has won the World Cup. It was the same case with Sri Lanka. They kept winning after the World Cup win in 1996. This is as a result of playing as a team and confidence. To close the gap we have to play our domestic cricket on good wickets. Mostly we play on turning tracks. And on foreign soil you hardly get to face a spinner. Shane Warne was the only spinner. It was also rare because he is also the world's top class spinner. But mainly the cricket here is played on the founding principle of fast bowling. The Indian batsmen must get accustomed to play on fast on grassy wickets. They should not feel out of place.''

``When do we get an opportunity to play on grassy wickets? This factor and the quality of balls make a big difference. The Kookuburra balls made it a totally different ball game. Here the ball moves in the initial stages and after the seam gets depressed even the spinner has to grip it in a different way. It's also important our bowlers get used to playing with this brand of balls before we play a series here.''

``At this stage I don't want to point any one's shortcomings. I don't think its the right way, to make everything public knowledge and speak against a colleague. I would rather prefer to talk to them privately. But I would like to say we lacked in cricketing discipline. I think the moment we start frequently visiting Australia, the players will get accustomed to playing here and get the confidence. There will be less pressure once we visit these Australia on a regular basis. The pressure is more when the opportunities are less.''

The Indian captain also pointed out certain shortcomings in the new comers. ``When a player reaches this stage he should know every thing related to cricket. In our case we have to talk and explain to the new players. There is a huge gap between our cricket and international cricket. The batsmen are mentally attuned to face a spinner after 15 overs. Once this is bridged the attitude of the players will automatically change. The first class cricket here creates such players. There are academies too. There all these matters are discussed and the players are made to understand. There is no competition in India. Absolutely. The cricket system in Australia creates international players. The transition from domestic cricket to international cricket is smooth. The thinking process is very important at first class level.''

Lack of competition

``What's disappointing is the lack of competition in Indian cricket. I am not saying that we should change the pitches for international matches. We should make it to match our strength. But there will be benefits by preparing grassy and fast pitches for our domestic championship. It will help the players to play the fast bowlers abroad. There is no harm in changing the system at home...wickets and quality of balls. The focus should be on the preparation of wickets.''

Tendulkar did not think that Rahul Dravid was out of sorts in the Test series. ``Some times the element of luck plays a big role. I don't think Rahul had a problem. The situation was that things did not work his way. Sourav batted extremely well. Rahul too, but there are times you make runs and some times you don't make. You struggle and still make runs, but you may not be satisfied at all. The batsman himself is not happy. Lack of proper technique was not the reason for Rahul not doing well in the Test series. The fact was also that they were bowling very well.''

``Yes, there was tremendous responsibility on Sourav, Rahul and myself. At Melbourne, Kanitkar batted very well. We are delighted if a batsman comes good. I think Jacob Martin showed the temperament for Test match cricket. His technique showed that he has the potential. Effort is an important factor, but what has also to be considered is the ability and capacity of every player to come good at this level. Our fielding, mainly throwing was bad. We were giving two runs the moment the ball was hit beyond the circle.''

``We tried our best. But as I said it's tough playing in Australia. There is very little change in their bowling attack for Tests and one-dayers. They have four match winners. Yes, definitely they are all top class. The cricket academy is a step in the right direction. There is also talent in the under-19. They won the World Cup, but I don't think there is much in the first class championship. At least I have not seen. The promising players should be allowed to practice with us during camps. And we must have faith in the young players who were here.

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