Sachin Tendulkar, legendary Indian batsman recently justified India getting skittled out for their lowest-ever Test total of 36 as he felt the team ran out of luck in Adelaide’s 3rd day’s pitch.
The veteran cricketer said that the visiting batsmen ran out of luck in the second innings of the pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide last week which saw Australia sealing the game by eight wickets.
Sachin Tendulkar : India Have Dealt With Pressure Situations Before But Were Out Of Luck In 2nd Innings
In an interview with IANS, Sachin Tendulkar said that the Indian batsmen weren’t bogged down by pressure in 2nd innings of the first Test. He was of the reason that India had quite a few experienced campaigners in their batting line-up, who dealt previously with high-pressure situations.
“They have dealt with pressure situations. Barring Prithvi, and possibly Mayank, all the players have played enough. Virat [Kohli], Ajinkya [Rahane], Cheteshwar [Pujara] and [Wriddhiman] Saha have been around while Hanuma Vihari, compared to these guys, has played less. So, players have the ability to soak that pressure and they did their best,” Sachin Tendulkar said.
He further added that luck was absent on India’s side. Sachin Tendulkar explained that balls were getting nicks from the outside edge and reaching the fielders at a decent height, courtesy of a hardened-up Day 3 pitch.
“But sometimes you also need luck to be on your side. And as I said, there were not a number of occasions when the batters were getting beaten and continuing to bat without losing wickets. That did not happen.
“The edges were going straight to fielders and they were carrying. In the first innings, there were a number of edges but the ball didn’t carry to fielders. I remember, at least three times the ball didn’t carry. In the second innings, the wicket had become harder, and there was more pace and bounce in the surface,” Sachin Tendulkar reasoned.
India was bundled for a paltry 36 as none of the batsmen registered double digit figures in the 2nd innings. India were having the upper hand by taking a 53 runs 1st innings lead but gave away the advantage as Australia won chasing 90. While Josh Hazlewood picked 5 wickets, Pat Cummins picked 4 scalps.
Sachin Tendulkar: Getting A Good Stride Forward Can Help Batsmen Like Prithvi Shaw Who Failed Miserably
Prithvi Shaw was dismissed for 0 and 4 in the 1st pink-ball Test against Australia. Six of the nine dismissed batsmen in the second innings edged the ball and were caught behind as India recorded their lowest Test score.
Notably, 21-year-old opener Prithvi Shaw’s dismissals in both innings were identical as he was castled both times, with the ball sneaking through his bat and pad gap. Sachin Tendulkar opined that batsmen would fare better with more decisive footwork. The 47-year-old explained that a bigger stride forward narrows the gap between the bat and the pad.
“If you get a nice stride forward while defending, then your hands stay close to your body. When your stride is not nicely stretched forward, then your hands tend to go away from the body, towards the ball. I would say that getting a good stride forward can help a lot of players,” the legend said.
India would try to make amends by implementing these changes to get back to winning ways in the remaining three Test matches in Melbourne (Dec 26-30), Sydney (Jan 7-11), and Brisbane (Jan 15-19). India will in all probability bring KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami for the 2nd Melbourne Test.