Gavaskar: Long breaks pegging Tendulkar back

Dubai: Why has Sachin Tendulkar so far been unable to reach his 100th century? Gulf News asked Sunil Gavaskar, whom Tendulkar looks up to as his idol.

Gavaskar, known for his ability to play with a straight bat, was equally straight in his reply. "I think he [Tendulkar] is just going through one of those periods. If he was getting out for scores of one, two or three, then bowlers would have been on top of him but if you see him every time he has got off to a good start.

"He has got to 30s, 40s, 70s and 80s and, when that happens, you have to say that the player is going through a bit of a bad patch. Because you are batting well but still you are not reaching the mark."

When asked where Tendulkar might have gone wrong, Gavaskar said: "Tendulkar should have played in the West Indies, but immediately after the Indian Premier League [IPL] he wanted to be with his family. Tendulkar not playing the one-dayers was fine as then he would have got three weeks of rest, but he could have played the Test matches."

Personal experience

Presenting his experience as an example, Gavaskar said: "What happens is that after the age of 35 and 36 you should not miss out on competitive cricket. I can tell from my experience that I did not really miss out for a long time as we did not have much cricket.

"If your mind is relaxed your body also relaxes. At the age of 35, 37 and 38, even if your mind comes back, the body's elasticity may not be there. That is why it is important to keep playing, whether it is tennis, badminton or whatever sport. As you get older, the more you play, the more you are going to stay at the competitive level."

To a query as to why top batsmen now seem to struggle against genuine spin, Gavaskar said. "Frankly it takes a lot more skill to play spin than pace for the simple reason that in pace there are just two movements, either forward or back, but to play spin the skill levels are higher.

Spin skills

"The batsman needs to go down the pitch and get to the pitch of the ball to try and smother the spin, whether in offence or defence. So there is a lot more footwork for spin, while not so much footwork is needed to play pace.

"I always believed that to play spin requires a lot more skill and to play pace you require maybe a little more courage. At the end of the day this is a game of skill and therefore I think good players are those who play spin bowling well."

Does that mean there has been a decline in batting standards in recent years? "I think basically what has changed is the attitude and approach, so more than anything else there is less patience. That is why people at the Test level sometimes are not able to fight their way out. There are times when the bowlers are dominating and you should allow the bowlers to dominate and play for time till they tire or the pitch eases out and then you can conquer them. We are in a different world today. It is not just the cricketing world that is different. It is a world outside which is a lot less patient, than say, maybe ten years ago."