Graeme Pollock waxes eloquent on Sachin Tendulkar

JOHANNESBURG, OCT. 8. As Sachin Tendulkar announced his return to international cricket with a century after an injury-induced two- month lay-off, a batting legend of yesteryears has joined his ever-growing list of admirers.

Graeme Pollock's international career was rudely interrupted by apartheid which isolated South Africa's cricket team for nearly two decades, but in a relatively short Test career, he made a name for himself. He scored 2,256 runs in 23 Tests with seven centuries at an average of 60.97, second only to Sir Donald Bradman's 99.94.

Declared South Africa's cricketer of the century, Pollock, an uncle of the current national captain Shaun Pollock, is now a national selector.

``You know when he is playing, the Indian side is hell of a lot better side,'' Pollock said on Monday referring to Tendulkar with whom he shares a special bonding - both figure in the Don's `All Time Best XI'.

Describing him as ``fantastic'', Pollock says Tendulkar is ``certainly the best player in the world at the moment''. Pollock said he was keen to watch the Indian champion in action on the fast, bouncy pitches here but ``I was just concerned that his injury would keep him out of the tour''.

``Why I've always liked him (Tendulkar) is that batsmen tend to be negative at times and I think batting is not about not getting out - it is to play positively. I think you got to take it to the bowlers and Sachin is one such player,'' he said.

``When you do so, you change game, you change bowlers because they suddenly start bowling badly, because they are under pressure. Sachin has certainly done that. He has done so many times where he has changed games, by scoring at a good rate,'' said Pollock.

The South African legend said the one thing that he has observed about Tendulkar is he keeps batting so simple. ``One of the key factors about batting is that you got to be balanced on your feet and you keep your head still. If you do these two things correctly, it goes a long way towards playing well.''

``Some batsmen get too technical. I don't think batting needs all those technicalities. It is pretty simple. The simpler you keep it, I think more successful you are going to be.''

Pollock feels if Test cricket is to survive, batsmen and teams must always look to score runs at a good clip. ``You look at the current Aussie side. They are always scoring 300-plus in a day and that's what you got to do. It gives your bowlers time get the opposition out.''

Pollock had a chat with John Wright the other day as the Indian coach caught up with the south African batting legend and sought his views, among other things, on batting. ``I had a long chat with John (wright). We just generally talked about batting. I said the same thing to him. If he passes this on to your batsmen, that's good. I just like to see good cricket. If I can make a contribution to it, I am ready to do so.''

Pollock also spoke to captain Sourav Ganguly and said he really thought India had a formidable batting line-up. ``I was just speaking to your captain and saying it is nice that guys like (V.V.S.) Laxman are coming for the test side. Your top six, when everybody is fit, is very formidable. It's a very good top six batting. Also, a lot of your batsmen play positively. That's nice to see.''

Pollock also felt India was well-served by the presence of spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh on this tour. ``These two spinners are as good as any. Kumble is a little different from the leg-spinner of the 60s and 70s in the sense that men like Richie Benaud were greater turners of the ball. They didn't bowl all that quickly. Kumble bowls quicker than most leggies, he doesn't give much away, he keeps it tight and obviously is helped by the bounce he gets''.

``He is a tall guy and bowls over the top and has been incredibly effective. He, along with (seamer) Javagal Srinath, has played a major part in Indian cricket for the last 10 years.''

Pollock, however, cautioned the Indian spinners they would not get any turning wickets on this tour. ``It is unlikely they would get any turning tracks on this tour - they would probably not because it would not suit South African cricketers.''

Pollock's advice to Indian spinners is not to try too many things on these wickets. ``If you don't try to do too many things and concentrate on your line and length, you are doing fine.''

Pollock said for long Indian batsmen had been criticised for not playing well on bouncy tracks outside the Indian sub-continent. ``These people have suggested they should try and leave a bit of grass in India but then there is a different set of people who say we play 80 per cent of our cricket at home and why shouldn't we pick up the wickets we want?''

``That's a very fair argument. You play according to your own conditions,'' said Pollock, admitting though it is a little different for Indian batsmen when they play away from home.

Looking back at his career, Pollock said the two best batsmen he had seen during his career were fellow South African Barry Richards and West Indian Sir Garfield sobers. ``Gary's 254 in Melbourne for rest of the world against Australia in 1971 was the best innings I have seen,'' concluded Pollock. ``Dennis Lillee had just started and was charging in - I haven't seen anyone better than that.''

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : India needs a disciplined bowling attack
Next     : Kenya's losing ways continue