Tendulkar adopts role of elder statesman

Sachin Tendulkar made quick progress from a boy wonder to one of the world's best players a decade ago and he still figures in just about every World XI dreamed up by cricket lovers.

Now the Indian batsman is charting a course as a senior professional, a mentor role that could be a boost for a national team which lurches from glory to ignominy on its foreign tours.

The sight of Tendulkar smashing world-class bowling attacks has been a constant source of consolation for India's cricket-crazy fans, who have seen his team mates struggle on lively overseas pitches for years.

There was nothing surprising in Tendulkar holding fort for a sparkling 155 to lift his side from a precarious 68 for four on the opening morning against South Africa at Bloemfontein last Saturday.

But this time he ensured it did not become a lonely battle.

With experienced batsmen Rahul Dravid, Vangipurappu Laxman and skipper Saurav Ganguly back in the pavilion early, Tendulkar quickly took debutant Virender Sehwag under his wing.

There followed a rare bright day for India away from the cosy confines of batsmen-friendly home pitches as the two went on to rattle up 220 runs together.

Having scored 10 of his previous 25 hundreds outside the subcontinent with patent drives and pulls, Tendulkar switched to teasing the attack with wristy glides and clever placements.

But this time he also kept up a steady stream of instructions between almost every delivery to enable the 23-year-old Sehwag to overcome his early nerves.

CLEVER SHOTS

Sehwag, whose stocky build and wristy off-side shots and firm drives mirror those of his idol, benefited fully from the masterclass by notching up a superb 105 to join the small band of debut century-makers.

Tendulkar, 28, was most pleased with his role as motivator, playing down his own magnificent innings and his distinction of becoming the youngest test player to join the 7,000-run club besides climbing to joint-fourth for the highest number of test centuries.

He then gave an insight into his fresh approach. "Earlier, I used to take risks. Now I feel I'm more in control," he said.

"Sometimes there is a rush of blood. Now I feel I might as well play clever shots and get four runs."

That could serve him well: he has fallen to some sensational early dismissals abroad during desperate efforts to pull his side out of the rut.

Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar, doing a television commentary on the game, praised the way Tendulkar talked Sehwag through his innings.

The instructions had a tremendous impact as Sehwag curbed his natural attacking instinct and played safe.

But Tendulkar remained characteristically modest. "It was important we talked to each other, to try and make each other play as correctly as possible."

OPEN TO ADVICE

Tendulkar learnt the art of handling pressure in a baptism-by-fire debut in 1989-90. At 16, as the third-youngest player in Test cricket, he came through against a pace battery in Pakistan.

It took him 13 innings to get his maiden Test hundred but since then he has piled on 57 in all, a world record 31 coming in one-dayers.

His unbeaten 119 in Manchester during India's 1990 tour of England was his first Test hundred and his further show of class came when he struck his next two during India's 0-4 defeat in a five-Test series in Australia in 1991-92.

The Bloemfontein knock drew comparisons with his 114 made during that series on an express WACA pitch in Perth against the pace of Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes and company.

On Saturday, Tendulkar gathered runs freely with smart backfoot shots and audacious flicks to the third-man region before gradually letting Sehwag see more of the strike.

Sehwag, nicknamed "Najafgarh's Tendulkar" by his friends after the New Delhi suburb where he plays, stole the show by smashing the seventh-fastest one-day century in August when he opened the innings in place of an injured Tendulkar.

In Bloemfontein, Tendulkar said he realised Sehwag would be nervous but asked him to enjoy the pressure of playing his first Test innings as he had done as a boy.

Tendulkar built up his reputation to the point where anything less than a century is regarded as failure by scoring 14 of his Test hundreds abroad, three each in Australia, South Africa and England, one in New Zealand and four in Sri Lanka.

The 85-Test veteran also made another interesting revelation, saying he asked newcomers to tell him if he made any mistakes.

Few would dare to take the advice seriously but Sehwag did.

"He came to me and said I was slightly loose outside the off-stump," said Tendulkar, happy with the youngster's initiative.

The timing of Tendulkar's new role could not have been better: in Bloemfontein he eased past Don Bradman's test aggregate of 6,996 runs, a cherished frontier for the late Australian's favourite player.

Mail Cricket Editor