deepu 0 Report post Posted December 2, 2004 I am posting below a recent article that came in India times. I believe that he is just going through a bad patch and will recover at any time... Guys comment on this... Sachin Tendulkar getting bowled two times running is more than an embarrassment for one of the greatest batsmen ever. It painfully highlights a chink that bowlers have spotted in Sachin’s armour in the last few years.The weakness has been particularly evident when he plays away from home. The stats are stunning. Since the beginning of 2002, Sachin has played 29 Test innings on foreign soil. He has been not out on three occasions. Of the 26 times he has been dismissed, he has been bowled 7 times, lbw 11 times and caught behind 7 times. That leaves only one dismissal by other means — caught by someone other than the keeper. Starting with the West Indies tour in 2002, Sachin has got out either bowled, lbw or caught behind an amazing 96% of the time in away tours. This is a remarkable change from his first 12 years in Test cricket, when only 40% of his away dismissals were by any of these methods. This suggests Sachin Tendulkar has hit a patch in which his ability to judge the line of the ball correctly has gone awry. Not only is he susceptible to the incoming delivery — which many have pointed out — he is also more liable to nick one to the keeper than he was in the earlier part of his career. Whether this is because of his eye not being quite what it used to be or because his reflexes might be slowing down is a matter of conjecture. The increasing tendency to get out bowled, lbw or caught behind is true even when Sachin is playing at home, but here the contrast with the past is less dramatic. In the last three years, he has played 18 Test innings in India and been dismissed 17 times. Seven of these are bowled or lbw dismissals, which makes just over 41% of all his dismissals during the period. The figure for the pre-2002 part of his career is 29%. Interestingly, the proportion of caught behind dismissals in India remains at about 12%, as it was in the pre-2002 era. So, are we witnessing the decline of Sachin Tendulkar the batting legend? Not quite. His average away from home in these last three years still remains a healthy 56. Critics might point out that the high average is thanks largely to two big innings in which he remained not out — the 241 at Sydney and the 194 at Multan — but that can hardly be valid grounds for denying him his due. What the figures do mean, however, is that bowlers are no longer clueless when bowling to Sachin. They know what they need to do to improve the chances of getting him out. That makes it less likely that he can consistently dominate bowlers as he once used to do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vamshik 0 Report post Posted December 2, 2004 Yes, Sachin is just going thru a bad patch. And over that Media is adding salt on the wounds of Sachin. C'mon sachin be positive and you can get back your best form. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rEdshiFt 1 Report post Posted December 2, 2004 (edited) no way...he is not past his best.... sure he's been playin terribly recently...but this is just a patch like u guys have said...AND IT SHALL PASS. im hopin sachin has atleast 6 or 7 more yrs of Intnl cricketing... edited : dude, i coudnt cast a vote man....its tough to pick...the question is a lil tricky....like i DONT think "Sachin is Past His Best" as in ur title...and so i tried to pick 'no' as my vote..but then, the poll question is a litlle different from the thread title - it asks "Do you think that the master batsman is not at his best" FOR WHICH I HAVE TO SAY "yes", he is not at his best...(but he soon would be at his best again, as this is just a bad patch) do i make sense ?.... Edited December 2, 2004 by rEdshiFt Share this post Link to post Share on other sites