Mumbai: With the series against England level at 1-1, and following the poor performance in Mumbai, India need Sachin Tendulkar now more than ever, former captain Rahul Dravid has said, and he has backed him to perform in the rest of the series.
Tendulkar has not scored a half-century in his last 10 Test innings and has managed just 29 runs in the three innings he’s played against England. The former India captain, however, said in an interview with Cricinfo website that Tendulkar looked better than he did in the previous home series against New Zealand, and “who better than Sachin” to deliver in the next two games.
“I thought he was a little scratchy and looked a little under-prepared against New Zealand,” Dravid said of Tendulkar.
“Here, I know it seems strange to say after he’s had three failures, but he’s actually looking quite good. He’s played a couple of straight drives, he’s played a couple of shots that when I was playing with him, you knew he was playing well if he was playing those shots.”
Tendulkar, Dravid said, had also been a little unlucky in this series.
“He’ll be disappointed with the shot he played to get out in Ahmedabad on a relatively flatter wicket, and then to see other people score runs,” he said.
He added: “Here, he was a bit unlucky: the first ball that really spun on the first morning was the one that got him. Until then there weren’t too many balls spinning. And then he played for the spin in the second innings and the ball straightened on a track on which every ball was spinning.
“India need him now more than ever. At 1-1 in a tight series, it’s going to be very important for senior players to stand up and who better than Sachin to do that,” he added. AGENCIES
