Many experts have struggled to decipher what the Indian batsmen did wrong in the second innings of the first Test at Adelaide. The bowling was perfect, the balls were unplayable and the Indian batsmen did little wrong seems to be the general consensus.
But to the genius that is Sachin Tendulkar, the flaw, however small, was obvious. The master batsman, who played 20 Tests in Australia while scoring 1809 runs at an average of 53.20, felt that the Indian batsmen were just not planting their foot forward enough.
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“In the second innings, basically I felt the front foot was not going forward enough for our batters, said Tendulkar on his Youtube channel.
“When you’re playing away from home, the front foot becomes a critical factor. You will play all other shots — play the cut, pull, cover drive, whatever — but the front foot is the foundation of a long innings. And to get a nice stride forward and play a solid defense becomes critical. If the players are able to do that, a lot of problems will be solved, I feel.”
Tendulkar added: “They also did not get beaten, they just nicked the ball and because the pitch had little more bounce and pace because it had dried and become hard after a good roll. Being baked in the sun, the pitch had carry so everything that took the edge carried whereas in the first innings they were falling short.”
Tendulkar has also followed fellow Mumbaikar Prithvi Shaw’s career for a long time and he feels the young opener’s problems at the moment stem from his back lift, not so much the lack of footwork.
“With Prithvi, I feel it is the back lift,” said Tendulkar. “I feel his hands are moving away from his body and then coming in. So it is a scoop rather than a pendulum or a cradle. He is coming down straight when he meets the ball but if the ball zips off the surface, that is when problems are created.”
Watch Sachin Tendulkar talk about what Indian batsmen need to correct for Melbourne and give a demonstration of where Prithvi Shaw is going wrong:
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