Sachin Tendulkar has seen and won everything that the sport of cricket had to offer. He was part of the victorious 2007 side that won the historic Test series against England in England under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. That was the last time India won a Test series on English soil. However, they’ve got off to a great start in the ongoing five-match series.
Following the disappointing draw in Nottingham where the fifth day got washed out, India sent shockwaves by winning the Lord’s Test in dramatic fashion. They cleaned up the England batting unit with just 60 overs remaining on the final day and ended up winning the match by 151 runs. They are currently 1-0 ahead in the series and England are in a spot of bother.
On being asked what he’d like to tell the Indian team, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar told Times of India, “To win matches you need good partnerships while batting, and to get 20 wickets you also need to bowl well in partnerships. I know the opposition is going to come back, and they’ll try and come back hard but as long as we stick to our brand of cricket, what we are out there to achieve, it really doesn’t matter what they plan. I have thoroughly enjoyed the brand of cricket that they have played.”
A draw looked like the most probable outcome on the fifth day of the Test. India were put under the pressure a bit after Pant and Jadeja lost their wickets. However, the tail batted magnificently well. First, there was Ishant Sharma who played a couple of good shots around the field. Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah followed that with a spectacular 89-run stand for the ninth wicket. Shami remained not out on 56 while Bumrah scored an unbeaten 34 as India declared at 298/8 with England needing 272 runs in 60 overs for the win.
Asked if he’d have done things a bit differently, Tendulkar said that he would’ve probably declared a bit earlier. Had he been the captain he’d have declared a couple of overs before lunch so that the openers would’ve to go up and down twice. The walk to the dressing room is a long way and therefore, that would’ve played with their minds.
However, Virat Kohli also got his plans with respect to the openers spot on. Bumrah and Shami struck early and got rid of both the opening batsmen for ducks.
