One of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar thinks that India and New Zealand are evenly matched ahead of the World Test Championship Final which will be held in Southampton from June 18.
However, the highest international run-scorer believes that India have the edge in batting and their spin department is also considerably stronger.
“I wouldn’t say any team is stronger. If at all, our batting looks possibly stronger than their batting. We’ve got better spinners, I’d say,” Tendulkar told Moneycontrol.
“When it comes to fast bowling, it is pretty much balanced. Someone like Tim Southee has played as much as Ishant Sharma. If you look at Trent Boult, then Mohammed Shami has played about as many number of games. With Bumrah and Shardul and Siraj, they are very much like (Kyle) Jamieson and (Neil) Wagner.”
Tendulkar also weighed in on the debate surrounding the spin options. On being asked whether Ashwin or Jadeja or both should play the final, he replied that he would only make a call after taking a look at the pitch in Southampton. The legendary batsman expects the track prepared by curator Simon Lee to have good pace and bounce.
“The beauty of the Indian squad is that both spinners can bat, can give you those invaluable runs at the end of the innings,” Tendulkar said. He also cited the example of Shardul Thakur getting runs lower down the order in Australia. That reflects the depth of India’s batting firepower in the current squad.
Speaking in an exclusive interview to PTI, Sachin Tendulkar also added that the openers need to play close to the body. In order to achieve that, they will need to keep their hands closer to their body as well.
“Playing close to the body starts with keeping your hands close to the body. When you take a back-lift your hands need to be as close to your body as possible,” Sachin said.
“When your hands are close to your body, you are in better control of defending the ball and playing as late as possible. But when hands start going away, there is less control on your bat swing and balance is affected,” he further explained.
