Former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull believes Sachin Tendulkar has struggled to adopt the fearless approach needed to be a hit in Twenty20 cricket during the latter stages of his career ahead of his impending retirement.
Tendulkar is set to play in his final Twenty20 competition for the Mumbai Indians at the forthcoming Champions League, which starts this week.
ESPN-STAR Sports commentator Simon Doull (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Doull, who will commentate on the event for ESPN-STAR Sports, feels the 40-year-old is well placed to go out with some silverware under his belt because he has highlighted the Indian Premier League winners as frontrunners for the title.
“At the start of Twenty20 and the Mumbai Indians, I think Sachin was looked upon as still capable of playing very good one-day and Twenty20 cricket,” said Doull, who has watched Tendulkar’s t20 career closely whilst working at the Indian Premier League.
“I think in the past two years, he’s probably not been there as far as Twenty20 is concerned. He’s not really found his right place in the batting order. I also think he’s possibly been a little bit selfish, which is a harsh thing to say about such a great player.
“But at Twenty20 level, it’s about getting your team off to a great start. He just hasn’t been able to do that in the last couple of years - that’s been tough.
“He’ll never be remembered as a Twenty20 player, and his Twenty20 career will very rarely be talked about because of the amazing things that he’s done at Test match and one-day international level. I don’t think he’ll ever read too much into his Twenty20 stats for either Mumbai or even for India when all’s said and done.”
In 91 innings, he has scored 2,727 runs at 34.08, including 16 fifties and one hundred. For Mumbai at either the IPL or the Champions League, he has scored 2,534 runs at 33.34, including 14 fifties and one hundred.
Can Sachin light up CLt20? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is during the last two years where Tendulkar has struggled, however. In 31 matches in 2012 and 2013 so far, he has only scored three fifties in 658 runs at an average of 23.50 from the top of the order.
“I just don’t know whether he’s as willing to be free with his wicket. He got into a similar situation in Test matches when he was trying to get that 100 hundreds,” continued Doull.
“I just wonder whether the flair started to go towards the end of that Test match career. You need that.
“When you watch Virat Kohli, when you watch Rohit Sharma, when you watch Shikhar Dhawan, they have the fearless approach that Sachin had ten years ago, even five years ago. That’s what you need. It’s not having that fear of getting out.
“They believe in their ability so much. Sachin has a huge amount of pressure on him to please the crowd, and I think he feels that in Twenty20 cricket, especially playing for Mumbai because he’s so desperate to do well and succeed for them.”
Mumbai won the CLt20 in 2011, and Doull added: “I don’t think you can look too far beyond Mumbai. I just think the addition of Mitchell Johnson made such a difference to their side. It completed their side. They do look to be the most dangerous side.”
FOR A FULL CLT20 PREVIEW WITH SIMON DOULL, SEE WORLD CRICKET BADGER TOMORROW…
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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I’m sure Sachin will be heartbroken when he hears this.