A nice, big stride forward, which I felt was missing: Sachin Tendulkar on India’s technique flaw in the first Test

With three more Test matches to go in the Border Gavaskar series, Australia have taken the first blood and lead the series 1-0. The question of the hour remains, can India make a monumental comeback after a horrific day of play in Adelaide plus the team will be without their captain. The batting maestro, Sachin Tendulkar feels India needs to bring their  A-game to square the things on Boxing Day Test match at the MCG.

“According to me the ideal transition would have been that after the IPL you go to Australia and start with the T20 series, ODIs, and then the Test series with the red ball (regular Test match timings), and the last match being with the pink ball (adapting to pink-ball Test match timings) that one is not so used to. By playing red-ball Test matches first, the transition would have been smoother to pink-ball Test,” Sachin Tendulkar told IANS in an interview.

The former India captain reckons that the defensive technique needs some work and that could be crucial to the success of the batsmen in such seaming conditions.

“One change that one can talk about was getting a nice, big stride forward, which I felt was missing. A half and half defence (short stride) can always trouble you and if there's a little more movement off the seam then your hands tend to compensate for the lack of footwork. If you get a nice stride forward while defending then your hands stay close to your body,” he said.

Ravichandra Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s batting ability is a “bonus” to the team.

“When we talk about Ashwin and Jadeja, it boils down to whose bowling on a particular pitch would be more useful and then you pick that bowler. Their batting is an added bonus; both can bat. I'm sure the team management must be looking at their bowling ability and picking and not worrying too much about how many runs they would contribute at No.8,” the former India captain added.

Tendulkar concluded by praising the bowlers for their good performances, which put the Aussies on their back foot in the first innings.

“I thought their performance was very good, without any doubt. In the first innings, it was extremely disciplined and focused; and they kept the pressure on.”

[With IANS inputs]