Several years back, former Indian captain Kapil Dev copped a lot of criticism for his comments on Sachin Tendulkar.
Dev stated then that with the talent India’s Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar possessed, he should have achieved more.
Now, the 1983 World-Cup winning captain, Dev has justified his statement detailing why Tendulkar could’ve notched up more double-tons and tons to his name.
“Sachin had so much talent, we hadn’t seen it in anyone. He was born in an era where he knew how to score hundreds, but he never became a ruthless batsman,” Dev told WV Raman in his YouTube channel.
“Sachin had everything in cricket. He knew how to score hundreds, but didn’t know how to convert those hundreds into double-hundreds and triple-hundreds. Sachin had the talent to make at least five triple-centuries and another 10 double-hundreds, because he could hit fast bowlers and spinners for a six or a four every over,” he added.
Dev reckoned that the Mumbai school of thought crept in the batting of ‘Master Blaster’. The school of thought professed to start all over from zero after reaching a landmark.
Also, the former all-rounder cited the example of explosive batsman Virender Sehwag and his approach, post reaching a milestone.
“However, he got caught up in the Mumbai cricket [mindset]: when you score a hundred, make a line and start from zero again. And that’s where I said, ‘No, you are such a ruthless cricketer, be like Virender Sehwag.’” Dev added.
“I used to tell Sehwag to be like Sachin: you have so many shots in your armoury that if you wait for 30-odd minutes, you will get to a hundred. To Sachin, I used to say, ‘You must watch Virender Sehwag’, who, upon reaching a ton would aim for at least one boundary an over if not two. So in the next 20 overs, he was close to his double-hundred.”
“That was the difference. At times, you don’t have people around you to point things out to you and, at times, you are not aware of your own strength. Sachin’s strength was par excellence and incomparable, but after reaching a century, he would often take a single and get off strike.”
“It was never that he made the bowlers fear him – they feared how to get him out. But against Sehwag, the bowlers feared how to stop him from scoring,” Dev concluded.
