Timesofindia.com in Leeds: The five-match Test series between India and England is set to commence on June 20. With the series opener in Headingley, the series is set to play out between the two sides till early August. One of cricket’s most competitive modern rivalry has been given a historic new identity. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) jointly announced the launch of the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy, a prestigious honour that will now be awarded to the winner of every Test series between these two sides.Speaking exclusively to TimesofIndia.com, Sachin Tendulkar touched on the importance of patience when playing in England and support for the team’s leadership with Shubman Gill the new skipper. He emphasised that while there will always be opinions about how the captain should approach the game – whether too attacking or too defensive – the focus must remain on the team’s plan and decisions made within the dressing room. Ultimately, what matters most is that the captain acts in the team’s best interest, regardless of outside criticism.Sharing the name with James Anderson – a player you have had memorable on field contests with makes it all the more special? With Jimmy (James Anderson), the first time I heard about him was from Nasser Hussain. Jimmy had just started playing for England and Nasir spoke very highly about him. He said that he is a bowler to watch out for. But I don’t think at that point of time in 2003, even Nasser thought that Jimmy would get 700 wickets for England. It’s a remarkable career. I have always believed that one can play for a short span with a lot of talent.But to last for two decades, over two decades, as a fast bowler requires a lot of focus, a lot of discipline, concentration, dedication, grit. There have been so many challenging moments in his life as far as injuries are concerned. There are aches and pains. A fast bowler, you’re obviously going to get injured. There are aches and pains, but you wake up in the morning and start a new day with as much zeal and commitment. It takes a lot. The way he’s been able to overcome all the challenges and deliver year after year, season after season, has been remarkable. What I found special about him was his wrist position and the subtleness in his variation. A batter is constantly observing a bowler and trying to pick those signals. Every bowler will give you some signal. That’s when you kind of come to know whether it’s going to be an out-swinger or an in-swinger or a bouncer or a slow bowler. With those small signals, his variation was so subtle.
A number of times, batters were not able to pick. He was quite good at doing reverse swing and hiding the shine. Those kind of elements in your action. He adapted his action to that. If you see his action early on in 2003-2004 and then towards the second half of his career, it had changed. He adapted.He continued evolving. That is the key ingredient to being a successful athlete. You have to constantly rediscover yourself and introduce new things. That is what we all batters experience at the opposite end, 22 yards out.England continues to be a special place for you as you spent a lot of time here during your playing days as well.My first tour of England was in 1990 with the Indian team, before that I came here with the Star Cricket team in 1988, and then a number of things have happened, like I scored 100-100s, but the first one you’ll always remember, you know, there is something special about it. It happened on an important day, on 14th of August, or 15th of August, the headline was something in there, which 15th of August means a lot to all of us, and we were able to keep the series alive at that time, and then in 1992, I became the first non-European Yorkshire wicket to play for the county, that was again a big move, a bold move from the county, and I enjoyed my season there, people were extremely nice to me, the county was nice to me, and overall, when I look back, I felt it played an integral part in shaping me as a cricketer, where, you know, playing in conditions one is not so familiar with, I got to learn a lot about cricket during my stint with Yorkshire.
India came close last time they toured England, how optimistic are you on their chances?I think overall, if we are able to put runs on the board, we will do something special. Our bowling attack, other than Mohammed Shami, of course, Ashwin, who has also retired. I think the bowling attack, a lot will depend on Bumrah and how the other guys support him.Bumrah, without any doubt, is going to be our strike bowler. Along with that, how the rest of the guys that I have experienced, Prasidh (Krishna) has been in good form. Arshdeep (Singh) , Shardul (Thakur), Nitish (Kumar Reddy) would be a supporting bowler.Harshit (Rana), I might be missing out a few names, Jadeja, Kuldeep (Yadav.) But overall, I feel the attack is a balanced attack. And I am hopeful that we will do something nice.For the last 33 years, India’s No.4 was a secure spot with you and then Virat Kohli. It could be Shubman Gill next. How important is that number in Test cricket?Playing for India itself is a responsibility. So when you get selected to represent the country, it’s a responsibility. And it could be batting at any number.
Even if you go out to bat at number 6 or number 7, whatever, those runs are invaluable. Number 11 also is fulfilling his responsibility in a different capacity. So it is good that people believe that he is capable of fulfilling that responsibility, the expectations that people have from him. It’s a positive sign according to me.What would be your one piece of advice to young Shubman on what has historically been a tough tour for the Indian cricket team?The conditions, you need to respect conditions and bat accordingly, because when you respect conditions, you have that flexibility in your thought process, in your head, you know, you can’t, it cannot be one-way traffic, that my game is like this and I am going to play like this only. One has to be slightly flexible in adapting the approach, the plan, according to the conditions. And if we respect that, then a lot of things can fall into place. But if one is adamant and doesn’t believe in changing too many things, irrespective of conditions, then sometimes you end up paying a heavy price for that. So, my message would be to respect conditions at play, so you know when to attack and when to defend.
Poll
Who do you think will win the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy in the upcoming Test series?
Thoughts on Shubman Gill the new Test captain? He is just 25 but you also led the team when you were just 23.I think he has to be given time, he has to be supported, and I feel there are going to be a lot of opinions that you know, he should do this and he should do that and all those kind of things will come into play, but what he should be focused on is what is the team’s plan, what was the discussion in the dressing room and is it going according to that and all the decisions that are being made are being made in the interest of the team or not is what he should be thinking of and not the outside world where someone feels that he is being too attacking or he is being too defensive and all that, those are opinions and people will give opinions, eventually what happens in the dressing room and what he is doing in the interest of the team is going to matter and that is what should count, nothing else.
