No Indian batsman dominated fast bowling as Sachin Tendulkar did: Rahul Dravid

March 15, 2014

Sachin_TendulkarMumbai, Mar 15: Former skipper Rahul Dravid has said that the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was the first Indian to dominate the fast bowlers and had set a benchmark for the youngsters to take on the quickies.

"I think Sachin was the first great dominating batsman against fast bowling. We had a generation earlier of Sunil Gavaskar, G R Viswanath, whom we grew up idolising, and Sachin did as well. We had some great fast bowlers in 80s and 90s and Gavaskar had a phenomenal record against them. But what Sachin brought was dominance to fast bowling," Dravid said.

"Gavaskar was a slightly more defensive batsman, if I may say that, but Sachin had grown up in a different era and had someone like Viv Richards as his idol, especially when he first batted in the 90s. The way he dominated fast bowling and the way he took on fast bowling was something that was unique and different," Dravid said at the annual ESPNcricinfo awards on Friday.

"A lot of Indian batsmen were not necessarily known to do that. I think he set the benchmark for a lot of young players like Virender Sehwag."

Dravid said Tendulkar's presence in the dressing room not only served as a great inspiration to the upcoming players but drove them to work even harder to earn his respect.

"He was the kind of player whose respect you wanted to earn. I remember 'Sportstar' used to interview players and they would ask who were the cricketers of the future. We were playing the Test series in England and we were in Cambridge and somebody gave me this magazine and it had Tendulkar's interview. I quickly turned to the interview and saw cricketers of the future and he had mentioned Rahul Dravid. I felt so happy," he said.

"It was after the Lord's Test match...he did make me score 95 runs before I earned it," recalled Dravid.

"That is the kind of impact he had on you as a youngster coming into that side. Not only because he was going to be the captain and he was a senior player in the side, but because he was a great player and he

had already done so much that you wanted him to get that nod of approval. And that was a huge inspiration for a lot of cricketers in that generation," the 41-year-old said.

Dravid made his debut in 1996 when Tendulkar was already an established name, and the Karnataka batsman said, "In some ways an inspiration but quite intimidating as well. He was my captain in the third Test match that I played."

Tendulkar bagged the award for cricketer of the generation, pipping the likes of former Aussie spin legend Shane Warne and South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis here last night.

Dravid said facing Warne was a challenge due to the drift he got and it almost blind-sided a batsman.

"One of the differences in playing someone like Shane Warne was the kind of drift that he got. When he was at his best, he had the ability to drift the ball into your pads and then spin it away sharply," Dravid explained.

"That was a unique challenge which I think was quite different from the some of the other traditional leg spinners that I had grown playing up with. The drift almost blindsided you and it forced you to play on the leg side. He had great control, great variation and he had a great cricketing mind as well. When you won a contest against him, it gave you great personal satisfaction," he added.

Dravid, who played with Kallis in IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, said the South African was shy and an introvert.

"He scored one more Test run than me in international cricket and I think he has taken five or six wickets less than Zaheer Khan. If you look at the impact the player has had for his team in international cricket, it has been phenomenal. To see someone like him be able to bowl those 20 overs and bowl at that speed, and he was pretty quick when he first started.

"I think he realised at some stage that he wouldn't be the best fast bowler South Africa had produced since re-admission into international cricket, but if he kept scoring runs and kept working on his batting,

he would probably become the best South African batsman since. Without a doubt he is their best batsman since re-admission," he said.

"His incredible ability to almost have a deadpan expression irrespective of what was going on, and people tell me Dhoni is able to have a calm demeanour and you can never tell from Dhoni's face what is happening on the cricket field. And that was true of Jacques Kallis as well."

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: Thrilled after getting to know about Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic's engagement, skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday called it a "pleasant surprise".

Extending his best wishes to the newly-engaged couple, Kohli posted a comment on Pandya's Instagram post which read, "Congratulations H. What a pleasant surprise. Wish you guys great times ahead. God bless".

On the first day of the New Year 2020, Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share the photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On the work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from the Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show Bigg Boss 8.

In 2019, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had confirmed that Pandya had had lower-back surgery in London.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Chandigarh, May 25: Legendary former hockey player Balbir Singh Senior died in a private hospital on Monday, his family said.

He was 96 years old. His condition was critical for nearly a fortnight.

He was undergoing treatment at Fortis Mohali and was in a "semi-comatose condition".

He was hospitalised on May 8 with high fever and breathing trouble. His COVID-19 test came negative.

Balbir was part of the Indian teams that won gold at the 1948 London Olympics, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. His record for most individual goals scored in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten.

Balbir had set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6-1 win over Netherlands in the gold medal match of the 1952 Games.

He was the head coach of the Indian team for the 1975 men's World Cup, which India won and the 1971 men's World Cup, where India earned a bronze medal. He was also conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri in 1957.

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News Network
March 19,2020

London, Mar 19: Talking about the break in cricketing activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn said that the disease seems to be to the only topic of conversation these days.

"I don't know how to describe it. Doesn't matter where you go, everyone is talking about it - whether it is on an airplane or you are just popping into a grocery store. It just seems like it is the only topic of conversation," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Steyn as saying.

"Yeah, it's so strange. Normally if I am on holiday I'll be planning a fishing trip or a surfing trip. At the moment I am just chilling at home," he added.

Steyn was last seen in action in the Pakistan Super League where he took two wickets in two matches.

When asked whether he has enough hand sanitizers, he replied: "We just decided that stockpiling is definitely not the way to go. It is not fair on everybody who needs that stuff. I went to the grocery store the other day and everyone had bought all the toilet paper. We have what we need, and when that runs out, that runs out, and we need to go and get some more".

"We didn't feel it was necessary to go and absolutely just, like, zombie our lives up. There's other people that live on a day-to-day basis. They are not going to get all of that stuff, so we thought it was best not to do that".

Steyn also had a message for the fans, "Stay healthy, wash your hands, look after yourself, don't be greedy. Right now they are saying old people are really struggling, so if in a position to help, rather help them than help yourself. Pretty simple, really."

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ODI series between India-South Africa and Australia-New Zealand have been postponed.

The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been postponed until April 15.

Cricket South Africa has suspended all forms of cricket for 60 days while Cricket Australia has advised all its employees to work from home.

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