Mumbai, September 2: Sachin Tendulkar has been bowled 50 times in his career. There have been times when he has been beaten all ends up and castled by absolutely unplayable deliveries, and there have been times when a minor error led to his exit in this fashion.
However, it is the way he was 'cleaned up' by New Zealand seamer Doug Bracewell on Saturday, the second day of the second Test at Bangalore, that even provoked batting legend Sunil Gavaskar to say on air that "it is a worrying sign." Gavaskar was concerned about the "big gap between the bat and pad" in that dismissal.
Tendulkar was bowled by a beauty by another Kiwi fast bowler, Trent Boult, in the first Test in Hyderabad but the reason Saturday's dismissal is being talked about more is that it was nothing more than an innocuous 'fuller ball' that the maestro succumbed to.
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, discussing Tendulkar's dismissal, made a point about the ageing batsmen having a problem against fuller length deliveries.
He cited the example of India devising a tactic to bowl fuller lengths to Javed Miandad to get his scalp early during the Pakistani batting great's last days in international cricket.
"Even the spinners were instructed to bowl full to him," Manjrekar said. Gavaskar agreed with Manjrekar's logic, saying, "With age, the feet don't come to the pitch of the ball ... the eyes don't pick up the ball early."
It does fuel the BIG question though. Is age finally catching up with the 39-year-old Tendulkar? It does happen to the best.
Who can forget 'The Wall ' Rahul Dravid getting bowled repeatedly during his final tour to Australia last winter prompting an Aussie commentator to say : "Even the stumps need pads now."
When asked about Tendulkar's dismissals, former India batsman and NCA batting coach Lalchand Rajput said : "It is just a normal thing.
It's not that his technique has fallen apart. He is getting out to good balls. Once he spends some time in the middle, things will become fine. He will get his rhythm back, it is just a temporary thing."
More assurance for Tendulkar came from across the border. Miandad feels the whole "fuss is understandable" but uncalled for." If he had got out like that in his youth, no one would have asked this question.
Because he is 39, people will say that he got out like that because of the advancing age. It is a case of human error which has become magnified because of his age," Miandad told TOI on Saturday.
"You can't make such big conclusions about someone like Tendulkar after watching just one or two innings. Such class batsmen will make a big score when they get in, but on some days they do get out early," the former Pakistan skipper says.
"There were other batsmen who failed in the Indian innings too. (Gautam Gambhir made two, Virender Sehwag 43, and Cheteshwar Pujara 9, while Tendulkar scored 17). Why are we not talking about their failure?" Miandad questioned.
Miandad also doesn't agree to the theory that Tendulkar could now be more vulnerable to the fuller length ball. "This is a question that he can answer best but against this Kiwi bowling where no one has express pace, I doubt whether this was the reason for Tendulkar's dismissal.
It is purely a case of being out of form, and being rusty. He hasn't played much cricket in the last few months, has he?" Miandad said. Indeed, Tendulkar last played in an ODI against Pakistan on March 18 this year, before playing in IPL.
Did Miandad face a problem with the fuller length ball in the twilight years of a career, which spanned 124 Tests across 17 years? "In my time, the only attack you feared facing was that of the West Indies.
Their fast bowlers troubled you even as a youngster, so an ageing batsman would have more problems. But I don't think Tendulkar can have similar thoughts about this NZ attack!" he said.
The Pakistani batsmen has a word of advice for those who believe Tendulkar's time has come. "Leave Tendulkar alone. He is the best judge to decide when to go." A match-winning knock in the second innings could end this debate.
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