Two balls, two pitches: Sachin trick to turn lambs into tigers
OUT OF THE BOX Master Blaster talks about smart strategies like back-to-back home and away series, and leveraging IPL, ODIs to promote less popular sports
NEW DELHI: Domestic cricket matches should be played on two pitches with two kinds of balls so that players are better prepared for overseas tours when conditions are vastly different from those at home, former captain Sachin Tendulkar said on Saturday.
The batting great also suggested back-to-back homeand-away series. This will help in a fair assessment of teams as their composition wouldn’t change vastly, he said, adding the currently touring England side was quite different from the one India played and lost to in their away series in 2014.
Offering a bunch of radical new ideas to improve not just cricket but other sports as well, Tendulkar said breaks during IPL and One-Day matches could be used to hold athletics events to provide a popular platform to less sought-after sports.
The 43-year-old legend’s suggestions carry weight not just because of his stature in the sporting world but also due to his place on the cricket advisory panel of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Tendulkar suggested that the first innings of a match be played on a green top and the second one on a turning track to help cricketers deal with playing conditions alien to India. He cited the faster pitches of Australia and England, and the white Kookaburra ball, which swings more when new, to make his point.
“A good game should see an even contest between bat and ball. Let the opening batsmen negotiate the fast bowlers on green tops. When you go abroad, you will face similar conditions and the preparation will be better,” Tendulkar said at the second and final day of the 14th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
Tendulkar’s ideas would be food for thought for the BCCI, which is currently embroiled in a legal battle over reforming the way the game in run in the country. The BCCI’s technical committee is headed by Tendulkar’s former compatriot and ex-captain Sourav Ganguly.
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