Tendulkar, surprisingly enough favors England over Australia in the Ashes an names Eoin Morgan as the key man. This is enough reason for me to revisit my own impression of the Ashes - I think Australia will win with reasonable ease, though I don't see either side winning more than 2 out of the 5 Tests. If the wickets are sporting (i.e. they favor bowlers at least in some way), then this might change.
As for the bowler who has troubled him most in Tests. I'm going to stick my neck out here and suggest that he's going to name Hansie Cronje. Note that I write this on Friday evening, before the interview is published. He has said before that he hates facing part time bowlers more than anything else, and Cronje has dismissed him 5 times in Tests.
The man himself says, as I suggested he might, that it was Hansie Cronje who troubled him most. In comments and chats, Abdul Razzaq, Pedro Collins, Glenn McGrath and Dion Nash came up. A few years ago, there was a theory doing the rounds that Tendulkar was bothered by orthodox left-arm spinners, especially Raymond Price of Zimbabwe. Yet, we are presented with Hansie Cronje.
This choice is far from innocent on Tendulkar's part. This is not to say that it is a sly choice. It is true that Cronje had as much success against Tendulkar as Donald did. But then, by that count, Muttiah Muralitharan has dismissed Tendulkar more times than any other bowler - 8 in 19 Tests. Tendulkar also average 48.9 in these Tests and took 5 Test hundreds off Murali. Against Warne and McGrath, Tendulkar has played 2 major series - a 0-3 defeat in Australia in 1999-2000, and a 2-1 win in India in 2000-01. In 12 innings, he reached at least 50 6 times in those series. The mammoth innings eluded him - 126 at Chennai and 116 at Melbourne being his three figure innings. By contrast, Brian Lara played 47 innings against McGrath and reached at least 50 13 times. One of those, was his best ever Test innings in my view - 213 at Sabina Park.
As for the bowler who has troubled him most in Tests. I'm going to stick my neck out here and suggest that he's going to name Hansie Cronje. Note that I write this on Friday evening, before the interview is published. He has said before that he hates facing part time bowlers more than anything else, and Cronje has dismissed him 5 times in Tests.
The man himself says, as I suggested he might, that it was Hansie Cronje who troubled him most. In comments and chats, Abdul Razzaq, Pedro Collins, Glenn McGrath and Dion Nash came up. A few years ago, there was a theory doing the rounds that Tendulkar was bothered by orthodox left-arm spinners, especially Raymond Price of Zimbabwe. Yet, we are presented with Hansie Cronje.
This choice is far from innocent on Tendulkar's part. This is not to say that it is a sly choice. It is true that Cronje had as much success against Tendulkar as Donald did. But then, by that count, Muttiah Muralitharan has dismissed Tendulkar more times than any other bowler - 8 in 19 Tests. Tendulkar also average 48.9 in these Tests and took 5 Test hundreds off Murali. Against Warne and McGrath, Tendulkar has played 2 major series - a 0-3 defeat in Australia in 1999-2000, and a 2-1 win in India in 2000-01. In 12 innings, he reached at least 50 6 times in those series. The mammoth innings eluded him - 126 at Chennai and 116 at Melbourne being his three figure innings. By contrast, Brian Lara played 47 innings against McGrath and reached at least 50 13 times. One of those, was his best ever Test innings in my view - 213 at Sabina Park.
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