Sachin Tendulkar needed more than ever now: Rahul Dravid

The criticism against Sachin Tendulkar might be mounting rapidly after a string of poor performances but his former India teammate Rahul Dravid feels the senior batsman is needed "more than ever now".

Tendulkar has been a major disappointment in the ongoing four-Test series against England which is tied at 1-1 after the visitors humiliated the hosts by 10 wickets in the second Test in Mumbai.

"India need him now more than ever. At 1-1 in a tight series, it's going to be very important for senior players to stand up and who better than Sachin to do that," Dravid was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.

Tendulkar's poor form has put question marks over his place in the side and former players such as Sunil Gavaskar have urged him to discuss his plans with selectors but Dravid feels the 39-year-old is still very much needed by the side.

"I thought he was a little scratchy and looked a little under-prepared against New Zealand. Here, I know it seems strange to say after he's had three failures, but he's actually looking quite good.

"He's played a couple of straight drives, he's played a couple of shots that when I was playing with him, you knew he was playing well if he was playing those shots," he said.

"He'll be disappointed with the shot he played to get out in Ahmedabad on a relatively flatter wicket, and then to see other people score runs," Dravid said.

"Here, he was a bit unlucky: the first ball that really spun on the first morning was the one that got him. Until then there weren't too many balls spinning. And then he played for the spin in the second innings and the ball straightened on a track on which every ball was spinning," Dravid added.

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