Sachin Tendulkar throws up a couple of extremely valid points in his interview to The Hindu a couple of days ago. And, as he often does with the bat, surprises us with a third.

He thought Australia went on the defensive very quickly and points out how a deep point appeared almost inevitably after an aggressive shot. There was a hint of that during the Ashes series as well and it raises an interesting issue about teams like Australia that win, if not all, at least most of the time. Just as teams that don’t win often enough find themselves lost when victory is sighted, teams that win all the time can find themselves searching for ideas when a relatively new situation presents itself. It has long been my view that Australia are awesome when they are front runners, a great and often elusive quality in itself, but get a bit confused when they fall behind.

That will happen more often now that Adam Gilchrist, one of the greatest rescuers of cricket matches in history, joins Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in retirement. Plan B will need to be pressed into service more often and opposing teams will be looking to see if that is an indicator of weakness.

You could look at the deep point being posted as a good, strategic move but it is not Australian to do so. It reminds me of what Ian Chappell, a fine and astute observer, said some years ago. “I’d love to see these guys field against Kanhai and Sobers when not only are the wickets difficult to come by but the bowlers are getting a bit of a pasting”, he said.

... contd.