Bishan Singh Bedi: It's time Sachin Tendulkar scores runs

FILE PHOTO: Bishan Singh Bedi

Former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi has said batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has to get back into the habit of scoring big runs in order to get back people’s respect.

Bedi, who was the coach of the Indian cricket team when Tendulkar scored his first of the 100 international centuries, was always supportive of the batting legend during the 40-year-old’ s dry patch when people started questioning whether the ‘God of cricket’ should retire from all forms of the game.

While in Kolkata for a promotional event, Bedi said: “It’s high time that he (Tendulkar) should get back to runs to get people’s respect.”

Recalling his only 10-wicket haul in Perth, the legendary left arm spinner stated that claiming 10 wickets in a Test match can be compared to scoring centuries in each innings. “Even a player of Tendulkar’s calibre has not done it, so it’s an enormous achievement,” Bedi said.

The 66-year old also opened up on supposedly Team India’s greatest captain Sourav Ganguly and his contributions to Indian cricket.

“Like in present day, we are reading so much about Mahendra Singh Dhoni but the present day cricket was set up by Sourav Ganguly. He has enormous contribution to the Indian cricket. It has just been taken forward by Dhoni in a calm manner. Calmness is Dhoni’s greatest quality. Indian cricket always had ups and downs but now it seems reasonably stable,” he stated.

Speaking on the same lines as Ganguly, Bedi also revealed the greatness of the late Tiger Pataudi who taught the world so much about dedication, commitment and hard-work than cricket itself. “I honestly feel that Tiger Pataudi was the greatest thing to have happened to the Indian cricket. He brought the sense of Indianness to the dressing room. Winning as a habit was cultivated by Tiger Pataudi,” he commented.

“We have seen the result in Ajit Wadekar team winning three match series in 1971. With due respect to Wadekar, I am saying that the seeds were sown by Pataudi.”

Coming back to present day cricket and our current young Indian squad, Bedi said: “It’s a great time for Indian cricket. We have good players and spinners like Ashwin. He has everything in him to become the go-to man for the Indian cricket,” he concluded.