Sachin Tendulkar reveals he did not enjoy facing Hansie Cronje during his playing career
What’s the story?
Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has said that the bowler he did not enjoy facing during his illustrious career was former South African captain the late Hansie Cronje. Speaking at a promotional event on Tuesday, the 44-yar-old said when he was up against the Protean bowling attack at the time, he would tell the non-striker to face him and he would take on the likes of Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald.
“From 1989 when I started playing there would be at least 25 world class bowlers. But someone I didn’t enjoy batting against was Hansie Cronje. For some reason I got out and over a period of time I realised that I am better off being at the non-striker’s end.
“I would talk to whoever was (the other batsman) on pitch I would say if (Allan) Donald or (Shaun) Pollock is bowling from other end I will manage but take more strike of Hansie,” he said.
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During the course of his career, Cronje bowled a Tendulkar on several occasions both in India and South Africa. He wasn’t the quickest of bowlers to face, but the word that could aptly describe his form of bowling could be ‘nagging’, for that was his style.
Cronje would often tease the batsman on a length outside the off-stump, alluring them to go for the cut or the cover drive and that made him a difficult proposition to face.
The heart of the matter
Tendulkar further revealed the 1999 Tour to Australia, where the side lost 3-0 in a comprehensive fashion to a side, at the peak of its powers. He praised that outfit, led by World Cup-winning skipper Steve Waugh, stating that teams around the world wished to emulate their style of play and termed them as a ‘world class team’.
Extra Cover: The 1999-series against Australia was the toughest of my career, says Sachin Tendulkar
What’s next?
At the moment, Tendulkar is busy promoting the movie, ‘Sachin: A Billion Dreams”, set to be released in India on the 26th of May. The movie is eagerly awaited and expectedly so, with fans wanting to know what went behind the making of Tendulkar the cricketer.
Author’s take
It is interesting how great cricketers sometimes have difficulty in negotiating the bowlers, who are not expected to cause the maximum damage. When you look down the list of bowlers who have dismissed Tendulkar the most number of times, you will see some really exceptional cricketers, but not Cronje. Yet the batting maestro found the Protean to be the trickiest customer to face.