Three things we want Sachin Tendulkar to do in his last Test– Steve Waugh

“I play one every year. I’m going to play an innings before I retire when I’m going to hook. I’ll guarantee that. It will be in a Test match. You’ll know when I’m about to retire by that.” – Steve Waugh 


Genius is as genius does. In the brilliant essay ‘The Black Bradman,’ CLR James, in 1963, wrote about George Headley – the man whose average of one century every four innings was exceeded only by Don Bradman. James wrote about an incident where Headley was batting against Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett, the first bowler to get 200 Test wickets. Headley was getting the ones and twos with ease. Grimmett was a superb bowler – with great control of length — but Headley’s footwork was just too good. 

Then Grimmett decided he had had enough; he decided he wants to plug the gap, so he moved a few fielders around. The fine leg is moved square and square leg is moved up to block the gap. Headley noticed the change before he took guard again. Then his eyes light up as Grimmett pitched one down the leg-side (with fine leg up it was runs for the taking), he glanced it neatly but Oldfield, the wicket-keeper, quickly moved way over on the leg-side and took the catch. The Australians trapped him. 

James then wrote about Headley’s reaction: ‘I cut that out.’ ‘What do you mean, you cut it out.’ ‘I just made up my mind never to be caught that way again.’ ‘So you do not glance?’ ‘Sure I glance, but I take care to find out first if any of these traps are being laid.’ ‘Always?’ ‘Always.’ Truly, genius is as genius does. Steve Waugh was a strokeplayer when he started out, but then he decided that their was too much risk associated with the the hook and the pull shot – so he simply cut them out. He chose to rather take a hit on the body than play the shot. But before he retired, he promised himself that he would play the shots again. He would be himself again.

Now, over time Sachin Tendulkar too has simply cut out some strokes. We knew he was capable of that – the 241 against Australia in the 2003-04 series was a great example of that. Going into the fourth and final Test, he had scores of 0, 1, 37, 0, 44 to his name – his average was a paltry 16.4. He has been edging the ball outside the off-stump to the keeper/slips and it seemed like the bowler’s had sorted him out. So he decided to simply not play on the off-side. Just like that — he too cut it out. He only played shots when the ball was pitched on his pads. 

He made the bowler’s bowl to him – it took him 10 hours but his innings of 241 was a classic in its own right. It showed that there were no limits to his skill. But age and injuries have their own way of limiting a player. The Tendulkar of today doesn’t play the hook or the venomous pull, nor does he use his feet against the spinner with any regularity. Rather, he waits and then he accumulates – a prettier version of Shivnarine Chanderpaul as someone said recently. But when he steps out to bat in his last Test — against the West Indies at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai — the knock should be a throwback to the 90s, when Tendulkar was the heart of the Indian batting – when he would take on the bowlers and at times, would simply win the match for India. And that is why in his last innings – he needs to abandon the struggle and play with a freedom that defined his early years. Tendulkar against Shane Warne was a battle that defined them both, and Tendulkar almost always came out on top. 

The reason – he used his feet to get to the pitch of the ball to devastating effect. “I’ll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don’t think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar,” Warne had later said. Surely, if he could do it to Warne, he can do it to Shane Shillingford too – and Mumbai would love that. A quick shuffle down the wicket and bam! (If you need to really jog your memory – see this.) Then, there was the pull shot. Tino Best and Sehldon Cottrell are quick, but erratic, and the Sachin of old would have sent them to the stands with ease. We all remember what happened to Andrew Caddick when he laid down the gauntlet. It was the 2003 World Cup and Andrew Caddick, just before the match said that he worked out a way to get Sachin out cheaply. 

Caddick made the mistake of provoking Sachin and spoke about him being just ‘another batsman.’ He also said that perhaps the short ball might do the trick against the Indian batting line-up. The talk saw Sachin single out Caddick for special treatment – including a pull shot for a spectacular six over mid-wicket and out of the stadium in Durban. For many, it remains the shot of the tournament – it was violent, it was graceful, it was pure Sachin. Will Wankhede see him do the same? And finally – the hook shot. Mahendra Singh Dhoni plays the shot as do Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But few have seen Tendulkar play a proper hook shot in recent times. 

Why buckle down and duck out of the way, when you can send the ball soaring into the stands? (Check THIS out to see what Tendulkar can really do with the hook shot.) A well executed hook shot is perhaps the most exciting shot in cricket. There is risk, there is timing, and there is the perfect swivel. Tendulkar has all that – and he should lay it all out. The hook, the pull and the quick use of feet – three things we would love to see Tendulkar do in his final Test; three things for the old times; three things for the road.