It takes a lot to ruffle Sachin Tendulkar. He moves through life with a steady serenity, carrying the hopes of several hundred million people as you or I carry the shopping. But today he blew his top, remonstrating with Nasser Hussain for his negative tactics. And he was right. Among the qualities that make Hussain England's best captain for decades are decisiveness and adaptability. But in the face of Tendulkar, and the absence of Gough and Caddick, these qualities have tipped over into failings. Hussain has done what half India does, and treated Tendulkar like a god.

It was bad enough in the first two Tests when Hussain gave Tendulkar an 8-1 offside field and told his bowlers to aim wide of off stump, like Jacques Kallis under Hansie Cronje. All it meant was that Tendulkar made the sort of scores he always makes against England - 88 and 103 - they just took him a bit longer.

It got worse today, when Hussain had Ashley Giles bowling left-arm over into the rough outside Tendulkar's leg stump, the lowest form of bowling known to man. England could not have complained if most of these deliveries had been called wides. Meanwhile at the other end, Andrew Flintoff - who had bowled the spell of his life at the top order, and now has a ten-for in his sights - was reduced to going round the wicket at Tendulkar with two short legs. The strategy was shameless: bore him rigid at one end, break his bones at the other.

At the time, I had just finished going through a pile of e-mails about the Michael Vaughan incident. A couple mentioned Bodyline, that enduring example of English unfair play. The relevance of Douglas Jardine's ruthless bombardment to Vaughan's careless handball was not immediately clear. But here we were, back live, and an England captain was posting two short legs, and getting his fastest bowler to ping the ball in at the ribs, purely in an attempt to thwart an exceptional player. Jardine was born in India, and so was Nasser Hussain. It must be something in the water.

Today's tactics weren't half as heinous as Bodyline, which was delivered from both ends, directed at a whole team and sustained for most of a series. Nor did they have the relentless nastiness that Clive Lloyd occasionally allowed in his great West Indian team of the 1980s.

The objection is not moral - Tendulkar is well able to look after himself, and the pitches have not been minefields - so much as tactical. Hussain is treating Tendulkar as if his average was 99, not 58. He is a great player, for sure, but not that great. When Hussain captained England against West Indies last year, they had to cope with Brian Lara, who has made even more runs against them than Tendulkar has. They tried to get him out, at least until he was well set. And they usually succeeded: Craig White even bowled him for a duck. Richard Dawson, the only Englishman on this tour to have dismissed Tendulkar for less than 80, might have done something similar today - if Nasser had given him a single over. Nasser felt there was nothing in the pitch for the orthodox spinner, but Sarandeep Singh had done all right on it.

In sport you have to show confidence even if you don't feel it. Hussain's approach to Tendulkar has smacked more of deference. One senior Indian broadcaster said at Bangalore today that he had never seen any team so in awe of an Indian batsman. Awe is not Nasser's style. Tomorrow morning, he should find himself again, and allow his bowlers to find off stump.

Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden.com.

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