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How Tendulkar drove England to leg theory
Wisden CricInfo staff - December 23, 2001
He's arguably the best batsman since Bradman, and Sachin Tendulkar's genius is such that he could drive a man to leg theory. Nasser Hussain certainly felt the need for drastic measures, and it's easy to see why: Tendulkar has now scored 1282 Test runs against England at an average of over 80.
Only against Sri Lanka does he tuck in with such relish (averaging 80.29 as opposed to 80.12), and among batsmen who have played 10 innings or more against England, only Bradman (89.79) and the New Zealander Stewie Dempster (88.43) have a higher average than Tendulkar.
Here are some of the facts and figures behind Tendulkar's 12-year love affair with English bowling.
In 12 Tests, spread over almost 12 years, 27 Englishmen have bowled to Tendulkar. It's a list that could define the phrase motley crew: it includes some of England's premier seamers of modern times (Angus Fraser, Devon Malcolm, Phil DeFreitas and Dominic Cork); a pair of venerable offspinners (John Emburey and Eddie Hemmings); a couple of enigmas (Chris Lewis and Graeme Hick); a Peter (Martin); a couple of Pauls (Taylor and Jarvis); a one-cap wonder (Neil Williams); and a bunch of jokers (Graham Gooch, Graham Thorpe and Mike Atherton).
As interesting as those on the list are those who aren't: Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Robert Croft have never bowled to Tendulkar in a Test. Caddick hasn't bowled to him in a one-dayer either, although he should get the chance in January.
Lewis has got him out the most (four times): twice he bowled him at Lord's (for 10 in 1990, and for 31 in 1996 with a beauty that held its line); and twice he had him caught off mistimed pulls in 1996, for 122 at Edgbaston and 74 at Trent Bridge.
Matthew Hoggard is the only other bowler to dismiss him more than once – he had him caught behind at Mohali, and caught by Nasser Hussain at mid-on at Ahmedabad.
Hick has bowled the most balls to Tendulkar without taking a wicket (184).
Ronnie Irani has taken the most punishment, conceding 31 runs off 17 balls - a run rate of 182 per 100 balls, or 11 an over.
Among those who have dismissed him, Dominic Cork has the worst average (93).
And the man with the best average is ... Neil Williams. In his one Test appearance, at The Oval in 1990, he bowled 8 balls to Tendulkar, conceded 11 runs, but crucially got him out, caught at third slip by Allan Lamb. It was one of Williams's two Test wickets - the other was Mohammad Azharuddin.
The full list of English bowlers to dismiss Tendulkar in a Test is:
| Bowler |
Dismissals |
Runs |
Balls |
Average |
| Chris Lewis |
4 |
196 |
323 |
49 |
Matthew Hoggard |
2 |
80 |
121 |
40 |
| Neil Williams |
1 |
11 |
8 |
11 |
| Eddie Hemmings |
1 |
29 |
147 |
29 |
| Mark Ealham |
1 |
42 |
71 |
42 |
Phil Tufnell |
1 |
49 |
126 |
49 |
| Ian Salisbury |
1 |
55 |
82 |
55 |
| Angus Fraser |
1 |
63 |
119 |
63 |
| Ashley Giles |
1 |
65 |
216 |
65 |
Richard Dawson |
1 |
65 |
86 |
65 |
| Devon Malcolm |
1 |
80 |
114 |
80 |
Dominic Cork |
1 |
93 |
168 |
93 |
England have never dismissed Tendulkar in single figures. The closest they got was in his first innings – the match of Graham Gooch's 333 - when Lewis bowled him for 10. It is still the only time England have had him for less than 20.
Tendulkar has played 18 innings against England, scoring five centuries and five other fifties.
Richard Dawson and Ashley Giles each dismissed Tendulkar once at a cost of 65 runs in this series. But whereas Dawson bowled only 86 balls to him, Giles sent down 216. Now we know why Hussain didn't bowl Dawson at all at Bangalore.
Tendulkar tends to score a lot more quickly against English seamers. Runs against them have come at 3.63 per over, as against 2.54 per over against the spinners. But the seamers are more likely to get him out - between them they have dismissed him 11 times at a cost of 75.36 runs per time.
The spinners have dismissed him five times at a cost of 90.60, with a strike rate of 213. In other words, it takes 36 overs of English spin to dismiss Sachin.
Tendulkar has tended to be very harsh on inexperienced bowlers. He smacked Irani for 31 off 17 balls, Salisbury for 55 off 82, Williams for 11 off 8, a young, fresh-faced Atherton (then a regular legspinner for Lancashire) for 26 off 35, as well as the 65 off 86 off Dawson.
It has tended to be the wilier campaigners who have bottled him up. Eddie Hemmings went for only 29 off 147 balls (24.3 overs), John Emburey 26 off 78, Giles 65 off 216, and Angus Fraser 63 off 119 at a time, in 1990, when batting conditions could not have been more perfect.
Tendulkar's dismissals have tended to be either highly orthodox or fairly unorthodox. The two most common modes of dismissal have been catches in the cordon (four, though none to the keeper until James Foster caught him at Mohali), and catches between mid-on and midwicket (also four, three of them from skyed cross-bat shots).
Mis-hits have been as profitable a method as any for England - Tendulkar was caught and bowled Salisbury at Chennai in 1992-93 when a leg-side swipe went straight up in the air, although by then he had made 165. Interestingly, of the four times Tendulkar has been out in three figures, not one has been to a defensive shot, with three to skyed strokes on the leg side. The other was a chip, that catch to Hussain at Ahmedabad.
Tendulkar has never been lbw to an English seamer in a Test. The one time he was out lbw was in 1992-93, when the bowler was Phil Tufnell. It was Tendulkar's first innings in his home town of Mumbai too, and he was only 22 short of a century – we're talking about a brave umpire here.
In England Tendulkar scores his runs at 3.44 per over, in India at 2.89. This could be partly because of the difference in the pitches, with seamers doing most of the bowling, the ball coming on to the bat and captains setting relatively attacking fields.
Tendulkar's most profitable area is through the covers. He's made 220 runs there, as well 215 square on the off side, 219 through mid-wicket, and 208 square on the leg side. Unsurprisingly for a man of such class, his least profitable area is behind square on the off side: only 71 runs have been scored there.
Tendulkar's wagon-wheels are broadly similar in England and India, but there are a couple of notable differences. In India he has made only 12 runs to third man (out of 609 - less than 2%); in England, where the ball seams around a lot more, the figure is 9% (61 out of 673). Similarly, Tendulkar scores a lot more through mid-off in England, 10% (73 of 673) as opposed to only 3% in India (23 of 609).
Against English seamers in India, Tendulkar has scored 62% of his runs (178 of 286) on the leg side. In England, where he cannot be so sure of the ball holding its line for the whip or pull, the figure is only 42% (230 of 543).
Despite England dominating the last two matches and employing various containing tactics (leg theory; 8-1 fields), Tendulkar scored more quickly in this series than he did in India in 1992-93, when England were thrashed 3-0. Here he scored at a rate of 2.97 runs per over, as against 2.81 eight years ago. That had much to do with that 78 at Mumbai – it came off 213 balls, and a Wisden Cricket Monthly report said he batted "as if shackled by the expectation".
Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
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