Bangalore: Sachin Tendulkar has, over the years, proved to be a nightmare for Australian bowlers. Now, a batsman from Down Under, Phillip Hughes, wants to resume living a dream with the maestro’s help.
After three days of playing mentor to fellow Team India batsmen, at the conditioning camp here which concluded on Sunday afternoon, senior-most pro Sachin will now be offering tips to the 20-year-old Hughes.
The left-handed Hughes had an excellent debut Test series, in South Africa this year, but got dumped after one failure (Lord’s Test) in the recent Ashes. Now, the opener wants Sachin’s guidance.
“I’ll chew his ear off... I’ve got questions about a lot of things that I want to ask... I like getting around and talking to the guys who have been around for a long time...
“I’ve been watching Sachin since I was a youngster... He always seems to be scoring runs and not just on one or two parks, he gets them everywhere... His consistency is so great and I still love watching him,” is what Hughes has said.
There have been instances when touring England spinners, for example, have got tips from former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi. The Sachin-Hughes interaction, though, will be precedent-setting.
Hughes’s move only confirms just how highly the Australians regard Sachin. The late Sir Don Bradman, it may be recalled, had paid the ultimate compliment by saying Sachin’s batting came the closest to his own.
It’s not surprising that the multiple record-holder himself didn’t wish to say much.
“I don’t know Hughes personally, but I got approached through somebody... I’ll be meeting the opener in Mumbai tomorrow (Monday), that’s it,” Sachin, in his 20th year of international cricket, told The Telegraph at the Lalit Ashok.
The venue of the Sachin-Hughes one-on-one hadn’t been decided till Sunday evening.
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