Ind vs Eng Test series: I don’t need to respond to other people’s opinion, says Tendulkar

For a young teen who travelled on his first overseas tour along with Kailash Gattani’s Star Cricket Club to England as a 14-year-old, what does it mean for you personally that the England versus India trophy has been jointly named after you?

Well, it means a lot. There were many firsts which happened in England. The first flight of my life was to England in 1988, like you put it correctly, with Star Cricket Club; then the first international hundred was in 1990. The first time any non-Yorkshirite (cricketer) was picked to play for the county was in 1992. A lot of things happened in England for me. Also my personal life, which is marrying Anjali. Anjali’s mother (Annabel) is from England, so a lot of important things happened in my life at that time. And. When it comes to England, I think it’s played a big role in shaping me up as a cricketer. That exposure at the right time in my career was so important and that allowed me to think about the game differently and gave me a lot of exposure to the conditions I was not familiar with. Playing in Headingley (for Yorkshire) was a different experience altogether and I loved it. I loved more because of the kind of support that I got, the way people received me, even off the field wherever I went and the county team also, the committee members. Everyone was supportive and overall the environment was very friendly and I enjoyed being there.

There seems to be a conscious effort to tone down the celebrations in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad?

It should not be compared to anything… The tragedy that happened was sheart-melting, you know… really… I fall short of words to express what I feel. It wasn’t something that one would want to ever hear about. We were to have a big opening for this, the launch of the trophy, and we didn’t want to because we were not in the frame of mind to do it. We just didn’t want to celebrate and that’s why we did not.

What about the voices of dissent or objections raised to the move of renaming the trophy? 

It’s their call. But if I have to, if I have to put my side across, then when the trophy was retired, which was way earlier and the decision was taken by ECB and BCCI. And then later, after a couple of months, when I was informed that the trophy is going to be named after me and Anderson, it came as a pleasant surprise to me. I was also told that this is a completely new trophy. It has got nothing to do with the earlier Pataudi Trophy. To me, it was a recognition of our contribution to our respective nations in Test cricket, so it did feel nice. The first phone call after knowing this I made was to the Pataudi family. I spoke to them and also spoke about keeping the Pataudi legacy alive, and I said that I have always respected my seniors and I’ll do everything possible to keep the legacy alive. Just give me some time and I’ll come back to you. After that, I called Mr. Jay Shah (ICC chair), BCCI and ECB and we shared some ideas and few phone calls were made after that. We unanimously agreed and very graciously, Mr Jay Shah, BCCI and EEC, agreed to introduce this Pataudi Medal of Excellence and that medal be given to the winning captain. It’s a good match because he was known for his leadership. And we felt that this will keep the legacy alive because they had already retired the trophy and we were able to keep the legacy alive, which is a positive outcome along with the naming of this trophy, after myself and Anderson. The decision was taken by ECB and BCCI, so if I was able to put this idea in Mr Jay Shah’s head and ECB and BCCI, and they then graciously agreed to this is a positive outcome, is what I see.

Did you get any chance to speak with Mr Gavaskar or Mr Kapil Dev since they have voiced their opinions on the issue?

It’s only their opinion, without knowing the facts. I don’t want to get into that because I don’t think any one of them knew what I was doing. So I would leave it to them to say whatever they have to say. I don’t need to respond to that.

For a team in transition in India, what will be your advice to the batters who will be touring England for the first or second time?

When it comes to playing in England, I think the most important thing is to understand the length of the ball. Of course, people keep talking about the line also, but it is equally important to pick the length of the ball. Why I am saying that is because when you are playing in England, your front-foot defence becomes the most critical factor. When you are playing with the vertical bat, your hands should be close to your body. Your hands should not go away from the body. With the horizontal bat, you can afford to let your hands go away from the body, but not with the vertical bat. Most of the dismissals take place off the front foot, unless you have an obvious weakness against short-pitched (ball). But most of the dismissals take place on the front-foot, so if your hands are close to your body, then you are in more control most of the time. Leaving the ball, if your hands are close to your body, you pick the line also much better, but when the hands start moving away from the body, your head also goes out of position. All these elements force you to play the ball, and if your hands are closer to your body, then one is much better off staying side-on as we call it. So staying side-on and having a positive intent backed by a good front-foot defence is what I would expect because having played in Indian conditions, the tendency is to hit the ball first and if it’s good then I’ll defend. But in England you have to respect the conditions as well. If the ball is not in the areas where you can attack, then you need to give it respect and defend. Defending doesn’t mean that you are being overcautious and defensive, you are respecting the conditions and respecting the length. I think that length becomes critical, so keeping hands close to the body is going to be a key factor and that will allow the batters to leave the ball as well.

How do you see Shubman Gill coping with the pressure of starting his captaincy stint with a five-Test series in England and the importance of him not forgetting his primary role as a batter?

Captaincy role, he has to first of all understand that again, there will be opinions. Some positive, some negative. Some will think that he is being attacking, some will think that he is being defensive. He need not worry about those opinions. We need to worry about what has been discussed in the dressing room as a team and as a leader. Is he executing those plans in the interest of the team or not? Whatever has been planned in the dressing room, are they going in that direction or not. Opinions will continue to be there and there will be only opinions, so he need not worry about that. I think he should just focus on what he has to do for the team and those opinions change over a period of time. People will have opinions, and that is normal. There have been opinions in the past also, but the game goes on. You have to continue giving your best focus on what you need to do, and that is what my advice to him would be.

As far as batting at number 4, yes, there will be various situations that he’ll encounter. He is a talented batsman and it’s always a joy to watch players succeed, so I hope that he is also one of them years down the line that we say that “what a great contribution to Indian cricket!” I am looking forward to that, him being a successful captain and a successful player for India.

With the uncertainty surrounding Bumrah’s availability, what will be your advice to a relatively inexperienced pace bowling attack?

See, Bumrah is the best person to figure out what is happening with his body and along with him, the team management, the physio and the trainer, everyone will get together and they’ll figure it out. Coach Gautam (Gambhir) is also there, Laxman (VVS, Head of Cricket, BCCI Centre of Excellence) is there for a while, so all these guys have have been around long enough to understand what is good for the team and they will take those calls in the interest of the team, whatever it is.

As far as the other bowlers are concerned, if Bumrah is not playing, it’s going to boil down to bowling together as a unit. They cannot be bowling as individuals. So how do you plan to bowl against England as a bowling unit, in partnerships? That is what is going to matter. If individuals just turn up and do their own bit, that’s not going to work. That’s why I say that the dressing room planning, the captain telling them certain things to do, the coach advising them, “OK, these are the areas you should focus on”. All those elements will have to come together and then the team has to play together as a unit, as one single solid unit. If they are able to do that and execute their plans in partnership, then the bowling unit will become formidable. One will have to just play disciplined cricket. You can’t disperse and go in your own direction because that is what invariably happens when the team is not doing well. Individuals tend to disperse and they go in their own direction, unintentionally. But you need someone to bring them back together. In tough moments, these kind of things happen to all the best of the teams as well. This team is not an exception to that. It could happen to anyone, but it is each other’s responsibility to stick together and in tough times and play as a team. Because collectively it will be a formidable force.

Hopefully we will see you handing the trophy to Shubman at the end of the series…

Hopefully, yes, and bring the medal back where it belongs!