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InDepth headlines national business sports cricket regional entertainment technology world travel autos health | in-depth coverage > Sachin Tendulkar > I've all bats with which I scored centuries: Sachin Tendulkar 23.00 IST 13th Mar 2008 By Agencies 
Sachin Tendulkar has more bats than any sport goods shop as he has kept all the bats with which he scored 81 Test and one-day centuries so far.The master batsman, who has scored 39 hundreds in Tests and 42 in one-day internationals, however, said he did not know how many bats he had collected so far. "I have all the bats with which I have scored hundreds (in Tests and one-dayers). I don't know how many bats I have but I have kept all of them," he said. Tendulkar, who scored three centuries, two in Tests and one in the tri-series finals, on the recent tour of Australia, singled out two shots against pacer Mitchell Johnson as his 'defining moments' of the tour Down Under. "Probably, the two shots that I played over the wicketkeeper's head off Mitchell Johnson during the first final in Sydney," he said. "Similarly, off Brett Lee in the Perth Test. Also, those straight drives off Lee in the Melbourne one-day which we won," he said. The 34-year-old cricketer, with a career spanning over 18 years, said his obsession with the game had only increased with time. "Yes, it has. I am enjoying everything and it is fantastic." Tendulkar said foundation for the Perth Test win was laid in the second Test in Sydney which was the 'turning point' of the series. "That partnership (with Rahul Dravid at Perth) was extremely important. That sent a strong message to the Australian dressing room. But it was the Sydney Test which changed things and caused the turnaround. We just carried that momentum into the next Test at Perth and in Adelaide. It was from Sydney where things started working differently," he said. Tendulkar's advice to teammates for the Test at the WACA, touted to have the fastest pitch in the world, was to spend time in the middle. "The only thing I told my team-mates was that if you spend some time at the crease in Perth, it is the toughest place for bowlers... There are always opportunities to put the ball away and that's the way I would approach it... is what I told them." Tendulkar agreed that a 'couple of more' warm-up games in Australia before the start of the Test series would have helped the Indian team. "Ideally, one would have liked to have a bit more practice. The one warm-up game we played was washed out. That was tough but you don't make excuses," he said. Tendulkar added that Australia were getting more defensive during his team's tour that ended this month. Australia, the top-ranked Test and one-day team, clinched the Tests 2-1 but the tourists won the Tri-series finals 2-0. India also pulled off an unlikely Test win in the Australian stronghold Perth, leaving some critics wondering whether their domination of world cricket was coming to an end. "Australian teams have always been competitive. Probably in 1991, they did not go on the defensive if an Indian batsman played a couple of shots," Tendulkar said. "In the recent series, however, they immediately posted a deep point. This did not happen in 1999 and 2003," he said. "This was the first time they set a scattered field. This has been the big change." The 34-year-old, who holds a series of batting records, has been on all four Australia tours since 1991 and stamped his authority this time with centuries in both Tests and one-dayers. "If one looks back at the series, we challenged them more than they did us," he said, adding he felt the retirements of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne would allow teams to attack Australia more. He advised his young team mates not to get carried away by the euphoria of their Tri-Series win. "That is good and in a way bad as well," he said. "We need to look back and find out how many youngsters have made it to the Indian team as teenagers and have gone on to play for a long time. "Ishant Sharma had a terrific tour, his future looks very good. But it is equally important, not only for him but everyone else, not to get carried away." in-depth coverage > Sachin Tendulkar > |
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