There was a time when a batsman of the calibre of Sachin Tendulkar used to play a waiting game against some of the  reputed bowlers in the world.  If these bowlers  had the fear of Sachin's  destuctive abilities in them, the batsman too had the same fear for them,. He used to play play out overs of bowlers like Wasim Akram and Waqar Youinis without taking undue risks, because once he knew that he plays these bowlers carefully and preserves his wicket, then he can attack the other bowlers and get a big score for himself and India. That was the same case with most reputed batsman with regard to their approach to the top bowlers of their time.  Their fears were mutual.

In the last 20 years apart from Wasim Akram and Waqar Youinis there were other dangerous bowlers with whom batsman never used to take risks.  They were McGrath, Warne, Walsh, Allan Donald, Pollock, Hadlee. Indians had Kapil & Kumble.  It would be difficult to remember their names, because each team had atleast 2 dangerous bowlers.  Also bowlers who used to back them up, though were not exceptional as these bowlers, were  still good enough, whom batsman never took lightly.  Therefore the attack from the batsman was invariably on fourth or fifth bowlers in one dayers.  Infact some fourth or fifth bowlers picked up lot of wickets in one dayers, as batsman took liberties only with them and used to get out playing a casual stroke.

These days you hardly find a  great bowler for whim batsman have fear.  Such bowlers if any are so rare that they can be counted on our finger tips.  Apart from Muralithran & Brett Lee, there is hardly any bowler for whom batsman have fear for.  These days bowlers just have pace and hardly any abilities.  If you remove the express pace of 140 to 150 for which they are primarily known for , they look no better than any back up bowlers.  At best they can be considered better than part time bowlers.

Therefore it is not surprising to see that these days, even lower order batsman after getting into their stride, simply walk out their crease and loft or flick a bowler just over the fielder, because the bowling is that easy. These days most of the wickets are obtained by batsman thanks to poor strokes played by them or through brilliant fielders.

Regards

Satish

 


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