Indian Batsmen give nightmares to bowlers.
There was a time when every decent bowler in international cricket used to give nightmares to Indian batsmen. Even the likes of Fannie De Villiers of South Africa, Dion Nash and Simon Doull of New Zealand who by no means were big names in international cricket proved more than handy for Indian batsmen on many occasions. Indian batsmen used to be troubled by even the likes of Hansie Cronje of South Africa who was just a part time bowler or at best a back up bowler.
The bowlers those days had only one task and that was to get Sachin Tendulkar out and the result of the match was a foregone inclusion and the best indication of that is the fact that during that monumental innings of 136 by Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan at Chennai in 1999, only 6 runs were scored prior to Sachin's arrival at the crease and 4 runs scored after Sachin's dismissal which translates to a mere 10 runs by the other members of the team when he was not at the crease. Today it is a different situation altogether. Indian batsmen are a nightmare to even the best of bowlers in world cricket. Sachin Tendulkar is just another batsmen in a famous batting line up than can decimate any attack in the world. A look at famed Indian batting line up would give an indication as to how our devastating our batting line up is.
Virender Sehwag:- Sewhag is the biggest match winner in the world. Only Adam Gilchrist can be considered a bigger match winner than Sehwag. Once Ricky Ponting remarked after getting out to Shoaib Akthar that he lost sight of Akhtar's delivery because of the pace at which it was delivered. It is a great compliment for Akthar as the remark came from none other than Ricky Ponting who is known all the world for his counter attacking batting especially against the fastest bowlers in the world. When to comes to Virender Sehwag he just toys with Shoaib Akthars bowling. The faster Akthar balls to Sehwag, it disappears to the boundary ten times faster. Such is Sehwag's mastery of bowlers all over the world that he decimates the confidence of opposition bowlers, the confidence levels of the captain and team members in the opposition.
Gautam Gambhir:- If ever there is a silent assassin it has to be Gautam Gambhir. Any girl would be impressed by his cute looks, innocence and clam presence. If looks are deceptive than Gambhir is the best example for he hardly looks intimidating to any bowlers and yet scores his runs at a rollicking pace. While Sehwag clouts the bowlers with his feet rooted to the crease, Gambhir looks more dignified using his feet and smashing the bowlers. From a bowlers point of view the result is same, though the mode of execution from Gambhir looks less intimidating to the bowler.
Rahul Dravid:- He does not believe in plundering runs like Sehwag and Gambhir. Dravid looks calm and assured at the crease and he wears down any bowling attack in the world. Rahul Dravid has this knack of grinding down bowling attacks to submission much in the same vein as Sunil Gavaskar. Bowlers lose their mental balance bowling to Rahul Dravid unable to breach his concentration. In fact Dravid plays in much the same vein as cricket was played about 20 years back where the focus was on wearing down bowlers than on hitting them out of the attack.
Sachin Tendulkar:- Bowlers gave a dual problem when it comes to bowling to the master blaster. The word "Master Blaster" suits Sachin Tendulkar very well, because he can be the Master when he wants by sheet anchoring the innings or grinding the opposition like Rahul Dravid, or can blast the bowling attack in the same way he was accustomed to doing in the early days of his career or like the way Sehwag does it now. Another problem with bowlers is they have to plan during the course of Sachin's innings whether to breach is defence which is as good as anybody Sunil Gavaskar or contain his stroke play which is impossible. Sachin Tendulkar can give nightmares to bowlers while grafting for runs and drive them to despair with amazing stroke play which is unparalleled in the history of the game. While team managements have plan for batsmen prior to commencement of game as to how to get a batsman out, it is impossible for any team management to plan for Sachin, because they never know in advance as to the role Sachin is going to play in the match. For example, the plan for Sehwag would be to keep of of the strike, so that he loses his rhythm as most attacking batsmen depend on rhythm and when they lose it they play a loose stroke and get out, while the plan for Dravid would be to play the waiting game. In the case of Sachin team managements cannot have a advance play as they do not know in advance whether Sachin is going to attack like Sehwag or anchor the innings like Dravid.
V V S Laxman:- Laxman plays shots which many international cricketers can merely dream of. He picks deliveries from well outside off stump and flicks it to the leg side boundary for four. Bowlers do not know whether they should feel annoyed for leaking runs or enjoy those lovely strokes which are pleasing to the eye. Before the bowler could come of the state of mind torn between admiration and helplessness Laxman would have got to a 50 or 100 and the best thing about Laxman is he gets his runs quite fast.
Yuvraj Singh:- The fact that he had to wait for a long time and still not a regular member of the team is an indication of the fact how strong the Indian batting line up is. Yuvraj Singh is one batsman who can drive bowlers to despair with effortless ease. The beauty of Yuvraj Singhs batting is that his mere pushes which look to fetch a single or couple to the fielders, pick up pace and race to the boundary. If Yuvraj is not at his classical best, then there is a bigger cause of concern for bowlers, as he gets into a zone of clouting huge sixes.
M S Dhoni:- He does not look as elegant like the other batsmen who come above him in the order but M S Dhoni can hit any international bowler out of the attack for huge sixes and if that is not good enough to give bowlers nightmares he can be a pusher and nudger as when the team requires him to do so. Though an attacking batsman it is almost impossible to dismiss Dhoni whether he is playing the role of grafting runs or plundering bowlers all over the park.
The current Indian batting line up is one of the best ever batting line up in the world because the batmen are able to strike a wonderful balance in maintaining their high career averages with high strike rates.
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