Sachin explains why Kohli's boys have better chance to win abroad than teams in past

The current Indian team has a “great balance”, said legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai at a panel discussion after the launch of journalist Rajdeep Sardesai’s book ‘Democracy’s XI – The Great Indian Cricket Story’ here on Monday evening.

“All the spinners and seamers can bat. Hardik Pandya will change the balance when we start travelling,” said the 200-Test veteran batsman, with the opening maestro Sunil Gavaskar seated to his left nodding in approval.
Tendulkar said that during his hey days in the mid-1990s, India started coming close to winning overseas “but were not winning”. “I felt that occasionally we were missing that guy who could come and give some rest to our main bowlers, Anil (Kumble) had to bowl one end throughout, bowling 25-30 overs a day and that was too much for a bowler,” the 44-year-old said.

The current Indian team has risen the ranks of Test and ODIs under Virat Kohli, who has won the admiration of Tendulkar. “Kohli has not changed. I noticed the spark in him, the aggression in him that not many people were fond of. Today, that has become the strength of the Indian team. Kohli has not changed much, the people around him have changed, their attitude has changed,” Tendulkar said. “It is extremely crucial for a player to express himself as long as they did not cross the line. There were players like VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid who were very serious, focussing every ball and had their routine. But some players needed that freedom that brings the best out of them,” Tendulkar added.

He recalled how Zaheer Khan would be a deadly bowler when he was angry at the batsmen. “I used to be standing at mid-on and notice that Zaheer was just releasing the ball, not hitting the deck hard. After a couple of cover drives and straight drives, I would needle him and ask ‘the ball is not going, what is the problem’. He would get angry at the batsmen and was most dangerous when he was angry.” While saying that “Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif in their youth were the best fielders we had”, Tendulkar added that the fitness of the Indian players changed because of IPL. “IPL has given the players exposure and the knowledge by rubbing shoulders with the international players for nearly two months. It has given them exposure to various trainers,” Tendulkar said.
 
‘Kapil, the revolutionary of Indian cricket’ 

Gavaskar, 68, was at his witty best with anecdotes from his playing days and maintained that the 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev “will always be a revolutionary” in Indian cricket. “He is from my generation and my generation has to be the best,” he joked before seriously adding, “He was the first from a small town to change the match and win the match with both bat and ball. He made small towners believe that cricket is not only a big towners’ game. Some cricketers before Kapil came from small towns but they never had an impact. Kapil was the first non-metro player to make an impact,” Gavaskar said.

The first to 10,000 Test runs, Gavaskar, and the first and only player with 100 international hundreds, Tendulkar, had the greatest mutual admiration when they picked each other to bat for their lives. Asked to pick a batsman who would bat for his life, Tendulkar without any thought, said: “Is that a question to ask? I grew up watching him (pointing to Gavaskar) and wanted to be like him.”

And, Gavaskar said: “I am not saying because he is sitting here. Having started to watch cricket from the 1950s, Sachin is the closest to batting perfection. With his balance and strokeplay on all types of conditions, I don’t think anybody has come closer to perfection. Sachin is the nearest thing when it comes to batting perfection. When my life is in danger and I want someone to score a hundred, Sachin will be the one,” Gavaskar said.