‘Sachin was sublime’

Those sublime shots are still fresh in my memory. A short man with a heavy bat, how was he playing such shots? That was a doubt not just in my mind.

I think the entire Australian team and the public were in awe of that knock. For me it was one of the best knocks by Sachin. I rate it as one of all-time best knocks by an Indian batsman. At WACA, you cannot come behind the ball and play. You have to play side-on.

Sachin was only 18 but he adjusted to the flying balls without any difficulty. The pitch was the most difficult to bat on and the bowler look more dangerous than anywhere in the world. But Sachin was able to play the most difficult shots with consummate ease.

He was leaving everyone spellbound with shots through cover on the back foot. You can cut on the back foot but not hit through the covers. But Sachin managed to do that without any effort. We put on about 80 runs with Sachin hammering a century.

I hope he does that again. Batting in Perth is a different ball game altogether. You have to be very discreet in your shot-selection. You can leave the ball that pitches around the good length area because you can be sure that the ball will fly over the stumps. The scoring balls are the short-pitched deliveries and over-pitches ones. You have to show some guts to stand up to the fast bowlers.

(Sachin Tendulkar and Kiran More put on 81 runs for the 8th wicket in the first innings of a Test at the WACA during 1991-92 series. Sachin, only 18, had hit 114 off 161 ball with More scoring 43. India lost the Test by 300 runs. More spoke to Vijay Tagore)