IND vs SA: Allan Donald Hails Sachin Tendulkar As The Only Batter To Perform Well In South Africa

Former South African pacer Allan Donald whose name was enough to ring a bell of terror in the minds of batsmen during his playing days, hailed former Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar for being the only batter in the world to have done exceptionally well in South African conditions.

In a recent interview with PTI, Donald spoke about a variety of topics from India’s performance in the 1st Test loss against South Africa to what it takes to perform well as a bowler in the conditions on offer at the Rainbow Nation.

Among those topics was Sachin Tendulkar on how and why he was successful in those conditions where other Indian batters usually faltered and failed to perform well. Tendulkar stands as the most successful batsman from the sub-continent to have put up impressive performances against the Proteas on their home soil.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 1161 runs at an average of almost 47 in his 5 tours from 1996 to 2011. Very rarely has he not batted well there as he got out for a duck on just 2 occasions. His foot movement, head positioning, and discipline were what helped him score over 1000 runs in Tests and Allan Donald explained the method to Sachin’s madness.

Donald claimed that his shuffling footwork and ability to leave the ball is what helped Sachin Tendulkar to curb fierce bowlers like Donald himself, Shaun Pollock, and Makhaya Ntini, among others. Donald further claimed that Tendulkar did not back down from pressing his opponents, something that foreign batters fail to replicate in those conditions.

“Only person I know who played us well was Sachin Tendulkar, who triggered while batting in South Africa rather than stand on middle-stump. He pressed forward and left the ball amazingly well,” Donald said.

“It’s not an easy place to combat. We see that daily in South Africa, the ball does nip around more than it does in Australia or England. If your footwork isn’t 100 percent then you are in trouble,” Allan Donald added.

In context, the current Indian batting contingent on a tour to South Africa failed dramatically because of their inability to leave the ball and understand the surface. Wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer are prime examples of what Allan Donald mentioned above.

Batters Must Revisit Old Videos Of Sachin Tendulkar Batting In South Africa For Some Lessons

As the Indian team lost the 1st Boxing Day test against South Africa, another opportunity to win a Test series there went away with a flash. In the 2nd test at Newlands Cricket Ground, team India’s only option to save themselves from another embarrassment is by winning the 2nd test to tie the Freedom Trophy series.

Both bowling as well as the batting department need to step up. Especially the batting line-up other than Virat Kohli and KL Rahul must revisit videos of Sachin Tendulkar playing in South Africa in order to try and perform better. The 2nd Test at Newlands will start from January 3 onwards.