Not Losing A Wicket In The First 10-12 Overs Was Very Important But That's Where New Zealand Were Successful: Sachin Tendulkar

Former Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar rued the lack of partnerships on the final day of the ICC World Test Championship final. Virat Kohli did not have the most desired start to the English sojourn as he was unsuccessful in capturing the ICC World Test Championship, with New Zealand coming on top by eight wickets. Sachin Tendulkar believes that Indian batsmen and Rishabh Pant, in particular, did not have to play shots and instead had to hang in there in the second innings.

Even though Rishabh Pant top-scored in the second innings by scoring 41 from 88 balls, the southpaw’s innings was scratchy for the most part. Pant’s innings contained four boundaries and appeared to take the game away from New Zealand before his shot selection triggered his downfall. He stepped out against Trent Boult, trying to smash a six over mid-on; however, he got an edge as Henry Nicholls took an outstanding catch.

The Kiwis bundled out India for 170 and chased 139 with eight wickets to spare. Sachin Tendulkar stated he already mentioned that the first ten overs were going to be crucial and that India should have gone for the shots after realizing the game was safe. With that, New Zealand might have had to defend it, causing a change in the mindset.

“I’d mentioned that the first 10 overs on the last day would be critical. If we can last till drinks, then we had the firepower to accelerate. How Rishabh came and played some shots, and the rest too when they realised the game is a bit safer now. New Zealand couldn’t chase, they’d have to defend, that’s a change in mindset. But for that we needed a partnership upfront for that,” Tendulkar said in his Youtube channel.

If we’d had a partnership there, we could have been putting pressure on them: Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar further conceded that New Zealand kept taking wickets consistently, especially in the first hour, which India did not hope for. The 48-year old underlined that Rishabh Pant had to hang in there instead of playing his shots to give the bowlers a little more chance. Tendulkar feels that the pressure might have been on the Kiwis had India threaded some big partnerships.

“Not losing a wicket in the first 10-12 overs was very important but that’s where New Zealand were successful in getting Kohli and Pujara out. They got out in quick succession and Rahane too got out which kept the pressure on India. And the batters had to hang in there. Rishabh tried to play shots and change the momentum so that if some runs could be scored, we could have given them a chance to bat, our bowlers a little more overs. But India lost wickets and the game was decided in the first 10-15 overs. If we’d had a partnership there, we could have been putting pressure on them,” he added.

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