Tendulkar holds the key: Saeed Anwar

Sachin Tendulkar will be the difference between winning and losing for Pakistan when they tour India later this month, says former Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar.

The world-record holder for the highest One-Day International score says even a half-fit Tendulkar would pose a threat to the prospects of the Pakistani team, which will play three Tests and five one-dayers against their arch-rivals.

"I know every Pakistan supporter will be hoping that Sachin doesn't play while the Indians must be praying for his speedy recovery," Anwar said on Tuesday.

"I mean that's natural. A half-fit Sachin is also a threat to the opponents. He is such a big influence that his presence in the dressing room motivates his team and keeps the opponents under pressure.

And if Sachin is not fit for the series, then I think Pakistan will certainly be favourites," the former left-hand batsman said.

Tendulkar is nursing an elbow injury but is expected to be fit in time for the tour, beginning on February 25.

Anwar also had some other valuable tips for the Pakistanis, who he said must target India's top-order batting line-up as their middle-order is not capable of staging a recovery in case of a collapse.

"India no doubt has the greatest batting line-up. But the fact of the matter is that India is not capable of staging a recovery like the Australian team in case of a top order collapse," Anwar said.

"I think the Pakistanis will certainly fancy their chances in India because they have shown the world that with or without their frontline bowlers, they have the potential to throw any top order batting on the canvas.

"The only drawback [in the just-concluded series against Australia] was that they [Pakistan bowlers] were denied a run-through because of the depth in their [Aussie] batting and awareness of conditions," he said.

The 37-year-old's world record of 194 had come against India in Chennai in 1997 while his Test best of 188 not out was also made against the same opponents at Kolkata in 1999.

Anwar, who scored 4,052 runs at 45.52 in 55 Tests and 8,824 at 39.21 in 247 one-dayers in a career that spanned 15 years, said Pakistan does not require "rocket science" to trigger an Indian collapse.

"Virender Sehwag is devastating but if you stop the flow of runs from his bat, he will start providing you chances.

"Likewise, Rahul Dravid is technically the best batsman in the world today and he likes to bat for days and days, but again if you attack him, he has a tendency of committing mistakes.

"It's all there in the computers," said the 1997 Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

But to effect a batting collapse, Anwar said Pakistan must take fit bowlers to India and play with discipline and unity.

"Forget about the names; pick fit bowlers who can bowl 20 overs in a trot," he said.

"In the 1990s, when we were winning everything, we played with six batsmen and four bowlers. But now when we are losing more and winning less, we are playing with five batsmen and as many bowlers. And that's because we don't have four bowlers who can bowl 90 overs in a day."

Anwar said taking fit bowlers to India is important.

"I don't like to take names but the simple formula is to pick the bowlers who are fit and can bowl 20 overs on a trot. After all, Pakistan made Australia struggle without Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.

"It's the discipline and unity that counts. I remember in 1996 or 1997, we won back-to-back matches against world champions Sri Lanka without a coach. The bottom line is that the team should rally around the captain and the team management should understand the pulse of every player," Anwar said.

He also refused to buy the theory that the Australian tour was a disaster for Inzamam-ul Haq's men.

"Inzamam had a very inexperienced team at his disposal. But the difference between the two teams, at the end of the day, was the top order," said Anwar.

"While the Australian top order provided runs and the required starts, Pakistan's top order didn't and eventually all the pressure came on the middle-order that fired but not consistently.

"Pakistan will face a similar situation in India. As I see things, it will be Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble regularly teasing and testing the Pakistanis and Inzamam-ul Haq and Yousuf Youhana being often engaged in rescue acts."

Asked if he saw the same flair as in himself in Pakistan's latest sensation Salman Butt, Anwar replied: "I have seen him briefly and from whatever I have seen, I am really impressed with his talent.

"It will, however, be too early to say if he resembles me. But I believe he should be allowed to keep his feet on the ground and he be allowed to establish himself at the international level before comparison are made.

"I remember Basit Ali; immediately after his emergence on the international level, he was branded another Javed Miandad. Basit couldn't sustain the pressure of that tag and faded out much early."

Anwar Rules!!!

|-T

he has changed his tune!
he is right about the 6/4.

Oh yeah, how can u forget Basit Ali :-D
Anwar bhai does make some good points about India's batting line-up and the depth of Pakistan's bowling line-up

firstly good to see anwars point of view secondly i dont think tendulkar is the same player he was and thirdly that picture at the top aint the best ive seen of anwar. lol

i think the best of Sachin is yet to come!
I think Anwar should be summoned to work with the openers, I firmly believe that only pigeonholing selection that almost all of u at PP champion stopped him from being one of the very best opening batsmen ever.
if you have too many batsmen or bowlers they become complacent and leave it to each other. thats why u should not fudge selection.

true legend - when he talks ppl listen!!!

come to think of it anwars the last decent opener we had since then we have tried many idiots for e.g hafeez,taufeeq umar, yasir hameed, imran farhat, imran nazir the list is endless!!!!!!

Look at Taufeeq's record in tests please.

adi said manu idiots - LOL!!!!!!!!! RIGHT IDEA BUT WRONG THREAD

agree with gary - taufeeq played exceptionally against sa, batted well against oz - that 88 he made against warne and co was brilliant

it dont mater taufeeqs been given so many chances to prove himself look in the 2nd vb series final plays a riducalas needless hook and sets up pakistan for an early colapse

oh right so the fact he is a proven top class opener doesnt matter!

adi - guy came in cold, played one meaningless 20/20 game - he is the best opener in PAKISTAN

exactly, record speaks for itself. and if u mention his odi well I think Anwar disproves that theory!
WIY, SKYPE?

He needs to be picked. If for nothing else, we'll have a reliable slip fielder, and we'll need to take every chance that comes to us

true that but i think the guys been given to many chances you may think hes a good player that dont mata thats your mistake if you think that then

my mistake?
errrr so u want Inzi out then? he also is proven!

How can you say he hasnt taken his chances. He averages 42 in Tests. Cant say hes failed there. In ODIs, he gets one game, doesnt do too well and is dropped for 10 months. Comes back for one game without match practice and will probably be kicked out again. Hardly fair

how the heck is taufeeq proven his average in onedayers is less then 30 wer better of with rana opening a batting and when i say that i mean it

More than Tendulkar I think Dravid will be the Key. In the rest of the points I agree with him.

how many odis has he played? very few! and tests is mark of a top player yaar!
razzler, dravid and co come and go, Sachin has always been there as India's best!

is it me against you all or something lol i think rana is better opener then taufeeq you lot are not sure if he is. im out now cyaz p.s i would bet any one of you taufeeq will not open the batting but then agian im muslim so i dont bet cyaz

gambling is haram lol
Taufiq is by far the best opener in Pak, only one proven bar Anwar!!!!

Amit to me I will always be more uncomfortable with Dravid at the crease than Tendulkar. No doubt that Tendulkar is superb when batting but Dravid has the ability to win big games for India and thats what counts a lot in my books.

i think they will go with hameed/butt in tests against india - i wouldnt

butt and hameed should open hameed is actually proven not some1 who cant average over 30 and once again im going so bye

Dravi'd technique is far more sound. With Tendulkar, he has a few weaknesses ie short ball to the body, balls that cut in, and balls wide of offstump (although he seems to have cut down on his cover drives).

I would go with Taufeeq and Butt at the top. Nothing more nothing less. Keep them on until the end of West Indies series there and then evaluate.

taufeeq averages 42 in tests, world class!

no right hand left hand openers is right nyway i need to tell you the time me and taufeeq where on a train in pakistan i remember taufeeq poped his head out of the window and i stuck my bum out lol as we went by the platform people thought we were twins

I would love to have Dravid in the Pakistan team.

esp for an opener

we can just bring in Venu or Rayudu!!!
Laxman is as good a no3 batsman anyway!
or sehwag 5, Jadhav opening!!
adi, ur pick ur best openers!

toffee deserves to play, even though he had a bad series last time around against india. seemed to be very unsure of himself and edged everything he could find. also had an annoying habit of completely missing the line and being bowled earlier on in his career. hope he's worked things out, and now that others have been given their runs and failed to establish themselves, he has to come back into the squad. openers slot would be between him and yasir, with salman butt given the other spot. yasir has a decent test record as well ...

my two best openers in the world right now would be andrew strauss and micael clarke

You're mad

One only opens in Tests and the other only in ODIs. Although Strauss would definetely be one of the 2 bests openers ATM

well Laxman did make that 281 at no3. and the gem of an innings in Mumbai there.
he responds well when given more responsibility.
yasir has 2 tons both vs Bangladesh.
if ur proven, one bad series doesnt make u a bad player!!!!!
adi, u ever heard of TEST CRICKET?

omg i cant believe you guys thin taufeeq is a decent player my team to play against india would be
butt
hameed
malik
inzy
yoyo
younis
razzaaq
akmal
rana
shoaib/sami/shabbir
kaneria

i think ur the one in cloud cuckoo land!
i would rather have a solid guy in taufeeq and a more attacking one in butt together both who are proven to score runs at the intl level and ur combo.

"In the 1990s, when we were winning everything, we played with six batsmen and four bowlers. But now when we are losing more and winning less, we are playing with five batsmen and as many bowlers. And that's because we don't have four bowlers who can bowl 90 overs in a day."

Anwar said taking fit bowlers to India is important.

"I don't like to take names but the simple formula is to pick the bowlers who are fit and can bowl 20 overs on a trot. After all, Pakistan made Australia struggle without Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.



Syed Anwar hit the nail on the head.
We need to play 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers.

4 bowlers

Shabir
Danish
Razzaq
***** or Rana or Irshad for last spot


6 batsmen

Inzi
Yoyo
Malik
Hameed
Asim Kamal
Akmal

kashif what bout sami?

Akmal as a batsman!

Sorry about Akmal I meant Younis Khan.



About Sami- the guy has been a complete failure in Tests.

His test average is 47 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Compare to Shabir and Shoaib who are both around 25.

Even Razzaq is better then Sami with an average of 37.

sami has to put up this time or shut up

inshallah sami will do it this time ! he knows how important it is to deliver their.....

taufeeq is pakistans best test opener at the moment. dont know about razzaq as a bowler in india. considering the nature of the pitches there, do you guys think razzaq could trouble the batsmen

if we take razzaq then we will only have three specialist bowlers..

if we don't, then we will have 4 specialists

Taufeeq
Salman Butt
Yasir Hameed
Inzamam
Yousuf Youhana
Younis Khan
Akmal
Naved-ul-Hasan
Mohammed Sami
Akhtar
Danish Kaneria

I like your team Saeeds. I think though that Inzi or Yoyo (one of them) shoudl come 1down... also, if Shoaib malik can bowl i'd put him in instead of Yasir Hameed. Malik should be in contention for place in a team as when he sees Indian bowlers he's a totally different cricketer ;) Same can be said of Yassir however. Malik/yk/yassir/taufeeq should be fighting for spots in the team i believe (salman too but most people feel that this guy really has more to offer so he's a bit of a "permanant" place in the team).

good bowling line up, only and only if shoaib will decide to be fit enough to bowl atleast 20 overs /day.

O and as for the top article, Anwar rules What he said about Sachin is true guys. reason is that this guy motivates his team a lot when he's out thre with the bat or on the field. If sachin does play pakistan should look to target him along wit sehwag to make sure he stays in his crap form he is in right now =) and mentioning sehwag... *shiver* I hope pak can bowl properly to him this time!

BUMP for Pathan007

well truely so!!
even if he cant score his mighty hundreds the presence of tendulkar brings the extra confidence in the indian line-up...without him the indian team does not look of much substance...
although dravid is a very good player....
i would give tendulkar example with Akram...
even if Akram did not perform in every match towards the end of his career but his presence was key to instil the awe in the oposition..the same is the matter with 10dulkar!