Cricket

India-Australia bigger than India-Pakistan: Sachin Tendulkar

Champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday agreed with the likes of Adam Gilchrist and rated the current rivalry between India and Australia as bigger than that of the traditional one between India and Pakistan because of the “competitiveness” exhibited by the two teams over the last eight years.

“I think India v Australia has become bigger largely because of the competitiveness. All the series between us from 2001 onwards have been very keenly fought and have been very close ones,” said Tendulkar at a function to unveil him as the global brand ambassador of Royal Scottish Bank Group.

The ace batsman pointed out that India have been the only team in the world to have run world champions Australia close of late in the latter’s backyard.

“We have gone to Australia and beaten them. We have been able to surprise the Australian team and that’s what the Australian public likes: competition and high standards of play. They love to see challenges and competitiveness. The fan following for the India-Australia series has definitely increased as compared to say 15 years ago. The coming series would also be very closely fought. Talking on behalf of the Indian team I can say we will play hard but fair and I feel the Australians also will do so,” said Tendulkar.

Tendulkar did not lay too much emphasis on the fact that the Australian team, led by Ricky Ponting, was lacking in experience, saying the team looked to be a good blend of experienced players and new comers with lots of first class experience.

“They (Australian squad) have a lot of experienced players and some of them have been playing for a long time now. They are the number one team in the world and we are prepared to face all challenges.

“It’s going to be an extremely well-fought series which would be played in the right spirit and the cricket would be played very hard,” said the scorer of 81 Test and ODI hundreds.

About the Bhajji-Symonds spat, he said, “Such things happen but don’t happen every week. They have happened in the past (before the Sydney Test),” Tendulkar said and indicated the incidents grabbed more attention nowadays because of media coverage and the presence of ICC match referees.

Asked about his impending landmark (of highest Test runs), Tendulkar said he never played with an eye on creating records but if and when they come they were welcome additions to his well-adorned cricket cap.

“I don’t think much about records. I want to enjoy my game. If players focus on their performance, records automatically fall into place. I focus on playing the game well. If it (new landmark) comes in doing so I will be happy,” said the ace batsman who is only 76 runs short of overtaking Lara’s world bench mark.

He also dismissed queries about his retirement plans by shooting back, “I think you are at the wrong press conference.”

Tags: Australia, India, pakistan, sacin tendulkar, test series