New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar Nothing is far from the current crop of batsmen but the Indian great believes the change in rules has led to a jump in scores in one-day cricket.
Hosting West Indies, India will become the first team to play 1000 One Day Internationals in the first match of the series in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Tendulkar has featured in 463 of them and his tally of 18,426 runs remains an unmatched benchmark even a decade later, when he played his last ODI.
“I won’t take any credit from the batsmen, but the terms and conditions have changed,” the 48-year-old told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday.
“The strike rate of batsmen is much higher than in the 1990s, and the economy rate of bowlers is also higher… Today the average runs scored in 50 overs are far higher than in the 1990s.
“Two new balls, field restrictions and a change in match timing – these elements have changed the game over the years.”
According to Tendulkar, bowling with the two new balls has effectively ended reverse swing in one-day cricket, who holds a record 49 ODI hundreds.
“I haven’t seen much reverse swing. Maybe it reverses a bit after the 46th over because the ball is actually 23 overs old.
“With a new ball, it will start to reverse from the 24th over and you will bowl 26 more overs with that.”
The former India captain said that the current batsmen have also been saved from the trouble of facing the faded ball.
“When the color of the ball fades, you don’t see it moving in the air. That’s when one off-spinner’s second or leg-spinner’s googly becomes more effective.
“Also when the faded ball is reversing, you don’t pick the shiny side and the muddy side. You take a fraction longer and the lost fraction just makes the batsman’s life more difficult.”
The rule requiring five players inside the ring has encouraged batsmen to go to the top and the advent of day-night matches has also worked in their favour, Tendulkar said.
He said, ‘ODIs will start at nine in the morning and at nine in the morning there was more life on the surface.
“It made a big difference. You had to bat differently, you had to plan differently.”
Tendulkar left international cricket in 2013 with 100 centuries to his name, including the first ODI double century by a male cricketer.
He feels bowlers have become more defensive since his retirement and would not have changed his batting if he had to play today.
“I would have continued to bat like that,” Tendulkar said.
“In the 1999 World Cup match against Pakistan, Wasim Akram was bowling the 47th over with slip. Would you see anything like that in today’s cricket? No chance.”
Hosting West Indies, India will become the first team to play 1000 One Day Internationals in the first match of the series in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Tendulkar has featured in 463 of them and his tally of 18,426 runs remains an unmatched benchmark even a decade later, when he played his last ODI.
“I won’t take any credit from the batsmen, but the terms and conditions have changed,” the 48-year-old told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday.
“The strike rate of batsmen is much higher than in the 1990s, and the economy rate of bowlers is also higher… Today the average runs scored in 50 overs are far higher than in the 1990s.
“Two new balls, field restrictions and a change in match timing – these elements have changed the game over the years.”
According to Tendulkar, bowling with the two new balls has effectively ended reverse swing in one-day cricket, who holds a record 49 ODI hundreds.
“I haven’t seen much reverse swing. Maybe it reverses a bit after the 46th over because the ball is actually 23 overs old.
“With a new ball, it will start to reverse from the 24th over and you will bowl 26 more overs with that.”
The former India captain said that the current batsmen have also been saved from the trouble of facing the faded ball.
“When the color of the ball fades, you don’t see it moving in the air. That’s when one off-spinner’s second or leg-spinner’s googly becomes more effective.
“Also when the faded ball is reversing, you don’t pick the shiny side and the muddy side. You take a fraction longer and the lost fraction just makes the batsman’s life more difficult.”
The rule requiring five players inside the ring has encouraged batsmen to go to the top and the advent of day-night matches has also worked in their favour, Tendulkar said.
He said, ‘ODIs will start at nine in the morning and at nine in the morning there was more life on the surface.
“It made a big difference. You had to bat differently, you had to plan differently.”
Tendulkar left international cricket in 2013 with 100 centuries to his name, including the first ODI double century by a male cricketer.
He feels bowlers have become more defensive since his retirement and would not have changed his batting if he had to play today.
“I would have continued to bat like that,” Tendulkar said.
“In the 1999 World Cup match against Pakistan, Wasim Akram was bowling the 47th over with slip. Would you see anything like that in today’s cricket? No chance.”
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