You will be surprised to guess the legend who said following statement about The Greatest Batsman in the world SACHIN TENDULKAR.
“I played 122 Tests alongside Sachin, I never threatened his place as a batsman but he threatened mine as a bowler. He was a natural with leg spin,”. This was said by none other than India’s highest wicket-taker with 619 Test wickets and 337 ODI scalps, Mr. Anil Kumble.
Yes, you read it right, many people still don’t know that Sachin Tendulkar wanted to be a fast bowler before the start of his career and he also attended the MRF Pace Academy (when he was 14 year old) which was run by the Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee. The little master failed to impress Lillee with his bowling but batted superbly. In hindsight we thank Lillee that Sachin was rejected as a fast bowler !
In 1990s, Tendulkar was used as a genuine bowling option many times in ODIs and Tests. He never let his team down. There were few times he would chip in with much needed breakthroughs. Though he went on to take couple of five wicket hauls, it is the manner in which he defended a mere 3 runs against the South Africans in the semi-finals of the Hero Cup in 1993 that has done on to become a reference point over the years. It proves that great cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar will go on to excel, whatever the obstacles, irrespective of the tasks they are asked to carry out.
Sachin has done incredibly well while bowling in One Day Internationals. He was an unorthodox bowler, the extravagant swing he got put many leg-spinners to shame at the time. The ball would often pitch on the leg-stump and return sharply to the batsmen. Tendulkar was less effective on wickets away from home. His medium pacers were cunning at best, but not enough to be a world beating one. Even with off-spin, Tendulkar effected sharp turn off the rough. There have been very few players in modern day cricket who have matched the bandwidth of the Little Master’s mastery in pulling off a variety of skills in the game’s spectrum with equanimity.
In One Day Internationals, Sachin took 154 wickets from his 463 matches,he has two five-wicket hauls and his best was 5 for 32 against Australia in Kochi, 1998 , while in Test Cricket he picked 46 wickets in 200 Tests
Sachin Tendulkar has been the most complete batsman of his time, the most prolific run-maker of all time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon the game has ever known. He was such a great batsman that people would easily overlook the crucial roles he had played with the ball for India
Reason for your Question :
Sachin Tendulkar was primarily a batsman and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. While he did bowl in some matches, he was not a regular bowler, and his focus was always on his batting.
There could be several reasons why Tendulkar did not take his bowling seriously. One possible reason is that he may have felt that his bowling was not as good as his batting, and therefore, he did not want to focus on it. Another reason could be that he did not want to risk injury by bowling too much.
Additionally, Tendulkar was known for his exceptional batting skills, and he may have felt that focusing on his bowling would distract him from his primary goal of scoring runs for the team. Moreover, he played in an era when India had several other top-class bowlers, such as Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, and Zaheer Khan, who could shoulder the bowling responsibilities.
Overall, it is difficult to say precisely why Tendulkar did not take his bowling seriously. As he never publicly stated his reasons for not doing so. However, it is worth noting that his primary focus was always on his batting. He spent most of his time and energy honing his batting skills.
