Aug

31

Sachin Tendulkar confident of handling Murali & Mendis

By Neetu Sharma - Monday, August 31st, 2009   |   357 views   |  

Indian batsmen struggled to counter Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan on their last visit to Sri Lanka, but Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that his teammates have a plan to tackle the deadly spin duo during the triangular one-day series next month.

”Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan or Chaminda Vaas are all good bowlers and we as a team respect them. At the same time we have a plan for each one of them,” Tendulkar said.

”On the last trip batsmen like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir handled Mendis and Murali really well. I think we can build on that. These youngsters bring a fresh approach and mindset which then rubs off on others which helps the team produce good results,” he added.

With Rahul Dravid making a return to the ODI squad after a long hiatus, Tendulkar asserted that the former skipper’s vast experience will prove to be useful for the team.

”It should be help the team. He brings in a lot of experience on the table and also a lot of skill. I think his will be good value addition to the team,” the ‘master blaster’ told espnstar.com’.

Indian teams have traditionally proved to be poor fielding units and are not exactly the best when it comes to running between the wickets.

However, Tendulkar feels that the current lot is a much fitter bunch than their predecessors and can give the Kiwis – known for their dedication to fitness – a run for their money.

”We are an extremely good fielding unit and we turned around games with our fielding. It is a misconception to assume that New Zealand and Sri Lanka have an edge over us,” the 36-year-old right-hander said.

”We run well between the wickets, our run out conversion is good, our catching ability is amongst the best, our bowlers are much more disciplined as they don’t bowl wides and no balls. I think we are three evenly matched teams,” he added.

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