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Where Should Sachin Tendulkar Bat In ODI's?

masterblaster

International Captain
I think he is the best opening ODI batsman in World Cricket. 31 of his 33 centuries have been scored in the openers spot. Some of the times he destroyed the Australians in Sharjah, and all other bowlers was when he was opening.

He has said himself that he wants to open, as this allows himself to dictate terms, rather than terms having to dictate the way he plays. What do you all think?

Destructive Opener, or Mild Middle Order Player??

Personally the idea of a Sehwag-Sachin Opening ODI Duo, like we saw when England toured India was simply brilliant!
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
I think the problem that the Indian selectors believe is, is that if Sehwag & Tendulkar open & get out early that means neither of them will be around later on in the innings so they would prefer to disperse them among the top 5.

I don't know if they want to try & gamble opening with them in the World Cup or not because they still need some experience in the middle where Yuvraj, Kaif & Mongia have been struggling as of late.
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
Team > Player...

I would love to see Sachin and Virender opening, the damage that they could cause to any bowling attack is incredible.

With Ganguly currently batting like an idiot, and Dravid not really suited to opening and keeping, I would go with Sehwag and Tendulkar.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Well I'm having this discussion with Bazz at the moment. I think that Sachin and Sehwag should open with Ganguly at 3. Ganguly hasn't seemed amazingly at ease with opening for a while, even in England he looked stratchy. If Ganguly came in at 3, he would leave the seamers to Sehwag and Sachin who love the ball coming onto the bat, and he would be more likely to face spin which he is quite good at playing, I remember how he combatted Giles in India in the ODIs, smashing him straight. Ganguly seems to be getting out before he's set at the moment, and batting at 3 would let him play himself in when the ball is moving less. Also Mongia at 3 is not working, so why not stop wasting Tendulkar at 4 and let your top 3 ODI batsmen bat in the top 3 with Dravid at 4 or 5?
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Well, Kaif's been as low as 8 in the recent series, so that's a bit bizarre!

How about having Virender and AA opening, Srinath at 3 and Ganguly at 7?
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
marc71178 said:
Well, Kaif's been as low as 8 in the recent series, so that's a bit bizarre!

How about having Virender and AA opening, Srinath at 3 and Ganguly at 7?
Or Ganguly at 11 with Khan opening...

even Khan could probably out-do Ganguly when he's in this sort of form...;)
 

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Tendulkar
Sehwag
Ganguly
Dravid
Yuvraj
Kaif
Bangar/Agarkar
Khan
Harb
Srinath
Nehra

looks the best bet to me. We have specialist batsmen upto 6 and 5 bowlers. If one or two of the main bowlers are off form, the part timers like Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly and Yuvraj can pitch in. The fielding liabilities are kept to a minimum ie Ganguly, Srinath and Nehra. I would even look at Parthiv Patel as the specialist keeper taking Nehra out of the equation. We should be taking Karthik along.

...and yes, you guys are right, Sachin should open.
 

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Gotchya said:
Seeing his poor form, and Ganguly's failures a little shuffling is inevitable.
The point is, as captain, Ganguly will play. Now, he isn't the best at rotating the strike and keeping the scoreboard ticking while he gets his eye in. If he comes too far down the order, he might waste overs getting set, so I felt if he isn't opening, he should be sent atleast on-drop so that he has the time to undo any initial damage(scoring rate-wise) that he might do. This way, if the openers come good, he won't be under pressure when he gets in and can bat more freely and if one or both openers fail, he will come in while field restrictions are in place and can take advantage of that. This is all theory and conjecture. Performance out there on the field is a diiferent story altogether. I just thought this made a little sense.
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
Yes that seems sensible to me. Maybe that is the thinking of the team/management. Also if Sachin and Sehwag open together, two early wickets means the two best batsman. I know you shouldn't look at it that way, but the opposition might think "if we get the openers early they're not half as daunting", whereas this way it is like "well even after we get Sehwag and Ganguly they still have Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif..."
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Bazzaroodoo said:
Yes that seems sensible to me. Maybe that is the thinking of the team/management. Also if Sachin and Sehwag open together, two early wickets means the two best batsman. I know you shouldn't look at it that way, but the opposition might think "if we get the openers early they're not half as daunting", whereas this way it is like "well even after we get Sehwag and Ganguly they still have Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif..."
Yeah well Sachin doesn't seem too happy at 4. He's just not settled really after opening in ODIs for most of his career. He's used to setting the pace. After 200 odd matches, now is not the time to make him change his game. What about Sehwag as the worlds most destructive number 3?
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
age_master said:
he should open, no question
Considering that Sachin and Ganguly have opened together for so long and both have far superior averages to Sehwag...I would disagree.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Rik said:
Considering that Sachin and Ganguly have opened together for so long and both have far superior averages to Sehwag...I would disagree.
Maybe Age was talking about Sachin, considering he's the subject of the thread?
 

Rich2001

International Captain
Well iam sure the reason he isn't opening anymore is that he requested it himself a while back.. don't hold me to it but iam sure that's what I heard, however India have a tendensly to lose ealier wickets anyway so he basically opens half the time.
 

masterblaster

International Captain
No Rich,
Sachin loves opening and said that he wants to open, but he is a team man, as the team management said you must come in at no.4.

Position wise Tendulkar's game is suited to opening, and Sachin-Sehwag combination would be the best for India. Im wont be surprised after the World Cup finishes that Sachin comes back to opening, as this ploy of Sachin coming in at no.4 was only designed to work for the world cup where bouncy, seaming tracks are present.
 

Rich2001

International Captain
masterblaster said:
No Rich,
Sachin loves opening and said that he wants to open, but he is a team man, as the team management said you must come in at no.4.

Position wise Tendulkar's game is suited to opening, and Sachin-Sehwag combination would be the best for India. Im wont be surprised after the World Cup finishes that Sachin comes back to opening, as this ploy of Sachin coming in at no.4 was only designed to work for the world cup where bouncy, seaming tracks are present.
Oh right, my mistake then... I am not sure what I heard then, it was difently something about where he was batting though.
 

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