Why Sachin is a sissy girl at pace.
1. ME:-
Another example, when akhtar was asked whos the best of his generation, he always said lara( this is before ICC 2004). And again lots of desparate indians asked how can hew say lara when hes never faced him to which he replied "NETS". These ppl are superstars, who, i'm sure can arrange net sessions whenever they want, wherever they want, be i9t lara flying him to trini or akhtar flying him to pak.
2. MAJID:-( my Pakistani frined)
Interstingly, I do remember an interview of Inzamam on ARY a couple of years or so back, where he was praising Shane Bond and went on to say that he rated Bond as the modern day Waqar Younis.. (putting him ahead of both Shoaib and Lee).
Not that I was previously aware of Inzamam having had a net session with Bond, but given that Inzy hasn't faced Bond in either ODI or test cricket... the fact is, for Inzamam to go out of his way and praise Bond so highly - you would think that Inzamam wouldn't be making his judgement purely on watching Bond on tv..at some point he is likely to have faced him , so I see no reason to doubt Nadeem's claims, Inzy might well have faced Bond in a net session (maybe on the sidelines of a World XI-Asia XI match, a charity match or Inzy might have gone on a private visit to NZ ? who's to say..)
Inzamam is one of the best batsmen around when playing against pure pace -- sure he has his weaknesses, but they are more often against the seaming/swinging ball early in his innings... rarely will you see Inzamam being beaten for PACE.
If anything, where Inzamam stands out is how much time he has to play against quick bowling.. making his strokes look effortless, both off front and back foot.
The most important thing for a batsman, when facing genuine pace is to be able to control your nerves and remain calm (mentally relaxed).. and in my mind, the two batsmen who stand out in the last 20 or so years in this respect, are Viv Richards and Inzamam.
In comparision, you will see players like Tendulkar who for all their 'mathematical' greatness and perfection in technique, when up against bowling of genuine hostility.. time and again we've seen, Tendulkar is visibly under stress, is tense at the crease (as can be seen in his body language), plays nervous looking strokes and basically, loses his composure... at times he might even show fake aggression - as if to prove that he isn't really scared of pace... but unfortunately, some emotions can't be hidden easily.
Going back to what Imran Khan repeatedly says about Inzamam being the best player of pace, he is hinting at the courage and fearlessness of Inzamam, his abilty to remain calm and relaxed, even when facing a bowler of genuine pace! its quite rare to find batsmen with these qualities.
3. MAJID:-( my pakistani freind)
Saj, I agree.. if anything, I would highlight Sachin Tendulkar here - because he's one of the few players I can think of in modern day cricket (Kallis and Dravid being the other ones) who have the techniques to have maybe being able to survive against bowlers of the calibre of Marshall, Holding , Roberts , Thommo, Lillee etc.. but despite this, I think Tendulkar would have been made to look ordinary against those bowlers, for no other reason but his 'womanly' (excuse me for being sexist) temperament.
Marshall, Holding, Roberts, .. these were bowlers who were not just frighteningly quick but they were hostile, aggressive, intimidating and would have batsmen in fear of their lives, even before they walked out to the middle.. (in fact, if I remember correct.. wasn't there one test where four Indian batsmen 'retired hurt' , purely because they didn't want to go out and face Holding ? ).
To face bowlers like that, more so than technique or ability.. you would need the courage of a lion and be able to look at your opponent in the eye, and frankly without being disrespectful to Tendulkar, mentally he would be torn apart by those guys - they would bully and intimidate him into submission. It would only take one bouncer by Marshall on Tendulkar's helmet, followed up with a verbal.. ie,: "bomberkaaat! listen man, get out or i'm gonna send you off on a stretcher" and somehow I can imagine Tendulkar might well end up doing something similar to what he did against Shoaib Akhtar recently (walked off when he clearly wasn't out, before the umpire even made a decision! thats what FEAR can do.).
