24 April 2005	Sunday	14 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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NEW DELHI, April 23: The ageing Sachin Tendulkar will never be the flamboyant batsman he was, but he remains vital to India’s cricketing ambitions, West Indian great Vivian Richards said on Friday. Tendulkar, who turns 32 on Sunday, has been criticised by an unforgiving media and fans alike for not batting in the aggressive manner he did at the start of his career 16 years ago.

But Richards, arguably the most destructive batsman in history, defended Tendulkar’s changed approach.

“When you are 21, you are the best, with a perfect sight and good hand-eye co-ordination,” the former West Indian captain told reporters during a personal visit here.

“At 26, you get a lot wiser. Tendulkar is now a very mature player.

“He is now more into a fortifying role and not flamboyant. But you must respect that he has grown older.

“He cannot always fulfil the things that are expected of him.

“He may be looking to play the way he started his career, but that is not always possible.”

Tendulkar, one of modern cricket’s most prolific batsmen, enjoyed mixed success in the recent home contests against Pakistan.

Needing one more Test century to break compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world record tally of 34, Tendulkar hit three half-centuries in five innings but could not prevent Pakistan from gaining a series-levelling win in the third and final Test at Bangalore.

In the six-match one-day series, which Pakistan won 4-2 after being 0-2 down, Tendulkar had scores of four, two, six, 123, one and nine.

The Bombay batsman is the fourth-highest scorer in Test cricket with 10,134 runs, behind Australians Steve Waugh and Allan Border and West Indian Brian Lara.

Tendulkar remains the most successful one-day batsman with 13,642 runs and 38 centuries.

“If Tendulkar left cricket right now, he will still be a legend,” Richards added.

“He carried India’s mantle for a long period. He has done his job and done it well.

Richards, who scored 8,540 runs in 121 Tests, dismissed suggestions that his aggressive style was being copied by batsmen like India’s Virender Sehwag and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi.

“Viv Richards is Viv Richards. I will not compare myself with anyone,” he said.

“When I was playing I took inspiration from others, but never aped anyone. Each player has his own style.”

Meanwhile, Richards blames West Indies cricket officials for the recent sponsorship row in the build-up to the home Test series against South Africa.

“Certain individuals in the board must leave now rather than be pushed,” the former West Indies batting great said.

Lara and six other players were omitted for the drawn first Test in Georgetown because of the dispute.

The disagreement was put on hold when Cable & Wireless, whose individual sponsorship of the seven players rankled main team sponsor Digicel, agreed to conditionally suspend their deals with the players.

Lara scored 196 on his return in the second Test in Port of Spain although South Africa went on to win to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.

He added another magnificent 176 on Thursday’s opening day of the third Test at Bridgetown to pull his team out of early trouble.

Richards regretted that Lara’s prolific scoring were not leading to more victories.

“I would like to think if I score a century my team would benefit,” he said. “The saddest part of Lara’s career is, his runs scored never quite reflect the wins.”

Richards predicted that Afridi or Sehwag could break his record for the fastest Test hundred, which he hit off 56 balls against England in 1986.

“You have got guys like Sehwag and Afridi,” he said. “On a given day, it can be broken.”

The 25-year-old Afridi holds the record for the fastest one-day hundred, off 37 balls. Last week, he tied Lara’s record for the second fastest effort with a 45-ball hundred during Pakistan’s 4-2 series victory in India.

Richards also said Afridi should aim to shed his one-day tag.

“From a very young age, Afridi was called a one-day player,” he said. “He himself, when he looks back at his career, will see that as a low point in his career.

“Being a swashbuckling one-day cricketer, that doesn’t do any justice to his talent.”

Afridi has aggregated 4,567 one-day runs from 205 games with a strike rate of 107.43, but the all-out aggression has restricted his Test career to just 17 appearances since his debut in 1998.

—Agencies