Conversation between sachin and journalist
Answers
Explanation:
Hello Sourav. Thanks for talking to Small Talk.
No problem. Thanks for talking to me.
You're very welcome. To return the favour, how about you answer this: when you were captain you transformed India into a team that could win series overseas for the first time - what was the key?
It was the quality of player that I had under my captaincy. People like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble. We wanted to change things around. We wanted to be different from the past and we had the talent to do it.
You had a good record against Australia. What's the secret to beating them?
We had players whose performances went up a notch or two playing against Australia, whether it's VVS, Sachin, Anil or Harbhajan.
Small Talk recalls in particular Harbhajan in the 2001 series in India. He had Ricky Ponting on a string, didn't he?
[Dreamily] Yeah … He single-handedly won the series. We fought hard like the England team did in 2005 when they won the Ashes. We played aggressively in terms of body language and everything else.
Do you think your hundred against the Aussies at Brisbane in 2003 was your best Test innings, given the strength of their fast bowling?
Well, it was one of my best. I got an 87 against South Africa this year in Kanpur on an absolute minefield. That was very good. And my 238 against Pakistan last September when India were 60-4 — that was memorable too.
You called it a day on your captaincy career at about the same age as Michael Vaughan did and you kept on playing. Do you think Vaughan can?
Of course. He will play better. He's a quality player. And he's a young man. He's England's best batsman along with Kevin Pietersen. It's the same with everyone. You fail a few times. But he will score runs.
How do you think KP will do as captain? Will it affect his batting?
Not so far, anyway. But obviously captaincy is a long process. It takes its toll as time goes on. That's the reason Vaughan gave up the job. But I think Pietersen is the best man to captain England. He's a quality player. He's positive. He takes risks.
You'll be facing him in November for the Test series. Are England your favourite opponents? You average 57 against them ...
That's not a bad average actually. Hopefully I can carry on with that.
Looking forward to facing your old adversary Andrew Flintoff?
Yeah, he's a quality cricketer. He's come back again after a long time, and him and Steve Harmison will be good in India.