World Cup 2019: Indian bowling attack the ‘most complete’ in this era, says Sachin Tendulkar

The batting legend says the Indian bowlers are at the top of their game.

Rule changes have made it harder for the bowlers in the ODI format, notes Sachin Tendulkar.

The current Indian bowling attack is the “most complete” in this era but it must not be compared to the potent Indian bowling line-ups in the World Cups in 2003 and 2011, believes Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar has played six World Cups between 1992 and 2011 and has seen different bowling attacks led by Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, and Zaheer Khan from close quarters. He finds it unacceptable that different generations playing under different rules are compared with each other.

“I don’t like comparisons as those were different eras, where different teams played on different surfaces under different set of rules,” Tendulkar told PTI when asked to compare the current unit with the attacks of 2003 and 2011.

Hard for bowlers

For the maestro, who was part of two of three World Cup finals that India played, the change of rules makes it difficult to compare generations. “We have two new balls and fielding restrictions in place (four fielders outside 30-yard circle between overs 11 and 40 and one more in the last 10 overs), it is like 100m runners are now running 90m or 80m because laws have changed.

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“It is difficult for bowlers with no reverse swing which single new ball offered. So if you want to judge the current Indian attack, they should be judged with rival attacks of this generation only. But yes, when it comes to this era, this is a very good attack,” said Tendulkar.

‘On top of their game’

“However I can’t take away anything from the contributions made by the bowling attacks of 2003 and 2011 World Cup campaign. In 2003, that bowling attack (Javagal Srinath, Zaheer, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh) took us to the final while we did one better in 2011 (with Zaheer, Nehra, Harbhajan, Munaf Patel and Yuvraj Singh).”

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Commenting on the current Indian bowling attack, he said, “What’s the best thing about this attack is the fact that they are on top of their game. It is the most complete in this era. Bumrah has been World’s No. 1 bowler in this format for some time now. He has been our ‘go to man’ providing crucial breakthroughs whenever needed. Also, the two wrist spinners (Kuldeep and Chahal) operating in tandem during middle overs will be crucial as we are expected to get more wickets in that phase. So overall, it’s a very good attack of this era,” said Tendulkar.