Would love to see Sachin Tendulkar play for a little bit longer: Brett Lee

 Players coming after Sachin Tendulkar have had a long career and even retired.

 

Former Australia pacer Brett Lee tells G Krishnan that anyone who has played for more than 20 years deserves to play 200 Tests.Excerpts:   Players coming after Sachin Tendulkar have had a long career and even retired. But Tendulkar seems to be carrying on and on…     He is a remarkable guy. He has been a great role model around the world. He is loved in Australia. I would love to see him play a little bit longer. He is a legend, 198 Test matches, been a prolific run scorer. You pit him against Don Bradman and I am not going to say who is better than the other. Sachin is certainly up there. If he keeps scoring runs, he should continue. I also believe that a guy playing 20 years of international cricket deserves to play 200 Test matches.     What impact will the 0-4 loss in India have on the Australians in the upcoming Ashes?     I will be lying if I say the confidence leading up to the Ashes is not low. We now consider playing in India and the Ashes as the two big series for us. It used to always be Ashes but a lot of interest is in playing against India in India. We have not had success over here. You have to give full credit to India, their preparation has been outstanding. The way they play from the team point of view is remarkable. Australia has a lot of work to do. Once they get the right team, the right set up and the right structure, they will be on track.     What should India do to win a Test series in Australia?  India struggle in Australia because of the extra bounce.  Australia struggle in India because of the extra spin. May be if you prepare a few more bouncy pitches in India and have bit of both (bouncy and spinning tracks), you may stand a chance in Australia.   Even before making a mark in international cricket, youngsters now-a-days break down. Are they spending more time in the gym than actually bowling?     You are right. There are too many youngsters pumping too much weight. Everyone is getting injuries doing weight. Obviously at 36 years, you are going to pick up niggles and some injuries here and there because of the bowling workload through years and years of playing cricket. But at 18 or 19, they should not be focusing on gym. They should be focusing on making sure they are looking after their body, stretching, doing their sprints to bowl fast.   Rarely do fast bowlers run now-a-days. In earlier days, pacers had a long career as they ran a lot, wasn’t it?     I agree. When you think of Dennis Lillee taking 355 Test wickets or Kapil Dev taking 434 Test wickets, they always loved running. I have loved running all my life and tried to stay away from the gym and being healthy on tours. Running is very good for a fast bowler.     What adjustments did you make while bowling in India?   Obviously, pitches in India are not conducive for fast bowling. You try to adapt to the wickets as quickly as you can.     Your KKR mate Sunil Narine seems to take a lot of wickets in IPL but the same consistency is lacking for West Indies. Why?     It does surprise me a little bit. The West Indies pitches are pretty similar to India. They have pretty slow wickets. I would not imagine he is taking time to adjust. The whole Caribbean batting is adventurous. May be that is why he has not had much success. But he is doing a great job for us.       England will hold the last ICC Champions Trophy next month. Did CT have its importance in the international calendar?       We (Australia) enjoyed playing Champions Trophy. It was one of the important tournaments. We always tried hard to win it. Unfortunately, one format of the game is dying a slow death and that is the 50-over cricket. A lot of focus is now on T20 and Test cricket. T20 is a lot more different, a bit more strategically the way you play. I do hope the world cricket takes care of 50-over cricket.       How much do you love coming to India?     I love coming to India, it is a place I have some great memories from. I love the culture and the people. Launching Soy Milky (health drink), it is going to help the Indian population, help their heart. It has no cholesterol or lactose, is very high in calcium, it is another option to have other than milk. I am not saying milk is not great for you. I might take some Soy Milky to MS Dhoni as he loves milk. Having Soy Milky does not get you bloated or make you heavy. It is helpful in your cricket as well…


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