England to root out Sachin weakness

SachinTendulkar may be looking to enjoy his batting during India's upcoming tour of England. But former English captain Michael Vaughan warns that the current pace-bowlers from Ole Blighty will make the task anything but pleasant for the Little Master, when he takes guard in the first Test on July 21 onwards.

Vaughan points out that though it is hard to point out any chink in Sachin'sarmour, the pace attack will go hard at him from early on and root out his Achilles' heel. Vaughan seems to think that the 6"7' tall Chris Tremlett will prove to be Sachin's nemesis and soften him up with a barrage of explosive bouncers.

"Chris Tremlett bowled well against him (Tendulkar) in 2007 and he is a miles better bowler now. But Sachin doesn't have any weaknesses although every batsman is vulnerable on and around the off stump early on. England might go aggressive at him, test him with a few short balls -- I have seen people do that over the last two years and it hasn't affected him," Vaughan was quoted as saying in a cricket magazine.

Vaughan seems to forget that Sachin was very much at home against the vitriolic pace and bounce generated by the South African new-ball pair of Dale Steyn and MorneMorkel last Dec, and on even more challenging wickets than those in England. After all, the Master Blaster came up with two centuries on that tour of the Rainbow Nation.

Over and above that, Sachin is coming off a fantastic run of form in the last 24 months. He grabbed the record for becoming the first batsman to score a double hundred in One-day Internationals in Feb 2010 and later in the same year went on to complete 50 centuries in Tests. And now he needs only one more ton to complete his 100th hundred in international cricket.

Vaughan seems to think that Tendulkar's recent triumphant knocks can be attributed to a modification in his batting style.

"Sachin is a different player now from 2007; the best players in the world change little things about themselves to keep themselves in the game. In the last two years he has become more aggressive, he has gone back to his old way of trying to score when for a period he tried to survive."

England's present captain Andrew Strauss recognises that sachin's wicket will be key to any success they hope to achieve, but they will of course, not be directing all their energy only towards that objective.

"We know what a quality player Sachin is but we are not focusing on him. He will get just as much or as little attention as any one of their other players because they have quality from one to 11. They are not a one-trick pony," Strauss said.