Mohammad Azharuddin has fond memories of South Africa. The elegant Hyderabad batsman shared a scintillating 222-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar for the sixth wicket at Cape Town way back in 1997, which Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli equalled at the Wanderers last week.
“That day we felt like batting in our own style. We were in very good rhythm. We just carried on. They had very good bowlers like Donald, McMillan and others,’’ recalls Azharuddin.
In an exclusive interview to TNIE, Azhar said in countries like South Africa and Australia, a batsman has to play an attacking game. “It is very hard to play a waiting game on such type of bouncy wickets. If the ball is to be attacked, it should be done so,’’ he said.
Azhar was mighty impressed with the present crew of batsmen. “Although it is hard to replace players of their stature (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman) these players have readily taken up the challenge. Pujara, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are doing well. Luckily, we have players who are as good as the retired players in terms of talent. Performance-wise, we can only find out after seven or eight years,’’ he added.
He liked Kohli’s positive attitude, too. “He plays his shots in all formats of the game. This gives the bowlers enough runs to bowl the opposition. This is the most important thing of Virat Kohli. He plays his natural game and backs his instinct,’’ he said.
But Azhar warned the supporters not to liken them to their predecessors. “You cannot compare them with yesteryear players. If you start comparing, there will be no end to it,” he stressed.
However, Azhar had a word of caution for Dhawan. “He has to tighten his game. He has loads of talent, but at the same time consistency has to come. Playing on wickets where there is bounce and the ball seams around, he should play a tight game. He can’t afford to play loose shots,” he warned.
Azhar said Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team should be given credit for the way they performed in the first Test. “Our bowlers utilized the conditions better than the South Africans because our bowlers have the ability to swing the ball. Mohammed Shami has turned out to be a good swing bowler. He also has pace. Zaheer Khan has done well in his come back game. Ishant Sharma has also done well. I think we needed bowlers who could hit the deck but in the end the wicket became placid. I thought the ball was jumping at times,’’ he said.
Azhar was all praise for Zaheer but said that the left-arm seamer disappointed him by bowling round the wicket. “His ability to out-think the batsman is his big plus point. However, I was slightly disappointed by the way he bowled in the second innings. He was bowling only round the wicket. If he had only bowled over the stumps, he might have got more purchase because if you bowl round the stumps, it is hard to get the ball into the middle and then go back. If you bowl in-swing, it is hard to get leg before decisions,’’ he pointed out.
Azhar predicted a good international season for India. “If we get good wickets, where there will be bounce and swing, we will do better than the opposition because we have talented fast bowlers,’’ he said.