Play straight, Sachin

Readers may remember a post I had written a couple of months ago on Sachin's batting and his propensity to fall over, thereby making him a prime candidate for L.B.W. to fast incoming deliveries. The Australians seem to have caught on to this. In his last two innings against them, Sachin has gotten out L.B.W. to incoming deliveries. I reiterate; for a man who plays straight so well, he should be looking to do only that, especially early in his innings, similar to what Ponting did yesterday. Ponting's problems are similar to Sachins. A propensity to fall over and not play with the straight bat. In yesterday's innings, he corrected this. Viewers will remember an Ishant delivery that he tonked with the straight bat through mid-wicket. Sachin (and Ponting of a week ago too) would have tried to whip this delivery through square-leg. Ponting was not quite at his best but he certainly helped his cause by playing straight...and look what that got him.

I firmly believe that Sachin still has the caliber and motivation to deliver at the top of the order in one dayers but in my opinion, he MUST look to play straight, leading with his front shoulder and forearm (that's how Rahul Dravid plays so straight...he ALWAYS leads with his front shoulder and forearm of the top hand).