Former Australian fast bowler and ex Pakistan Cricket Team coach, Geoff Lawson has come out and talked about his connection with the great Indian batsman and legend, Sachin Tendulkar. What happened to be Tendulkar’s first tour of Australia turned out to be Geoff Lawson’s last season in Sheffield Shield First-Class cricket.
The 1991-92 Australian cricket summer, where India played 5 test matches spread either side a Triangular competition with West Indies included, concluded with a disastrous 1992 world cup campaign for Team India. Sachin was the only bright prospect that came out from the gruelling long tour.
Lawson was quoted saying on SportStar as “I have played against Sachin. I was captaining New South Wales (NSW) and Sachin was 18 at that time. We played India in a country town (Oakes Oval, Lismore). I cannot say I knew him that much, because we were too busy with our analytical minds to set three mid-wickets for Mohammad Azharuddin.”
“I think, with Sachin as a teenager on that series, and actually doing well at such a tender age, there was a feeling that he was going to be at least a very good Indian player, if not a great player. Obviously, the pursuant years, as was certainly borne out in that era, it seemed one of Sachin’s struggles was trying to get his 100th international hundred"
"It took him a while, but I don’t think he had too much to worry about. The one current player who reminds me of Sachin, a bit of him, is, of course, Virat Kohli. On his first tour of Australia, he was the one who took the fight back to the Australians.”
Lawson also liked the fact that Tendulkar as a bowler used to send down seam ups, leg breaks, and quite often, got a wicket. He said, “To me, that indicated just how competitive he was. Sure, put the pads on and bat on forever… that’s a given for him. However, throw the ball and he would joyfully come and bowl. He enjoyed what he did, those loopy leg-breaks"
"I am surprised that he did not bowl left-handed at some stage. I admired his focus on his purpose when he was at the crease. One of the great joys of watching as a commentator was “watching Warne versus Tendulkar”. It was one of the great battles of the 1990s in Test cricket.”
