Tendulkar could have
more of Giles wiles

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar would be mistaken to believe that the frustrating experience of facing spinner Ashley Giles has been left behind in India, as more of it is expected in the four-Test series against England, starting next week.

"We are in the business to entertain but we are also out there to win. Bowling over the wicket you do cut down your options. People say its a negative strategy, but it can be used to attack," said Giles.

Giles, who repeatedly bowled down the leg side to Tendulkar, denying him the chance to play orthodox strokes during the Test series in India earlier this year, said the ploy was successful to some extent as it slowed down the little master.

"I did it to slow him down. He still scored heavily but not as quickly," he confessed.

The tactic came in for a lot of criticism from cricket writers and was even compared to the Bodyline Series of the 1930s, when England captain Douglas Jardine asked fast bowler Harold Larwood to aim at Australian batsmen's ribs and chest, rather than the stumps, in a bid to curb the genius of the late Sir Donald Bradman.

More than 70 per cent of Giles's deliveries to Tendulkar in India were pitched outside leg stump and it was extremely controversial in the final Test at Bangalore, when only two of Giles's 204 balls in the first innings were bowled from around the wicket.

"Bowling over the wicket you do cut down your options of getting him (Tendulkar) out leg before or bowled and people say it is more of a negative option.

"There are men around the bat to catch him. Obviously, you are trying to wear him down, stop him from scoring and wait for him to make a mistake," he said.

Frustration appeared to get the better of Tendulkar, at least in the final Test, as he was stumped for the first time in his career by wicketkeeper James Foster.

Tendulkar took no less than 198 balls to reach to his 90 in that innings as England worked out with precision methods to curb the genius of the little man, asking Giles to persist with his run-denying methods and setting the rule for the medium-pacers to pitch way beyond the off-stump with a packed off-side field.

The star batsman though couldn't be curbed entirely and he still scored 307 runs from four Test innings, taking his career aggregate against England to 1282 runs from 13 Tests, with five centuries at a high average of 80.13 per innings.

"The left-arm spinners bowl over the wicket when there is no turn in the main part of the pitch so you can pitch it in the rough," Giles explained.

With Tendulkar's patience driven up the wall, India struggled to post imposing totals in the series and England wore them down to the extent they came close to losing the Bangalore Test and squandering their 1-0 lead.

England captain Nasser Hussain used this to get back at his critics and said it was important for him as a captain to see his side do well rather than seek the approval of experts.

"If I get criticised for restricting the opposition to 200-plus totals, I would take it any day," Hussain had declared, while defending his tactics in India.

Now Giles is ready to back his theory again, even though he is not closing his options of employing more conventional methods against Tendulkar and the rest of the Indian batsmen.

But the lanky left arm spinner believes Tendulkar exacted his revenge at Chester-le-Steet in the day-night NatWest triangular series match against England earlier this month.

Tendulkar, in that masterly innings of 105, had stepped outside the line of his stumps to give himself room and hit Giles repeatedly over extra cover or came inside and heaved him around.

Giles, however, got his revenge quickly enough when he clean bowled Tendulkar in the final of the NatWest series at Lord's last week as the maestro once again made room for a slash on the off-side only to see his stumps in disarray.

(c) Copyright 2002 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.