'Bowling Down The Leg To Sachin Justified'

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar would be mistaken tobelieve he has left the frustrating experience of facing spinner Ashley Gilesfirmly behind in India as more of it is coming in the four-Test series againstEngland starting next week.

"We are in the business to entertain but we arealso out there to win. Bowling over the wicket you do cut down your options.People say it is a negative strategy, but it can be used to attack," Gilessaid in an interview.

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

"I did it to slow him down. He still scoredheavily but not as quickly," Giles confessed.

The tactics came in for a lot of criticism from cricketwriters and was even compared to the Bodyline Series of the 1930s when Englandcaptain Douglas Jardine asked fast bowler Harold Larwood to aim at theAustralian batsmen's ribs and chest, rather than the stumps, in a bid to curbthe genius of late Sir Donald Bradman.

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

"Bowling over the wicket you do cut down youroptions by not being able to get him (Tendulkar) out leg before or bowled andpeople say it is more of a negative option," Giles said.

"There are men around the bat to catch him.Obviously, you are trying to wear him down, stop him from scoring and wait forhim to make a mistake." The frustration appeared to get the better ofTendulkar at least in the final Test when he was stumped for the first time inhis career by wicketkeeper James Foster.

Tendulkar took no less than 198 balls to reach to his90 in that innings as England worked out in precision the methods to curb thegenius of the little man - asking Giles to persist with his run-denying methodsand setting the rule for its medium-pacers to pitch way beyond the off-stump andkeeping a packed offside field.

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

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

With Tendulkar's patience driven up the wall, Indiastruggled to post imposing totals in the series and England wore them down tothe extent they came close to losing the Bangalore Test and squandering their1-0 lead.

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

"If I get criticised for restricting theopposition to 200-plus totals, I would take it any day," Hussain haddeclared defiantly on his tactics in India.

Now Giles is ready to back his theory again even thoughhe is not closing his options of employing more conventional methods againstTendulkar and the rest of the Indian batsmen.

But the lanky left arm spinner believes Tendulkarexacted his revenge at Chester-le-Steet in the day-night NatWest Trophy matchagainst England earlier this month.

Tendulkar, in that masterly innings of 105, had steppedoutside the line of his stumps to give himself room and hit Giles repeatedlyover extra cover or coming inside and heaving him to the mid-wicket boundary.

Giles has no doubt Tendulkar's aggression was his wayof getting even against him and exorcise the memory of that final Test inBangalore.

"I'm sure he got a little bit of criticism anddeveloped some self doubts when I bowled into the rough in India," saidGiles.

Giles got his revenge back quickly enough when hebowled Tendulkar in the final of the NatWest Trophy at Lord's last week as themaestro once again made room for a slash on the off-side only to see his stumpsin disarray.

PTI