Thaindian News

London, Aug 12 (IANS) Former England captain Michael Vaughan wants middle-order batsman Ravi Bopara to stop idolising batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

Vaughan said that since Bopara is playing against Tendulkar it wouldn’t be ideal for him to idolise an opponent.

“What Ravi has to do is trust his game, technique and mental approach. He has got to be a little less fidgety at the crease, stop trying to look cool. His biggest challenge will be playing on the same pitch as his hero, Sachin Tendulkar,” Vaughan wrote in his column in The Daily Telegraph.

“He has always tried to model himself on Sachin. But now he is playing a Test match against him and is going to have to admit he can’t idolise the guy. He can’t stare at every move he makes and say ‘wow, look at Sachin’,” said Vaughan.

Vaughan said Test cricketers can’t worship an opponent.

“It is a battle. It is you against them. The bouncing ball has sorted Ravi out in the past. If you can push him back in his crease, he starts to feel for the ball around about the fourth stump (an imaginary channel outside off-stump). He does not quite get his head over his front pad at first and, as it is for most players, the ball slanted across and nipping back in is a problem,” said Vaughan.

“But when Ravi is in form he has a great on-side game and plays down the ground nicely, making him an entertaining batsman to watch. When he arrives at the crease under pressure at Edgbaston, he just has to get his head over his front pad early and work out where the off-stump is. It helps to leave a few early on and not chase the ball,” he said.