http://sports.yahoo.com/m/sk/news/reuters/20020731/reu-indiatendulkar.html
**He is widely regarded as the world’s best batsman but after another overseas test defeat, India is beginning to consider the hitherto unthinkable – does Sachin Tendulkar choke when it matters most?
Tendulkar was bowled through the gate for 12 attempting an uppish drive against paceman Matthew Hoggard at Lord’s on Sunday, just when India were hoping he could help them save the first test.
The problem, experts and former players say, is that it wasn’t a one-off.
“One more defeat on foreign soil. One more time when Sachin Tendulkar failed to produce a quality innings in adversity,” said the Hindustan Times.
“Tendulkar’s greatness as a complete batsman is on test. He is prolific but not decisive.” **
The 29-year-old said in an interview earlier this year that he was disappointed at not winning test matches when the team had to chase challenging fourth-innings totals.
**“I have been disappointed with myself… I have to learn to finish tests,” he said.
His six-ball duck with India needing 396 to win in the fourth innings at Adelaide in 1999-2000, and a breezy but ultimately fruitless 86 in a similar situation at Jamaica in May are cases in point. **
SECOND-INNINGS AVERAGE
**Tendulkar’s second innings average over the last three years is 31.9 – with no centuries – against an impressive career mark of 56.96 in 97 tests.
Of his 29 centuries only eight, two of them overseas, have resulted in Indian victories. **
The only time Tendulkar came close to lifting India to a test win single-handedly was against Pakistan in Madras in 1999 when he struck a masterful 137 but his dismissal 17 runs from the 271-run target sparked an astonishing lower-order collapse that saw India lose by 12 runs.
“Sachin is the greatest batsman of this era. But there has been a problem with him in the big show and he knows it,” former test medium pacer Atul Wassan said.
“He perhaps puts too much pressure on himself because he feels he has to win big matches and prove his critics wrong. That doesn’t help.”
**Tendulkar can be compared with Brian Lara, the other great batsman of his era. The West Indian is well known for his match-winning feats. In 1999 at Barbados he hit 153 not out, bringing up the last 69 runs with Curtly Ambrose and last-man Courtney Walsh to chase down 308 for a one-wicket win over Australia. **
ENORMOUS EXPECTATIONS
Commentators feel the major reason for Tendulkar’s lack of success in big matches is the enormous weight of expectation.
Seen as a national icon, anything less than a century from him is seen as a failure by millions of his passionate fans.
“No other player suffers so much from pressure of expectation,” former England captain Michael Atherton said.
Newspapers and websites have this week been flooded with letters slamming Tendulkar, something new for the only player spared the wrath of emotional Indian fans over the last decade.
But chief selector Chandu Borde was confident Tendulkar would bounce back in the next three tests to silence his detractors. “I am sure something is waiting to happen. He will get back.”
Wassan added: "Sachin is facing a trial by fire of a kind he hasn’t so far in his career.
“This will be the true test of his character.”
Well, the world is now thinking what the guppies have been saying on this board.