There is too much pressure on Sachin, says Gaekwad

Hyderabad, Dec 8 (UNI) High expectation was the main reason for the pressure on Indian criketers, former national coach Anshuman Gaekwad said today.

Gaekwad, who was here to help the Gujarat team in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B match against Hyderabad, told newsmen, ''We (Indians) expect too much out of our cricketers. We want our team to win every match . The expectations are very high, when they don't deliver, we simply blame the crickters, coaches and administration,'' he said.

Commenting on master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's failures, he said, ''Sachin has set himself high standards earlier. He is not the same player, who played under me ten years ago. After all, he is human.

He is not a superman or a machine to perform always at the optimum level.'' ''Besides Rahul, he is the only guy who is performing consistantly. He is a senior player and has a strong sense of responsibility. He feels more when the team is not doing well. And that puts more pressure on him than on others',' he added.

Answering another question, Gaekwad said, ''Having played so much cricket, let us understand, Sachin has overcome many fitness problems like back pain and tennis elbow. I am sure he can bounce back and help the team to put up a better show.

''Now everyone is talking about his fitness and no one is talking about others' fitness problems. Nowadays, even youngsters are facing the same problem. Sachin has set for himself high standards.

Everytime he goes out to bat, we expect a 100. If he completes, we demand a big 100 from him. Even if he completes that also we want him to crack a double hundred. There is no end to it'', he observed.

Reacting to technical flaws in Sachin's batting, Gaekwad said, ''I have never seen Sachin jumping to a short ball earlier. It happened with Azharuddin earlier. When he jumps his eyes go off the ball and he is likely to miss the line and length and get hit on the body. He has to go back to the nets to sort out this problem. For a master batsman like Sachin, it's nothing impossible and he can correct himself overnight.'' Commenting on failures in South Africa, he said, ''There is too much expectation to win every series we play. We must note that not many international sides have completed their South African tours'' successfully. We should not put more pressure on the team though the team is not playing upto its potential. But there is no reason for panic.'' MORE UNI XR VV DH DB1834