Sachin was upset but what’s wrong: Wright

Sachin Tendulkar was disappointed at missing out on his double century at Multan, national John Wright told Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief o...

Sachin Tendulkar was disappointed at missing out on his double century at Multan, national John Wright told Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express, on NDTV 24×7’s Walk The Talk programme. But, Wright added, there was nothing wrong in that.

‘‘I was not surprised by that (Tendulkar’s statement)’’, Wright said, saying that Tendulkar reacted as a batsman. The decision was in the best interests of the team and Tendulkar’s own commitment was proved the next day when he bowled Moin Khan off the last ball of the day’s play.

The Indian team, Wright said, were fast

learners. He cited the case of Irfan Pathan: during the ODI series in Pakistan, umpires David Shepherd and Simon Taufel had told Wright that Pathan was running on to the wicket and ‘‘wouldn’t last a Test match’’.

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After the last ODI, Wright had a session with Pathan, which the umpires also happened to see. They gave the all-clear, and the problem hasn’t recurred.

Wright also spoke on the changes in Tendulkar’s batting, saying they were natural. Tendulkar, he said, was ‘‘my best batting coach’’, a big leader in the team. The Indian team, Wright said, was just becoming professional. Asked about the frontiers left to conquer, he said the team had just passed base camp on its way to scaling Mt Everest — becoming the No. 1 team in the world.

(The programme will be repeated today at 10-30 a.m. and 6-30 p.m.)