“We challenged the Aussies more than they did us”, Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar saw signs that Australia were getting more defensive during his team’s tour that ended in March. Australia, the top-ranked Test and ODI team, clinched the Tests 2-1 but the tourists won the tri-series finals 2-0.

India also pulled off an unlikely Test win in the Australian stronghold Perth, leaving some critics wondering whether their domination of world cricket was coming to an end.

“Australian teams have always been competitive. Probably in 1991, they did not go on the defensive if an Indian batsman played a couple of shots,” Tendulkar told a newspaper in an interview on Thursday.

“In the recent series, however, they immediately posted a deep point. This did not happen in 1999 and 2003,” he said. “This was the first time they set a scattered field. This has been the big change.”

The 34-year-old, who holds a series of batting records, has been on all four Australia tours since 1991 and stamped his authority this time with centuries in both Tests and ODIs.

“If one looks back at the series, we challenged them more than they did us,” he said, adding he felt the retirements of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne would allow teams to attack Australia more.

He advised his young team mates not to get carried away by the euphoria of their tri-series win.

“That is good and in a way bad as well,” he said. “We need to look back and find out how many youngsters have made it to the Indian team as teenagers and have gone on to play for a long time. Teenaged fast bowler Ishant Sharma had a terrific tour, his future looks very good. But it is equally important, not only for him but everyone else, not to get carried away.”