‘Getting Sachin out is something'

James Pattinson has had incredible success in his young Test career, and on Tuesday, he added another achievement, the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar.

“I'm just loving it,” said the 21-year-old Pattinson, who took four wickets on the first day of the second Test. “I'm loving playing Test cricket for Australia. Getting Sachin out is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. He just seems to have so much time to play.

“It's so hard to get it past him, everything looks so good. He was pretty unlucky, but that's what can happen if you build enough pressure.”

Asked about his success — 24 wickets already in just his fourth Test — Pattinson said, “My plan is just to bowl it up there and look to get some swing. If you bowl it in the right areas consistently, you'll get any batsman out. It's a credit to Craig McDermott (the bowling coach). I've worked day in and day out with him.”

The Victorian said he had never strived for pace. “It's something that comes pretty naturally. I had a chat with one of the greatest ever, Glenn McGrath, and he said that all I need to worry about is line and length. That's advice I'm going to try and follow.”

Asked if India's batsmen were intimidated by Australia's bowlers, Pattinson said, “I think they're probably intimidated about the way we're bowling, the areas we're bowling, we're not giving them any loose balls.

“For them they've probably got it in their mind ‘where are we going to score', because they're not getting any loose balls at the moment. Intimidation comes with us bowling really well.”

Deserve credit

Duncan Fletcher, India's coach, said the Australian bowlers deserved credit for the way they had performed over three innings, but added that the batsmen need to do better.

“Whenever we have got a partnership going, we haven't taken advantage of it.

“We have to start taking advantage of it,” said Fletcher. “From my point of view, it's important the batting clicks together.

Loss of form

Rahul (Dravid) batted really well in England, but seems to have lost a bit of form. Sachin (Tendulkar) seems in really good touch.

“And it's only Laxy (Laxman), who is hitting the ball well, but needs a bit of fortune.

“We are pretty confident that at some stage we'll get the runs we need.” Asked to diagnose the batting failures in England and here in Australia, Fletcher said it was a case of not adapting to the conditions.

“But every team struggled with it,” he added, “just like foreign teams struggle on the slow, spinning fields in India, India can sometimes struggle when it seams and swings around.”

Fletcher said the batsmen had worked hard to adjust, but “sometimes in cricket you just need a bit of fortune.”

Keywords: India's tour of Australia, Pattinson