Don’t burden Sachin with captaincy: Alan Donald

Former South African speedster believes Tendulkar should be given a free hand to wield his willow

Don't burden Sachin with captaincy: Alan Donald

Former South African speedster believes Tendulkar should be given a free hand to wield his willow

But for all his class, Donald would have wished the results of so many of his matches had been different. His team of the 1990s messed up several big games and they got branded as chokers.
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Biggest setback

Ironically, Donald was at the centrestage of the biggest heartbreak in South Africa's cricket history the 1999 World Cup semi-final defeat to Australia.

The Indian Premier League is all about high pressure situations and when you talk to Donald about pressure, his thoughts instinctively go back to that 1999 game.

The big moments are about handling pressure and unfortunately SA's last man in that game, Donald, panicked.

Chasing Australia's 213, Lance Klusener had helped SA level the scores. With three balls to go, they needed just one run to win.
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Non-striker Donald panicked and was run-out for Australia to squeeze home on a technicality.

"Being run out on the fourth ball of the last over of the greatest semi-final in the World Cup history was the biggest disappointment of my career.

A lot of people blamed me for that. It was the worst period of my career," Donald told MiD DAY yesterday, minutes before boarding a flight to London for his coaching duties.

The best

"We were the best team in the tournament and should have won the Cup. I wish I could say that I won the 1999 World Cup.

I played in four World Cups and did not win any," he said, the pain in his voice unmistakable.
"It's part of life.
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There is so much the tough times in life teach you. Life doesn't come to a standstill, you move on.

I got over it and turned things around by trying to learn from the experience. The best thing was that it helped me look at my fears head on. It helped me as a person. I am using all that in my coaching duties now," said Donald.

The pace ace was also part of the South African squad which lost in the quarter-final of the 1996 World Cup after being on a roll.

Later that year, they were going great guns in the Titan Cup triangular in India only to lose in the final to Tendulkar's India.

He always loved to battle the best and one of the highlights of his career was his duels with Sachin Tendulkar.

He was the one who broke the will of Tendulkar the skipper during the 1996 three-match Test series by wreaking havoc on his batting line-up with 20 wickets during SA's 2-0 rout of India.

Tendulkar has a great career but like Donald has to deal with his share of disappointments in terms of results too. If one thing he could have loved to change it is his captaincy record.

The 2009 Indian Premier League has been another frustrating experience for him. Like Donald's SA team, Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians have earned the tag of chokers after losing most of their close matches.

Empathy

As Tendulkar grapples with a disappointing phase of his captaincy career, having gone through the experience, Donald can almost empathise the Indian legend.

u00a0"He's experienced enough and has seen the ups and down. He will be better off for the experience. He's the best batsman I have ever seen. As a teenager, he took to batting as duck to water," said Donald.

Donald felt that Tendulkar would be better off without the extra burden of captaincy. "He has so much pressure of expectations from everyone that it's best he is not burdened with captaincy," Donald said.

In these trying times for the Mumbai Indians' skipper, Donald has some advice: "The way to deal with it to use that remarkable batting gift from God and perform.
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Just bury the frustration with runs. In T20, the way to deal with the crunch moments is not to hesitate and be fearless."

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