England coach Andy Flower has asked Monty Panesar to stop giving net practice to Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, saying it was "naive" on part of the spinner to help a rival player.
Published: Jul 27, 2011, 11:17 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 27, 2011, 11:17 AM (IST)
Andy Flower said bowling to Sachin Tendulkar was ‘naive’ from Monty Panesar © Getty Images
London: Jul 27, 2011
England coach Andy Flower has asked Monty Panesar to stop giving net practice to Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, saying it was “naive” on part of the spinner to help a rival player.
“He did bowl to him in the nets before Lord’s and I think that it is quite a naive thing to do,” Flower said after his team’s 196-run win over India.
Although the Indian-origin Panesar is not in the English team for the series, Flower said it was still not right for him to give net sessions to a dangerous player such as Tendulkar.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet but one would hope he understands that it won’t happen again,” he said.
Panesar, who has played 39 Tests for England, has been bowling to Tendulkar in the nets and has stated that he was doing it in spare time to improve himself against “a wonderful batsman and person”.
But Tendulkar, who was battling viral during the opening Test, didn’t seem to benefit much from the sessions as he made just 34 and 12.
Despite the massive opening Test win, Flower expects India to come back hard in the remaining three matches.
“India are a very fine side and they didn’t get to the world No.1 spot by being poor and by not fighting back,” said Flower.
“We’ve only won one out of four matches and there is another vital one around the corner and we have to be on the top of our game to win. But we’re ready for that fight,” he added.
© PTI
