Tendulkar credits victory to Pollock, Jonty

Cape Town, Apr 19 (PTI) Skipper Sachin Tendulkar might
have scripted Mumbai Indians' win over Chennai Super Kings in
the IPL opener last night, but the batting maestro credited
the victory to mentor Shaun Pollock and fielding coach Jonty
Rhodes and said the duo were among the best cricketing brains
in South Africa.

Tendulkar scored a masterly unbeaten 59 to help his side
post a competitive score of 166 on the board and then
displayed witty leadership qualities on the field to restrict
the Super Kings and start their campaign in the second season
of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on a winning note.

However, Tendulkar feels that it was Pollock and Rhodes'
inputs about South African conditions that played a crucial
role in his side's victory against the Mahendra Singh
Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.

"There are no better people than Shaun and Jonty to tell
us about the conditions. They have worked tremendously over
the past few weeks along with the third coach Praveen Amre,"
Tendulkar said.

"Pollock and Rhodes have been working with the Mumbai
Indians playing squad in Durban and used all their expertise
in getting the youngsters used to the conditions here. Rhodes
and Pollock are among the best minds in South African
cricket," he added.

Tendulkar said the team's decision to bring a pool of
players to Durban to acclimatise with the weather conditions
bore fruit for the Mumbai outfit.

"We never knew the event would be held here. Our original
plan was to get them here to learn to play differently and
probably even some horizontal bat shots," he said.

Chennai Super Kings skipper Dhoni also feels home-grown
players make a lot of difference in the South African
conditions and rued the absence of Albie Morkel, who missed
the opening match because an airline misplaced his kit bag.

"Albie adds a lot of explosive power lower down the order
and can bowl effectively in the middle overs," said Dhoni.

Interestingly, although there may be no home advantage
for any of the eight teams in the second edition of the
Twenty20 event, the sides have drawn advantage from the
knowledge of South Africans available in their squad.

Royal Challengers Bangalore is the most blessed team with
the presence of three of South Africa's best cricketers in
Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn in their squad.

To add to that, to have South African-born Englishman
Kevin Pietersen as captain, Ray Jennings as chief coach and
Eric Simons as bowling coach provides icing on the cake for
the Vijay Mallaya-owned Bangalore team. PTI SSC
BDS