I remember watching Sachin Tendulkar at St George's Park and feeling robbed. The little Indian maestro was so out of form I was upset not to get the opportunity to be dazzled by his skill. I then looked at Tendulkar's record and see he has a history of performing well below par against South Africa.

                       M Inn NO     HS   Runs   Avg

Australia      25 47  5    *241 2352   56.00

'With that average of 36.42, he is nothing more than an average player against South Africa'


Bangladesh    5  6   2    *248  556  139.00

England        22 35  3       193  1994  62.31

NZ                  16 27  5       217 1062   48.27

Pakistan      18 27   2    *194 1057   42.28

S Africa        19 35   2     169 1202    36.42

Sri Lanka      16 21   2     148 1313    69.11

West Indies 16 25  2     179 1328     57.74

Zimbabwe      9 14   2   *201  918     76.50

Overall    146 237 25   *248 11782  55.58

South Africa will be hoping this poor form will continue during their upcoming series in India. They seems to have some mental hold on Tendulkar and Andre Nel and company will employ their old strategies to have him back in the hut without troubling the scorers too much.

Tendulkar can be like an elephant when he is out of form and South African strategy of targeting him is essential a ploy to unsettle the Indian changing room.

With that average of 36.42, he is nothing more than an average player against South Africa and Proteas fans will regard it as a small victory if Sachin's stats versus South Africa can be reduced to under 30.