Off-spinner with leg-breaks is like a multi-lingual: Tendulkar

An off-spinner who can bowl leg-breaks is like a multi-lingual, said Sachin Tendulkar, reflecting on the growing demand for wrist spinners in limited-overs cricket given the difficult questions they are posing to batsmen all around.

While Tendulkar did not take any names, his observation on off-spinners trying to bowl leg-break would certainly be music to Ravichandran Ashwin's ears, as he is trying his hand at wrist spin with an eye on national comeback in the shorter versions.

"I feel it can only help. It's like you know two to three different languages. Now there is no harm in knowing five or six different languages. It can't take away anything from you," Tendulkar, who is celebrating his 45th birthday today, told PTI in an interview.

"It's exactly the same when one develops more variation. So it's wrong to say that they (finger spinners) are joining a bandwagon now that they are bowling leg spin. No, they aren't. Rather, we should see that they have put in effort to develop a delivery," he said.

And what does he make of the view that the off-spinners' attempts are futile?
"I can talk about myself. In matches, I used to bowl off-spin to left handers and leg-breaks to right handers. If you are able to do it, then why not."
"To err is human. But I agree that leg-spinners have forced today's batsmen to think more," said the legend of 200 Test matches."
But will today's players be able to find time with the pressure of three formats?
"There are guys who like preparing and there are players, who would like to deal with a situation when it arises."
So would an 18-year-old Tendulkar have batted differently had IPL started in 1990 or 1991?
"It's a great feeling. All these things have happened in my life. I feel blessed to have had all these wonderful moments in my career. I think those two Sharjah matches are etched in people's memories."