Zimbabwe left-arm spinner Raymond Price is ready to use his craft against Sachin Tendulkar following the confidence he carries in shackling the little master in the past.
"It is special to bowl to the world's best batsman. But my philosophy is do not be afraid of anybody, enjoy yourself as much as you can," Price said, on the eve of the India-Zimbabwe VB tri-series clash at the Bellerive Oval.
Price stifled Tendulkar completely when he bowled to him in two Tests in India in 2002, claiming him three out of three times and choking him to the extent that the maestro scored only 36 runs from 119 balls in the Delhi Test.
"I relied completely on my accuracy. I spoke a lot to Bishan Singh [Bedi] who said, 'if you could get your action right and get your seam going towards second or third slip, be patient and land the ball in the right areas, you could trouble most'," Price recalled.
"He said, 'that is all your job is, not to try and do too much, be patient and let the batter come to you'," Price said.
Price felt all batsmen, including Tendulkar, are vulnerable at the start of their innings, when they are in the process of getting their eye in and feet moving.
"All batsmen are vulnerable between naught and 15, no matter who they are. That is the period when you should attack them a lot."
He is mindful of Tendulkar coming into to his own with unbeaten knocks of 241 and 60 in the Sydney Test and a fluent 63 in the series opener against Australia at Melbourne.
"He struggled in the beginning but has done so well now. But that is the kind of batsman he is, a very special player and one who I was dreaming to dismiss even when I was six or seven years old," he said.
"It will be a different experience for me to bowl to him on these wickets. But it is a pleasure to bowl to the world's best batsman and a challenge I am looking forward to."
Price is aware that his task against the Indian batsmen in true batting conditions is not going to be easy, especially given the way they went after Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill in the Test series.
"It is hard to bowl to batsmen like [Virender] Sehwag, [Sachin] Tendulkar, [VVS] Laxman and [Rahul] Dravid; they have an endless line of batters.
"These are kind of wickets where there is less spin and the bounce is true. You have got to be very clever, vary pace and be patient because these batsmen are very good strikers of the ball and hit a long way," he said.
"You got to watch them all the time, catch them with your variations and generally give no width and angle," Price said.
"They were hitting MacGill against the break. When you do it against leg-spinners on the on-side, hitting against the break, you become a very hard batsman to bowl to. MacGill turns a long way and they were still hitting against the spin."
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