Sachin Tendulkar excited about possibilities surrounding 15-a-side cricket

“It is a positive move for Mumbai cricket. This should have happened earlier, though,” Tendulkar told Hindustan Times on Saturday.

In 2013, when he retired from international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar had suggested an exciting new format of 15-player-a-side. Tendulkar believes that the inter-schools and inter-college tournaments should implement this format, where 11 players will take the field, but the four players on the bench will get a chance to bat or bowl upon the captain’s discretion. Sachin believes that this will provide a lot more chances to the budding cricketers.

“Six more players will now get an opportunity in every game. That’s going to be incredible. It is all about encouragement. If the boys are missing their school and leaving academics to play cricket then they should be either bowling or batting. Otherwise, they would be wasting their time. Now, all the 15 players in the team will have some performance to share with their neighbours. The whole idea is to encourage them by creating more opportunities.

“A batsman will get a variety of bowlers to face (as the captain can call up anyone from the squad). Similarly, for a bowler, all his wickets would be a proper batsman,” Tendulkar explained.

The Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) has decided to implement this rule in the famous Harris and Giles Shield this season. MSSA secretary Nadim Memon has called a meeting of the coaches of the school teams to discuss the changes in the rule of the tournament, which is scheduled to start in November.

“Whatever Sachin thinks for cricket will always be for the betterment of it. We should wholeheartedly support it,” said Memon.