Sachin goes one notch higher in Oz: Ganguly

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is confident that his ex-teammate Sachin Tendulkar will come back strongly against Australia in the second Test that starts Tuesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Sachin Tendulkar

Ganguly, who is a commentator with the host broadcaster, said: "There was lot of talk before the start of the series about how big it will be for the Australian summer, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and V VS Laxman coming Down Under -- excepting Sehwag, probably for the last time -- to take on the young Aussie pace bowlers."

Ganguly find the hype and the excitement quite justified. "Tendulkar has always been very highly rated in this part of the world -- one can say everywhere -- but I just get a feeling that when one comes to this country, the excitement with him has been just that more every time and, to be honest, his batting just goes one notch higher on the hard, bouncy pitches," Ganguly wrote in his column in The Age.

Ganguly said as Tendulkar gets ready to plays on his favourite ground, the SCG, next week all fans will have their fingers crossed when he walks out to bat. "The rest of the Indian batting will have its work cut out in this series. Sehwag has been patchy in the first Test -- and probably in his few tours overseas in the past couple of years -- and although he can be very dangerous when he gets going, he will have to buckle down a bit and tighten his game early in his innings," he said.

Ganguly said over the years, Tendulkar's game has stood up every time it has been challenged. "The perfect examples were his two hundreds last winter in South Africa. There were questions asked about the ageing Indian batting: whether they could stand up on the pitches in South Africa, which to me, had as much pace as Australian pitches, but just seamed around a bit more then they did here."u00a0