'Extra caution with drives': Hannan's advice echoes Tendulkar's Sydney masterclass

Former national team opener and current Bangladesh Under-19 head coach Hannan Sarkar has urged the Tigers' top-order batters to curb their instinct to play the cover drive in Australia's testing conditions, advice that echoes the blueprint behind Sachin Tendulkar's iconic unbeaten 241 in Sydney in 2004.

Hannan, Bangladesh's highest run-scorer during the Tigers' only previous Test tour of Australia in 2003, believes restraint outside off stump will be crucial when Najmul Hossain Shanto's side begin the two-match Test series on August 13 in Darwin.

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"I think there is a need for extra caution for deliveries in the slot for driving," Hannan said on Tuesday.

"On these kinds of bouncy wickets, driving the ball is always challenging. There is movement too alongside extra bounce. I scored two fifties in 2003 and if you analyse them, you will see that I scored maximum number of my runs against spin. I didn't score much against the pacers. The pacers will entice them with deliveries to play a few shots," Hannan recalled from experience.

His advice closely resembles the approach Tendulkar adopted during his celebrated unbeaten 241 against Australia in the Sydney Test in 2004.

Confronted by an attack featuring Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Nathan Bracken, Tendulkar shelved his cover drive after recognising Australia's plan to lure him into playing at deliveries outside off stump. By refusing to drive on the up, he removed the risk of edging to the slip cordon, gully or wicketkeeper and forced the bowlers to alter their lines. When they eventually strayed onto his pads, he capitalised.

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"Not playing the cover drive wasn't part of my plan but the moment I went out to the ground and I saw that the Australians are trying to play with my patience and are bowling all balls outside off. That's when something inside me triggered. 'Ok, you are challenging me by playing with my patience. Let's see who loses it first - me or you 11'. And then I started leaving everything. Even if I'm batting on 150 and you bowl outside off, you get a maiden, but I'm not going to play what you want me to play," Tendulkar later recalled of his iconic innings.

Hannan believes Bangladesh's batters will need a similar level of discipline against Australia's world-class pace attack.

The world's best bowlers will look to entice the batters into drives. But it is the batter who has to know which his scoring zones are.

"The world's best bowlers will look to entice the batters into drives. But it is the batter who has to know which his scoring zones are. While playing aggressively and scoring 300-plus is now becoming traditional, you still have to choose your scoring shots carefully. If you can pick safe scoring shots and keep the runs going, you can contribute to a big total," Hannan concluded on the ploys Bangladesh's top order can use in Australia.