'Tendulkar is quite a hard man to get inside the head of'

At his finest, Andrew Strauss can frustrate the opposition with his mix of aggression and defence. But at his worst, the 34-year-old England captain often meekly capitulates – his technique looks out of place and mentally, he seems down. The good bit for India in this argument is that many of his worst days have come against Zaheer Khan and that gives skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But if Strauss’ form in the tour game against India is anything to go by, then the Indian team isn’t going to have it easy. He attacked from the word ‘go’ and if Alistair Cook and Jonathan Trott can continue their wonderful run of form, then India will be spending a lot of time fielding during the series. In this free-wheeling interview, taken just before he hammered a century against the  Indians during the tour match, Strauss speaks about his preparation and his plans for Sachin Tendulkar and Co. What have you been up to since the Sri Lanka series? I have been reasonably busy over the last couple of weeks or so – a lot of which has been preparation work for this series; batting work with Graham Gooch and I have been to two or three of the One-dayers to speak to Andy Flower about preparations for the India series, and I’ve been in the gym trying to get as fit as possible. It has been nice to take a step back but the nearer we get to the Test series the more eagerly I am awaiting its arrival. I have probably done six or seven sessions with Goochie over the last couple of weeks or so. What was it like, being away from the action? It has been different. I have been playing One-day cricket for the last couple of years and to not play is an adjustment but I think they have done fantastically well. Alastair Cook had an amazing start to his tenure as One-day captain and it is a start for a new curve for the One-day side. They got off to a really good start and they have some stern tests to come which I am sure they are capable of overcoming. How did India’s new coach Duncan Fletcher change you when he was with England? He made me aware of what Test cricket actually entailed. Mentally, preparation-wise, some technical work that he felt I needed to do – especially against spin. He is a great sort of father figure, Duncan Fletcher, he has been there, done it all, seen it all and once he worked with you for a while it was very hard not to be very loyal to him as a bloke. Cricket is in his veins, he loves the game and there is no bigger challenge than the India job – for someone like him it is probably the dream job. What did Fletcher do with you specifically? There is not one particular thing but he helped with that adjustment from county cricketer, when you’re used to playing in England on English wickets, to adapting to overseas conditions, all different surfaces around the world and he helped me to be able to find the tools to be able to adjust my game. A lot of it was just talking through stuff. He was always the sort of guy who you would ask a question to and he wouldn’t give you the first thing that came into his head – he would go away and think about it and come back with a very clear and considered answer. How does Fletcher compare with Andy Flower? It is different characters. There are a lot of similarities: they are both very loyal, they have both got very good cricket brains but they are different personalities completely. It doesn’t mean they are not equally effective. [caption id=“attachment_43713” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Andrew Strauss has never beaten India as a player. Stu Forster/Getty Images”]  [/caption] Are you concerned about Fletcher’s inside knowledge of the England team? I don’t think so. The planning is an important part of a Test series and in recent years all teams have got a lot better at it but what happens in the middle is always slightly divorced from the plan when you have got to be able to adapt to what the pitch is playing like on a given day, what the opposition are doing and no coach can help you with that. That is something you have got to do in the middle either as a bowling side or a batting side. Will that great century you scored against India in the World Cup help your confidence for this series? I don’t think so – it is such a different format of the game. I have had my share of success against India in the past and I have had my share of failure as well. Their team won’t be dramatically different from the teams we have encountered in the past. It is all there in front of me and the rest of the lads. We are just going to have to make sure we are as prepared as we possibly can be and mentally tuned into the level of cricket we are going to have to play over the next five weeks. You have never beaten India as a player have you? We drew 1-1 in India, lost 0-1 in England and lost 0-1 away also so that just shows the extent of the challenge and that makes me very motivated and I am sure the rest of the guys are as well. Personally I think home advantage counts for quite a lot. Our form over the last two years has been strong and therefore we have got quite a lot of latent confidence that we can win from any situation in the game. But they are not going to be easy games. We are not expecting to be winning by an innings every time we play and there are going to be important periods of play whether it is one session or a half hour period of play that might be the difference between winning and losing the series. Is there any risk that you will show Sachin Tendulkar too much respect? I don’t think that is the way our team operates. He completely deserves a huge amount of praise for what he has achieved in the game and I am more than happy to give it to him. But in the middle we will be even more determined to get him out as a result of what he has achieved in the game. Our bowlers will think it is a fantastic challenge for them and it is a challenge they are definitely up for. It is going to be intriguing to see how he plays and how we counteract his strengths. Will his target of 100 hundreds affect him? [caption id=“attachment_43732” align=“alignright” width=“310” caption=“Strauss says his boys are more determined to get Sachin Tendulkar (above) out as a result of what the Indian has achieved in the game. Stu Forster/Getty Images”]  [/caption] I think he is quite a hard man to get inside the head of. He bats with calmness but I am sure that in his mind he would love to get a 100 at Lord’s. It would be a fantastic way for him to reach 100 hundreds. It would be a bit of a fairy tale for him but I am not a big fan of those sorts of fairy tales to be honest with you. I prefer our own fairy tales. Will you sledge him? I don’t like the world sledging but what I would say is that we will be trying as hard as possible to make all their batsmen feel as uncomfortable as possible in the middle and he is no exception to that. When did you first see him bat? I first saw him in that 1990 series. The first Test match I ever went to watch live when Graham Gooch got his 333. I was 13. I have had a few chats with him over the years. He is the ultimate ambassador for the game, very humble, very polite and he enjoys talking about the game. He is obviously still in love with the game of cricket and that’s what drives him on. Will you be around at age 38? We shall see. All I can say is that I have definitely still got the hunger now and hopefully that won’t be subsiding any time soon. Are you worried by the form of Stuart Broad? He is clearly frustrated that he has not taken more wickets recently. That is the same for all of us if you are not performing up to the standards you are used to it hurts you. I don’t think he is doing a lot wrong. The key thing is to be patient and persevere and not try and change his method too much. Stick to what he knows, keep banging out a length consistently and as we have seen from most of our bowlers, when they have done that over the last couple of years it has generally worked. Is there confusion about Broad’s role – is he the enforcer? That is not his role in the side and it has never has been. Occasionally the situation dictates that you want to go short on a particular batsman and I think he is our best bowler at doing that but that is not his role in the side. His role is not fundamentally different from Anderson or Tremlett which is to build up pressure. He has got so many outstanding attributes. He bowls at good pace, gets good bounce and if he is banging out a length consistently he is going to be effective. Virender Sehwag is out for the first two Tests possibly – does that give England an early chance? Absolutely. He has got that ability to take the game away from opposition sides very quickly. So if they are a bit weaker for him not being at the top of the side it is important we take advantage of that. What have you changed in your game recently? The last couple of weeks I have just been trying to tighten up my game a bit. There may be one or two little things that have crept in over the World Cup when we were playing a lot of One-day cricket. So I am just trying to go back to some of the fundamentals I had prior to that. I don’t want to be changing anything radically at this stage of my career. A lot of the dismissals I had in that Sri Lanka Test series I could have avoided if my decision making had been better. I don’t think it was a huge technical thing.