Not bothered about bowling to Tendulkar : Caddick

Kolkata, January 14: England's pace spearhead Andrew Caddick today said that he was not bothered about maestro Sachin Tendulkar's reputation and felt that not having bowled to Indian batsmen before could be an advantage for him.

''Tendulkar is a great batsman but it does not really bother me at all. I am not worried about bowling to him. The Indians have never faced me, so it could work in my favour'', Caddick told reporters during a tea party get-together with the England team.

Caddick, who chose not to tour India for the test series before Christmas, said that he was not unduly worried about the reputation of some of the Indian batsmen and was looking forward to the challenge of bowling to them.

''I had been to Pakistan and Sri Lanka but had never toured India before, so I am really looking forward to bowl here. I will try to take as many wickets as possible'' the 33-year-old speedster said.

Caddick admitted that beating the Indians at home was going to be a tough task but England have a good and balanced side. ''The Indians have played a lot more one-dayers compared to our team. They have a lot more experience. But we have to keep learning and keep improving''.

Asked whether he had planned any particular strategy to counter the opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, Caddick shot back ''I will just try my best and bowl the way I do''.

Caddick, who has captured 181 wickets in 50 test matches so far, said that the ''young'' England team was going through a learning curve and the new players were shaping up well.

''We have not been doing too well in the shorter version of the game, but we are improving. It all depends on how you do on that day. The team that does well on that particular day will win'', the lanky fast bowler explained.

Caddick said that the one-dayers were a totally different ball game and forced the players to play differently. ''It has several different aspects, it makes the cricketers play differently. We are learning a lot about one-dayers''.

He said that the youngsters in the team had played a lot of one-dayers in the domestic circuit in England but did not have the experience of playing in international matches which made a lot of difference.

Asked why he chose not to tour India for the test series, Caddick said that the situation in Afghanistan and his two-week old baby influenced him to skip the first leg of the tour.

On why he decided to return for the one-day series, the paceman said ''I have been fairly successful as a one-day bowler also. I am trying to make sure that I hold on to my place in the team''.

''A player always regrets for not being able to play a series, but it is part of life. But I am old and wise enough to know some things. Whoever takes my place has to be a good player'', he said.

He said that the presence of young fast bowlers like Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard had eased the burden on Darren Gough and himself to some extent.