“He is intelligent and has a sharp cricket brain. Plus, he is very agile. The way he was taking his singles and twos was just top-class. He batted the best in India’s first innings here,” said Boycott, who played his last Test for England at the Eden Gardens way back in the 1981-82 season. He left the tour in controversial circumstances.

Sachin Tendulkar

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England were led by Keith Fletcher.

Boycott highlighted the fact that India have had to cope with the retirements of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who served the country for more than a decade. “In the absence of these two players, India need Tendulkar’s guidance and they will benefit from it. But Tendulkar should play straight and take no risks whatsoever. He should concentrate only on orthodox shots. If he can manage to do that, he will get big scores – come forward, play straight and keep it simple,” Boycott advised.