'Tendulkar can't play the cut shot well'

Former Pakistan fast bowler Ata-ur Rahman has picked an apparent weakness in Sachin Tendulkar's batting armory.

Rahman, who had his life ban lifted last March, told rediff.com that "Tendulkar can't play the cut shot well" and that often leads to his downfall.

"I have dismissed him twice and I know that any ball pitched short outside the off stump worries Tendulkar.

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"Tendulkar is a great batsman but I often got his wicket. He has himself admitted that he had trouble facing me," he said.

Rahman dismissed Tendulkar for the first time in 1994, in Sharjah, and then bowled him in the 1996 World Cup match, at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. India won that thriller of a game by 39 runs.

The Pakistan Cricket Board had banned Rahman for his involvement in the match-fixing scandal. He had alleged that Wasim Akram offered to pay him to bowl badly in a match against New Zealand.

Criticizing Pakistan's bowling, Rahman said all the pace bowlers are trying to attack at the same time, which is resulting in the excessive number of wides and no balls being conceded.

"During our time, Wasim Akram was the bowler who would attack and we would support him. If one bowler is attacking then you can afford the extras. But no team can afford every fast bowler going all out," he added.

He feels Pakistan should only have Shoaib Akhtar attacking and Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed supporting him.