Sachin Tendulkar: As a part of putting psychological pressure, bowlers, particularly fast bowlers, taunt and sledge at the opposing batsman. Legendary batters have a different strategy for responding to the ploy—they use the bat—even if it could succeed against some hitters. By provoking Brian Lara during the Caribbean tour of 1994, England’s fast bowler Andrew Caddick had already ruined his hands. He selected Sachin Tendulkar as his opponent this time.
Tendulkar responded to Caddick with bat
In the 2003 World Cup, India and England took contrasting paths. India made a tentative start against the Netherlands before suffering a crushing loss against Australia, where they later recovered. Even though England had three victories in a row, their forfeit against Zimbabwe left them on edge. This put both sides in a contest in Durban that had to be won.
Also Read: Hockey World Cup 2023: Team India gets off to a flying start, beats Spain by 2-0 in the opener
Following Tendulkar’s impressive century against Namibia, Caddick opted to needlessly antagonize India’s top batsmen. Caddick said “India should not take pride in scoring 300-plus against Namibia. They were aided more by the nimble-fingered Namibians than their batting strength. Even Sachin did not play well despite his century. Sachin’s just like another batsman in the Indian team, and there are a lot of others in the Indian side.”
The Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar walked out to bat while Caddick’s remarks echoed in their ears. On the second ball he faced off of Caddick, Tendulkar made his intentions known by smacking a boundary. The opening pair kept attacking the English pacers for runs, but the eighth over was particularly noteworthy. The opening ball of this over was struck by Tendulkar through the leg side for a four. The maestro spun around and lofted the next ball, which was short and wide, high and far over the midwicket boundary. The shot is still remembered fondly today and was eventually acclaimed as the shot of the tournament.
Watch the viral Sachin Tendulkar video here
As a result of being caught at point by Andrew Flintoff, Tendulkar finally got out for 50 off 52 balls. But in 19 balls, Caddick was the target of 36 of these runs (6 fours and 1 six). Claiming all three of his wickets in the last over, the English bowler finished with the final statistics of 69/3 in his ten overs. Ashish Nehra bowled a fantastic spell of 6/23, which contributed to India’s score of 250/9 being sufficient. India moved up after securing a berth in the super six.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER
