Sachin Tendulkar's 241* remains one of the finest-ever knocks played at the SCG against Australia.
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The message to #PlaySafe echoed loud through Lara's voice as he reminded everyone how the mighty Indian showed all the powers of concentration and discipline to overcome a dip in form and play one of his best-ever knocks at the SCG.
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Tendulkar was enduring a rare slump with the bat leading up to the fourth Test of that Border-Gavaskar Trophy, specifically getting out driving through the cover a lot. But then, his genius shone through as the great man decided not to play a single drive through the off-side, which for a naturally attacking batsman is such a hard thing to do, and went on to successfully execute the plan for the best part of two days at the crease.
"Can you imagine playing Test cricket at the age of 16 and do that for the next 24 years, that's just unbelievable," Lara could be heard saying in a video shared by him over Instagram.
"Sachin played some amazing innings throughout his career but none with more discipline and determination than his knock of 241 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground," he added.
The video has been made in hope that people will learn from Tendulkar's restraint in this phase - "touch (only those) things you know you're safe with" and that if "he (Tendulkar) can do it, so can you!".
That innings must be very close to Tendulkar's heart, for he was able to overcome his instincts for the team cause.
"I had got out a couple of times to balls bowled outside the off-stump. So I decided not to play the cover-drive", Tendulkar was quoted as saying.
"They (Aussies) were bowling consistently outside the off-stump, and I decided to leave all those balls", added the Master Blaster as he made the opposition pacers bowl to his body and played some beautiful shots through the on-side.