Former England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar recently recalled one of his famous and greatest balls, which dismissed the Indian cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar, during the 2012-13 Test series.
During their 2012 England tour of India, the tourists added Panesar into their XI after suffering massive nine-wicket defeat the opening Test in Ahmedabad and he did magic for the English side, as the spinner took a five-wicket-haul to help his team to beat the hosts by 10 wickets.
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His five-wicket-haul was included the epic wicket of Tendulkar with a delivery which left-arm spinners can only dream of at Wankhede – which is now considered better than the one that Shane Warne famously bowled to bamboozle Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes.
With Tendulkar batting on 8, Panesar delivered a ball with perfect curve and at the right place before it landed outside leg and beat Tendulkar’s defense to hit the top of his off-stump and former spinner said this memory still is atop of them all.
Panesar told ESPNCricinfo: “When I bowled that ball to [Sachin] Tendulkar, I could remember the training I did. When I bowled [in the Tests] I was like, gosh, I feel so fit, I feel strong, my action feels great, I felt like I could really flight the ball and spin it. I remember saying to myself, right, I want to hit the top of off stump. That was it.”
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He added, “Sometimes it’s the visualization, isn’t it? I remember when I listened to Glenn McGrath’s videos, he said it’s the feel. Sometimes I looked at the spot [on the pitch], sometimes it’s the feel. I didn’t think I was going to get the batsman out like that. I just thought, let me get this ball to hit the top of off stump. Sachin paaji tried to play it towards mid-on, and it kind of pitched and hit off stump.”
Panesar concluded, “You look at that delivery. His balance was perfect, but he completely misjudged the length, the curve on the ball, and he honestly thought it was just a ball that is going to skid on, with the pace that I bowled, towards leg stump. But it didn’t. It was a great ball. It was something that I would say was probably a better ball than Shane Warne [to Mike Gatting].”
