Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar who is the only batsman in the world to score 100 international centuries, was considered to be a big wicket for any bowler in any format of the game.
If Tendulkar got going, he did not give oppositions any chance to get back into the game and has done that many times in his illustrious career of 24 years. Thus, in a recent interaction, former England spinner Monty Panesar revealed how they planned to get the legendary batsman’s wicket.
“Every time there used to be an interval... the first five minutes or the end of the interval when Sachin paaji looked like he wanted to close out. We thought that was the best time to get Sachin out. After lunch or tea, the first five minutes used to be crucial,” Panesar said.
“It’s like a car that takes 5-7 minutes to warm up. Once it’s away, there is nothing stopping it. If you missed it, you had to wait for the next interval,” he added.
The left-arm spinner who got Tendulkar’s wicket as his maiden wicket in Test cricket at Nagpur in England’s tour of India back in 2006, then talked about how the England team would go about after the break.
“This is how I dismissed Sachin so many times. Those 5-10 minutes... James Anderson knew this was the opportunity. The first five minutes after every interval, Sachin would take a little time, but once he was set, then he was difficult to get out,” the 39-year-old said.
The Mumbai-based batsman represented India in 200 Tests with 15,921 runs and 463 ODIs with 18,426 runs to his name.
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
