Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn, who recently retired from international cricket, used to concentrate on the 'weaker' link when India cricket great Sachin Tendulkar was in the middle. He admitted to deliberately concede a single to Sachin to bowl at other batsmen.

Steyn himself was one of the greatest fast bowlers of his era and he has troubled even the most skilled batters. But when it comes to Tendulkar, the Proteas pacer knew "there's no point wasting energy".

ALSO READ:  Dale Steyn picks the toughest batsmen to bowl to during his career; picks his favorite wicket

“Yeah, definitely. As a fast bowler I want to run in and to everyone, I want to bowl high speeds all day long, but sometimes you just know that, sometimes, the guy batting at the other end isn’t affected, it doesn’t bother him and he’s not concerned, so there’s no point wasting energy. So you concentrate on the ‘weaker’ link,” Steyn said in an FAQ on the RMS Advisory global website. 

Steyn added that he always went for the 'babies' and tried taking them down as it wasn't easy to target the 'big buffaloes' who weren't bothered by him so much. “They will always target the weakest link so that they can carry on surviving and that’s exactly what I did in my cricket. There’s no point in going for the big buffalo if he’s going to take you down.

"I went for the babies, knocking them off one by one. And I could still win. So yes, give him the single, bowl to the other guy,” he explained.

Steyn announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after featuring in 93 Tests (439 wickets), 125 ODIs (196 wickets), and 47 T20Is (64 wickets). The speedster had already quit Test format in August 2019 to focus on the limited-overs cricket.