The most prodigious run-scorer of all time, Sachin Tendulkar was the most complete batter of his day, perhaps of all time. Tendulkar, who holds the record for the most runs scored in both ODIs and Tests, was the player to watch for throughout the majority of his career.

Bowlers avoided badgering the "little master" out of fear of upsetting him with their actions or words.

While commentating recently on the third ODI between India and the West Indies, former cricketer Deep Dasgupta recounted the story of an Indian bowler Ashoke Dinda who made the mistake of sledging Tendulkar and the Bengal team paid a heavy price for it.

When Bengal and Mumbai faced off in the 2006/07 Ranji Trophy final, Mumbai had an XI that included stars like Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, and a young Rohit Sharma. Dasgupta described an incident from that match.

“It was the Ranji Trophy final between Bengal and Mumbai. I was the captain of Bengal, we had won the toss and opted to bowl. It was a wet wicket and they had lost a few quick wickets. It was a proper Mumbai side, with Zaheer, Ajit, Rohit.. you name it,” he began.

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He recalled that Dinda had a habit of glaring at the batters every time he beat them. Dasgupta had categorically asked the seamer to not do that against Sachin.

“They lost two wickets early and Sachin came out to bat. It was the first season of Ashoke Dinda, he was young and fast. I had already told him, 'With Sachin, you just come and bowl'. Dinda had this habit at that time that whenever he would beat the batter, he would just take 2-3 extra steps in his follow throw and glare at him. So, I categorically told him, 'Don't say anything to Sachin'.”

As it would turn out, Dinda did glare at Sachin after beating him on one occasion, and the 'Master Blaster' responded to the gaze not with words but rather with his bat as he did throughout his career.

"Then, on one ball, he bowls a little short, it bounces off the wicket and hits Sachin on the elbow. He shakes his hand, it was clear that he was hurt. And then, Dinda comes and starts glaring at him. I was like, "What are you doing man!". I came running towards him, put my hand on his shoulder, and said, 'go back, go back'. And then, Sachin got an 80 or a 100 (105). So, you got to be careful about what you speak to whom. Because players like him can punish you," Dasgupta finished.

Bengal eventually lost the match by a massive margin of 132 runs.

(HT INPUTS)