Had to beg and plead for a chance to open batting in 1994, says Sachin Tendulkar
One of the biggest ambassadors of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar has been the man across eras and the day he scored the first of his 49 ODI hundreds he had to ask for a chance to let him open the batting. It was 1994, a time when there was hardly any room for change, Sachin asked to open.
Twenty four years of Sachin Tendulkar's career is probably the most celebrated era in Indian cricket and the one who would become one of the best international batsmen in the history of cricket had to take a leap of faith before he could score his first ODI hundred. The highest international run-grosser as runs in ODIs and Tests, Tendulkar had to abandon the fear of failure in order to become as successful as he is today.
Back in the early 90s, the orthodox batsman were preferred way above than making any drastic change but it was Tendulkar who was looking to switch from the middle-order to opening the innings, as the Master Blaster revealed in a recent chat show. Back in September 1994, when he smashed his first ODI hundred, he had to beg and plead for the opportunity to open because the mindset at that stage was to keep things as they were.
“In 1994, when I started opening the batting for India, the strategy used by all teams was to save wickets. What I tried to do was slightly out of the box. I thought I could go up front and take the opposition bowlers on. But I had to beg and plead to please give me a chance. If I fail, I won’t come after you again,” Tendulkar said in a video on LinkedIn.
He concluded, “In that first match [against New Zealand at Auckland], I scored 82 off 49 balls, so I didn’t have to ask again if I would get another chance. They were keen for me to open. But what I’m trying to say here is, don’t be afraid of failure,” he added.
What followed is a glorious career spanning 385 ODIs, in which Tendulkar would amass 49 hundreds and scored more than 16,000 runs in the format. He is the only cricketer till date to have 100 international centuries to his name.
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