Ian Gould told me he was afraid to give Sachin out on 190, jokes Dale Steyn
Steyn believes that he got Sachin out on 190 in the Gwalior ODI
|BCCI
Dale Steyn, who was at the receiving end of Sachin Tendulkarās double-century in Gwalior in 2010, recalled how umpire Ian Gould turned down a plumb LBW call as he was scared to rule Sachin out on 190. Steyn further revealed how intimidating it was to bowl to Sachin on his home ground, the Wankhede.
On February 24, 2010, the city of Gwalior was witness to one of the greatest knocks played in ODI history, with the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar scripting history, becoming the first man to breach the ā200ā barrier in ODI cricket. And at the receiving end of Sachinās masterclass was a strong South African side that had a potent bowling attack in the form of Dale Steyn, Charl Langvedlt, Wayne Parnell and Roelof van der Merwe.Ā
Recalling the Little Masterās masterclass in a Sky Sports Podcast with Jimmy Anderson, Nasser Hussain and Rob Key, Steyn revealed how he was sure that heād trapped Sachin plumb in front when the Indian was in his 190s, only to be outrightly denied by umpire Ian Gould. According to Steyn, Gould told him that āhe wouldnāt make it back to the hotelā had he given Sachin out, jokingly citing it as the reason for not ruling the Master Blaster out.
āHe did score a lot of runs against us. He scored the first double-hundred in ODI cricket, and it was against us in Gwalior. And I actually remember ā I think I got him out lbw when he was about 190-odd. Gouldy [Ian Gould] was the umpire, and he gave him not out,ā Steyn said in the podcast, reported Wisden.
āAnd I was like, āwhy, why did you give him not out!? Thatās so dead.ā And he was like, āmate, look around ā if I gave him out, I wonāt make it back to the hotelāā.
Having found himself at the forefront of many a battle against Sachin, Steyn was full of praise for the Little Master and went on to recall how intimidating and harrowing it was to bowl against the Master Blaster in Mumbai, where the crowds would lose their mind if he hit a boundary. The 36-year-old pacer stated that the only way of getting Sachin out was to put the ball in the right areas and āhopeā that he nicks or misjudges one.
āHe was so good, and very rarely got out lbw. And, like Jimmy said, you just didnāt want to bowl a bad ball to him. Especially in a place like India. You bowl a bad bowl, and he hits you four ā heās on nought and he hits you for four in Mumbai, it feels like the world is closing in on you. Heās only on 4 not out, he may as well have been on 500,ā Steyn said of Sachin.
āYou feel like, āmaybe I could bring the pace down a little bit and really focus on getting the ball in the right place for as long as I possibly canā. You just didnāt want to bowl a bad ball. And you just hope. Heās got it covered, heās got everyone shot in the book ā you just hope one will do something off the seam or heās got an off day, and it goes in your favour.ā