MUMBAI: he’s arguably the best batsman the world has ever seen. however if he had his method, Sachin Tendulkar would have loved to be a tear-away fast. Tendulkar was enamoured by the art of fast bowling.
Perhaps, he was influenced by the good west indian fast bowlers who terrorised batsmen all over the globe while Sachin was growing up. it had been with the hope of turning into a top-class seamer that he visited the MRF Pace Foundation,
only to be rejected by Australian great Dennis Lillee .
Like most quick bowlers, Sachin wanted dishing out the ‘short stuff.’
A nearest friends disclose some qualities like “There was a ‘mischievous’ side to him, that he disclosed only to his . Right from his school days he wanted bowling the bouncer.
Whenever Tendulkar had the ball in hand, he would like to ‘slide’ during a short ball,” one of Tendulkar’s nearest buddies, Atul Ranade reveals and adds, “It would amuse him no end to visualize the batsman hopping around.”
Ranade recalled an interesting incident from Tendulkar’s college days that illustrates his penchant for ‘chin music.’ “Before a game, we were practising in our (Shardashram) college corridor with a golf ball. you recognize however a ball will bounce. Obviously, we weren’t practising with our helmets on. Sachin bowled a bouncer at my fellow opener Rupak Mulyet which hit him flush on the forehead,” he reminisced.
There was a time when Tendulkar the fast bowler all over up hurting a batsman too! “Mumbai were taking part in Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match in the 1990-91 season. In those days, a Delhi vs Mumbai game was like an India-Pakistan match. in a close game, Mumbai eked out a one-run 1st innings lead. Throughout the sport, there was a ‘bouncer war’ on. when Delhi’s Atul Wassan, Manoj Prabhakar and Sanjeev Sharma – all India fast bowlers – had peppered bouncers generously at US, it had been Mumbai’s turn to ‘return the compliment.’
“After Salil Ankola and Raju Kulkarni dished out the short stuff, Sachin selected to ‘contribute’ too. His well-directed bouncer resulted in a broken nose for Bantoo Singh, who was batting with a helmet sans the grille. Sachin told US later that he felt miserable after that as Bantoo was one of the nicest guys in the Delhi team,” Ranade recalled.
According to Ranade, Tendulkar wasn’t a bad pacer in any respect, particularly early on in his career. “In inter-school cricket, he would acquire 3 or four wickets regularly. He was a skiddy client and he had a nasty bouncer. He had a quick-arm action and will move the ball both ways. Even when evaluation 100, he had the stamina to run in with the new ball,” Ranade remarked.
A good example was the fourth test at adelaide during India’s 1992 tour of Australia once he picked up the scalps of Mark Taylor and Allan Border. Later on, he switched to bowling spin.
And boy, he was good at that too.