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Ravi Shastri told Sachin Tendulkar 'you shut up' when he wanted to sledge the opposition, said, 'wait till I get my 100'
Sachin Tendulkar wanted to have a crack at Australia but was immediately told to ‘shut up’ by his batting partner Ravi Shastri.
Sachin Tendulkar made a career out of two things – Being the best batter of his time and remaining one of the most non-controversial figures while doing so. Throughout Tendulkar's 25-year-long career, the Master Blaster hardly lost his composure – or even if he did, Sachin hardly let it dictate his emotions. Skip the one-off incident of the verbal assault he unleashed on Glenn McGrath during the ICC Champions Trophy Knockout in Nairobi. He might have given the Aussie a mouthful, yet Tendulkar remained the picture of composure — at least, that’s what the world saw.
However, were you aware that Tendulkar wasn't always this way? Former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri recalled an instance when an 18-year-old Tendulkar was about to unleash on the mighty Aussies but was stopped by his teammate. Tendulkar, in 1991/92, embarked on his maiden tour of Australia as an Indian cricketer, and with Test centuries in Perth and Sydney, marked his arrival on the world stage. But it wasn't without a bit of drama. In the Sydney Test, another Indian player who scored a century was Shastri, bludgeoning 200
"I remember playing at the SCG. It was Sachin's first tour. I had just reached a hundred, and Sachin had just come to bat. And he was being sledged by the Waugh brothers – Steve and Mark. 'You little this, you little that'. And Mike Whitney had come on to the field as a 12th man. I was having a pow-pow with Allan Border until I reached my 100. He took the ball in his hand and said, ‘Get back into your crease; I’ll break your head'. I turned around there. There were mics, and you could be fined. And on the centre of the pitch, I shouted across the SCG ‘Hey Mike! If you can claim to throw as well as you can bowl, you wouldn’t be the 12th man of Australia. And that was it," Shastri said during the Summer of Cricket Lunch hosted by Cricket Act.
When it's Australia, sledging is a guarantee
When it comes to sledging, Australian cricketers never hold back – that’s just what you expect from them. The constant chatter, from players and fans alike, is so relentless that it could almost expand your vocabulary. Everyone copes with it in their own way. And in this case, watching Shastri take the fight to the Aussies, even a young Tendulkar felt the urge to have a go at the opposition.
"Sachin came to me and said, 'Wait till I get to my hundred. I will also give them some of this’. I told Sachin 'You shut up. You’ve got enough class; your bat will do the talking. Let me do the talking. And from 100 to 200, there wasn't a word but at the end of the game, they were the first guys in the dressing room with a beer. Play hard. You’ve got to be competitive. That’s what the crowd expects. That’s what the players expect," added Shastri.
As things unfolded, Tendulkar indeed did most of the talking with his bat as he went on to dominate Australia during his career, excelling against the best team of his era, plundering 6707 runs against them across ODIs and Tests.
