Bowling to Tendulkar and Dravid was ‘nerve-wracking’- Shaun Tait

Albeit India haven’t won a Test series yet in Australia, they have had a few fond memories, one of them was their victory at the WACA in Perth by 72 runs back in January 2018. It was the same four-match series which was a witness to the infamous ‘Monkeygate’ scandal, involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. However, fast bowler Shaun Tait didn’t have any good memories from that match.

He was one of Australia’s primary fast bowlers as he remained wicketless for 21 overs. In the first innings, he was able to bowl only a solitary maiden and conceded 59 runs. Skipper Ricky Ponting didn’t show much trust in him in the second innings and he ended up bowling only eight overs. Recently, the 35-year-old talked about his difficult times and his experience of bowling to Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

It took some time to get back

“Didn’t turn up that well. That wasn’t a fun memory at all. There was a lot of build-up before the Test match. The talk that ‘the guy would bowl at 170kmph’ is not real. I just went through a bad time mentally and physically during that phase. I ended up stopping playing for a few months after that,” Tait was quoted as saying in The Mirror.

“It took some time to get back. But I have had a few good games against India in limited overs cricket. Given the controversy before that Test, there was a lot riding on that game. I had a bit of an injury at that time and mentally too I wasn’t in the right space. So for me, the whole thing is a bit of a blur. Bowling to guys like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid was a bit nerve-wracking also,” he added.

Along with retired speedster Brett Lee, Tait was regarded as one of the fastest bowlers Australia have ever produced. However, the South Australia-born fast bowler couldn’t live up to expectations owing to inconsistent performances and frequent injuries. Tait ended up playing only three Tests, 35 ODIs and 21 T20Is for his country.

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