‘Dada had to go to the middle’ – Aakash Chopra recalls hilarious moment with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra went down the memory lane, recalling a hilarious occuring from the 2007 Test at the Newlands in Cape Town. In that game, which South Africa won by five wickets, an incident took place during India’s second innings after Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn nipped out Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag respectively.

Sachin Tendulkar, who was set to bat at no.4, couldn’t go after he spent a few minutes off the field in the previous day. Graeme Smith, the hosts’ skipper, also complained to umpire Daryl Harper, who had to convince the captain that Sachin’s delay wasn’t deliberate.

Chopra said that the Indian team was in a fix as VVS Laxman was in the shower and skipper Sourav Ganguly didn’t want to go to bat. In the end, it was Ganguly, who stepped out and returned after scoring 46 off 89 with five fours. Chopra put forth his memories in the latest video uploaded in his Facebook page.

Finally, Dada was made to enter the field: Aakash Chopra

“Sachin Tendulkar, who was ready for his batting, picked up his bat and went into the field. But the fourth umpire told Sachin that he could not bat at the time because Sachin had been out of the ground on the third day for some time based on which he could have batted only after another 5 mins,” Chopra said.

“Now with VVS taking bath, Dada was the only person left to go the middle. Sourav Ganguly, who was not ready at all for his batting. So, someone was giving Dada his shirt, someone his trouser and another person getting his bat. And two players were making him wear his pads,” he stated.

“In between all this hurry, finally Dada was made to enter the field. And Laxman was coming out smiling from the shower. VVS bhai, your batting came and went as well without you going onto the pitch. Something like that might have happened for the first time in cricketing history,” Chopra added.

Laxman, eventually, came out to bat at no.6, but perished after scoring only a solitary run. Sachin didn’t manage many runs either, notching 14 off 62. India were bowled out for 169 in their second innings and South Africa, comfortably, chased down 211.