'Indians will never forgive me' - Glenn McGrath narrates the reaction of Indian fans after taking Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in 2003 WC

Australia got the better of India in 2003 World Cup finals.

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Glenn McGrath
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Glenn McGrath. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

The Indian cricket team had a memorable run in ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 as they reached the finals of the tournament. However, their hopes of winning the prestigious trophy were dashed by Australia as the latter registered a classy victory over the Men in Blue by a massive margin of 125 runs.

Reminiscing the sweet memories of 2003 World Cup, Australia’s right-arm fast-medium pacer Glenn McGrath revealed that he is still hated by many Indian cricket fans for dismissing the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar while he was playing on four. Batting first, Australia managed to post a humongous total of 359/2 on the board in their 50 overs. The captain Ricky Ponting led from front as he scored a scintillating 140 along with Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn adding 57 and 87 runs respectively to the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, India had high hopes from the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar to provide them a dream start in the final. Tendulkar was brilliant with the bat throughout the tournament as he had collected 669 runs with the willow, however, he failed to weave his magic on that day and was sent back to the pavilion while batting at 4.

Glenn McGrath narrates the incident of 2003 WC

Bowling the first over of the second innings of the match, McGrath bowled two dot balls but in the third ball, Tendulkar got better of him and hit him for a boundary. The opening batsman was hoping to score another boundary but he failed to read the ball properly, and was caught and bowled by McGrath. Though the seamer was happy with his performance, he managed to upset billions of Indian fans.

“I remember that game quite well and I have a lot of people from India coming up say that they’ll never forgive me for the first over. First two balls were dot balls and Sachin just picked me off length, hit me straight over mid-on for four. And the crowd was going for India except for a tiny little portion for Aussies,” McGrath recalled on the ‘Extraaa Innings’ show ahead of the second ODI between India and Australia in Sydney.

Glenn had a decent run in the final as he finished with the figures of 3/52 in 8.2 overs. India faced a humiliating defeat by 125 runs as Virender Sehwag emerged a s lone warrior with 82 runs. Further in the interaction, the veteran seamer also heaped praises on former Indian captain Tendulkar.

“Always enjoyed those challenges against the batsmen who were the best. Sachin was definitely one of those. He was a big key wicket in the Indian team. Our batsmen, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn set it up,” the former Aussie added.

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