Sachin Tendulkar recalls how he sledged Glenn McGrath and unsettled him in ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000

Sachin Tendulkar, the former legendary batsman respectfully played gentlemen’s game for more than two decades. He never used to get involved in any kind of on-field altercations with opposition players. But, in an interview Master Blaster revealed that once he had initiated sledging in the match against Australia.

The Mumbai-born batsman was known for his cool, calm and composed behaviour on the field. In his early cricketing days, many bowlers used to sledge him to break his concentration. But, later on, everyone realised that it was a wrong strategy to use against Sachin. Recently, Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan spinner said that he felt embarrassed after he sledged the former Indian opener during a match.

Sachin Tendulkar said his plan against Glenn McGrath worked 

In an interview to cricket.com, Sachin Tendulkar took a walk down the memory lane and talked about a match against Australia in ICC Knockout Trophy in Nairobi in 2000. He said that India had to bat first in that game on a damp wicket. As per him, batting on that track against a bowler like Glenn McGrath, was quite difficult.

The 47-year-old recited that after playing first over in that match against Glenn McGrath, he had planned to go against the Aussie pacer in order to make him angry and break his concentration. According to Tendulkar, he got success in his plan and after some time, McGrath began bowling where the batsman actually wanted him to bowl.

“The way McGrath bowled the first over, I spoke to Sourav Ganguly and suggested that I go after McGrath. I realised we have to do something out of the box (play mind games). Exchanged a few words with him which took him by surprise. I also started playing shots against him, though some of them were risky,” Sachin told cricket.com.

“The plan was to get him angry and make him attack my body instead of looking to get me out. We were beaten on occasions but also were able to make McGrath bowl where we wanted. I made a quick-fire 38 and this came in a winning cause so I was very happy,” he added.

In that match, Sachin Tendulkar scored 38 runs with the help of thee sixes and as many boundaries. Afterwards, Yuvraj Singh pulled off an amazing knock of 84 runs that helped Team India in posting a competitive total against Australia. In the end, Men in Blue successfully registered a two-run win against Kangaroos and advanced to semi-finals.