I Had Nothing To Lose: Piyush Chawla Recalls Castling Sachin Tendulkar As 16-Year Old

Piyush Chawla was just 16-years old when he faced Sachin Tendulkar for the first time in his career. The veteran spinner was up against the legendary batsman during the 2005 Challenger Trophy. Sachin Tendulkar was already a legend of the game at that point while Piyush Chawla was yet to make his international debut.

However, the leg-spinner, while playing for India B against India Seniors, managed to castle the former India batsman for 22 in the final of the tournament. India Seniors, nonetheless, went on to win the game by three wickets.

In a recent interaction on chat show ‘Homerun with AV’ with sports commentator Arun Venugopal on his YouTube channel Gethist Creative, Piyush Chawla opened up on the dismissal. He stated that he managed to keep himself relaxed ahead of facing Tendulkar and said that he had nothing to lose in the battle.

“So, like on a lot of occasions when something like this happens, in this match, too, Parthiv Patel was behind the stumps. Dinesh (Mongia) bhai was the captain. As a 15-16 year old, when you are going to bowl at Sachin paaji, only two things are possible: you are either very nervous or very relaxed. Luckily, I was very relaxed,” Piyush Chawla said.

“Even if Sachin paaji hits me, how does that matter? If a man, who has taken the likes of Shane Warne, (Muttiah) Muralitharan, and Glenn McGrath to the cleaners, hits me as well, that’s not a big thing. So at that time I had nothing to lose. I was just enjoying the ‘Oh I am bowling to Sachin paaji’ feeling.

“So, as a bowler when you start from your run-up, you think about what you exactly want to bowl. On that particular one, I don’t know what exactly happened. When I started off from my run-up, that too bowling inside the field restrictions, I thought I will bowl a normal leg-spin from the leg stump going away from him. To be very honest, I still don’t know – it’s almost 16 years now. I don’t know what came to my mind and I just bowled a wrong ‘un,” he recalled.

Piyush Chawla was up against Tendulkar again a year later and this time, the latter made sure to avenge his dismissal. The leg-spinner revealed how he was taken to the cleaners by Tendulkar before saying that

“People remember that I had got paaji out in that fashion. Paaji, too, isn’t a man who forgets things quickly. The very next year, again in a Challenger Trophy game in Chennai, paaji smashed me around for 20 runs in my first over (chuckles)! That’s what I was saying: if paaji hits me around, it’s not a big deal. Paaji has smashed so many bowlers, which is why people don’t remember this (particular caning),” Piyush Chawla said.

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