Never Thought Sachin Tendulkar Will Be A Big Star Initially: Waqar Younis

Sachin Tendulkar made his debut at an early age of 16. His determination went on to help him become the greatest batsman. But Pakistan legend Waqar Younis said we never realised he will make a big name during his initial days, acknowledging the fact that Sachin Tendulkar worked really hard and it paid off.

Sachin Tendulkar dealt with a fast bowling legend like Waqar Younis with ease during his latter days. He loved the game and worked rigorously to earn the distinction of ‘God of cricket’. His was not a regular Mumbaikar story. It was a story of grit, passion, unbelievable skills to make things work like against the finest pace attacks in the world.

Never realised Sachin Tendulkar was going to be such a big name in cricket: Waqar Younis

Incidentally, Sachin Tendulkar made his debut against Pakistan in 1989. But Waqar Younis was not impressed with him although he had heard that a schoolboy who scored triple-centuries was going to represent India. Younis also said that at first look he did not give an impression of making a big name for himself.

“About Sachin, the entire India Under-19 team, they were just raving about him, saying how good that little kid is. He’s only a schoolboy, scoring triple-centuries at school. Who scores triple-centuries at school? Even scoring a century at school is an amazing thing,” Waqar said on The Greatest Rivalry podcast.

“We always knew there was this young kid coming on the block who was going to be amazing. At first look, he didn’t really give me the impression that he’s going to be the great Sachin Tendulkar, what he is today. What he has done over the years is amazing, on the field, off the field. At that particular time, I didn’t realise he was going to be such a big name in cricket. But his hard work paid off.”

Tendulkar soon became a nightmare many bowlers would often refer as difficult to dislodge. At his numbers justify his status. The 47-year-old continues to be the leading run-scorer in in international cricket with 34, 357 runs — 15,921 in Tests, 18426 in ODIs and 10 from a solitary