"It Happened In 2002": Sachin Tendulkar Recalls His Discovery Of 'Upper-Cut'

Sachin Tendulkar had a number of shots in his book. And he destroyed a number of bowlers using them. Amid all these shots, one which stood-out and caught attention was the upper cut, for which Tendulkar never practiced. The cricket legend spoke about the discovery of the shot in a recent chat session with his fans.

Tendulkar 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 he did against the West Indies in early 90s.

It happened in 2002 in South Africa, when we were playing a Test match: Sachin Tendulkar

After a fan asked, “#AskSachin did you practice upper-cut shot or just instinct when your playing,” Tendulkar opened up on his discovery.  “It happened in 2002 in South Africa, when we were playing a Test match in Bloemfontein. We were batting first and Makhaya Ntini was bowling around the off stump as he normally used to bowl short of a length. He rarely bowled length deliveries. Since he used to run wide of the crease, I could sight the line.

“The South African pitches offer enough bounce. The normal tendency to deal with those bouncers is to go top of the bowl. And if it bounces more than usual for somebody of my height, why not get under it and still be aggressive and attacking,” said Sachin in a YouTube video.

“That was something I felt. Instead of getting on top of the ball and trying to keep it all along the ground, get under it and play it towards third man boundary, utilizing the pace,” Sachin added.

Tendulkar was short but he would bully the ‘tallest’ bowlers of the era. It was the Sachin Tendulkar-era. He was 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 T20I.