Steve Waugh Opens Up On Famous Sledging Incident With Parthiv Patel, Lavishes Praise On Virender Sehwag

Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh recently opened up on famous sledging incident with Parthiv Patel in his last Test in 2004.

Sledging, banter and world-class cricket have always been the feature of any India-Australia fixture. From Sourav Ganguly making Steve Waugh wait for the toss in 2001, ‘Monkeygate’ in 2008 to the brain fade moment of Steve Smith, this famous fixture has witnessed several famous incidents over the years. One such incident took place in the 2004 Sydney Test when Steve Waugh was playing his last-ever game for Australia.

Australia were chasing an improbable 443. India were well on top of the game but found it tough to find a way past Waugh. At that time, a young Parthiv Patel decided to get under the skin of Waugh.

“Let’s see if you can play one of those famous slog-sweeps, and miss one,” Parthiv Patel told Waugh from behind the stumps.

Not amused by the youngster’s comment, Waugh hit back by saying:

“Show a bit of respect, You were in nappies when I played my first Test match,” Waugh countered to the amusement of the India fielders hovering at pitch edge.

That quote has stayed in the memory of the cricket fans for a while and now Waugh in an interview to Cricket Australia has further commented on it.

“It’s not sledging,” he said of the conversation with Parthiv Patel.

“People say there’s too much sledging in the game, I think you can do it in a different way and have a bit of a laugh and a bit of fun.

“While people say that was a sledge, to me that was banter,” he added.

The legendary skipper further revealed how Virender Sehwag was scaring the Australian bowlers with his explosive batting in the Boxing Day Test. The India opener had hit 25 fours and five sixes in his 195-run knock before he perished while going for a six.

“Sehwag looked like he was going to get about 490 at one stage”.

“He was an incredible player who just didn’t seem to care that he was playing in a Test match, it was like he was playing in his backyard against his mates, he would just throw the bat.

“He’d go out and dominate from ball one, and that was a different type of Indian player than we’d seen in the past,” said Waugh.