Why Sachin Tendulkar Decided Against Playing Cover Drive In His 241-Run Sydney Knock

Sachin Tendulkar could adjust the game according to the need of the side. That is one of the reason he was known as master blaster. Tendulkar played many historic knocks in his lifetime, which can be cherished throughout the life, and one such innings came against Australia in Sydney.

Sachin Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 241 runs in the first innings of the 2004 Test match. His innings was laced with 33 boundaries to his fence, but interestingly, he had decided not to play cover drives in the match. Tendulkar, in a chat with Aakash Chopra, said that the decision was taken after discussion with his brother Ajit.

“So I remember even now that I had a discussion with my brother, which we do after every match or dismissal about why I got dismissed. He said that he didn’t think there was a technical flaw but there is a mental flaw of shot selections,” Sachin Tendulkar told Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.

“Because I was pressing the pedal too hard, it was not required to accelerate that much. He asked me to analyse which shot was dismissing me and he challenged me to remain not out in that Test match because he felt no bowler can get me out.”

“And it was not a plan not to play the cover drive. But just when I went and stood at the ground and saw that Australians are trying to play with my patience by bowling all deliveries outside the off-stump, then something triggered in me and I wanted to show them whether I alone lose my patience or the 11 Australians lose theirs.”

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.

He was a nightmare many bowlers would often refer as difficult to dislodge. And 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.