NEW DELHI: Former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed a fiery behind-the-scenes story from Sachin Tendulkar’s first tour of Australia in 1991-92, when he told the 18-year-old prodigy to stay calm and “let the bat do the talking” amid a heated exchange with the Aussies.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Speaking at the Summer of Cricket Lunch hosted by Cricket ACT, Shastri vividly recalled the Sydney Test, where he smashed a double century (206) while the teenage Tendulkar — already a rising star — was beginning to show glimpses of greatness.
“I remember playing at the SCG. It was Sachin’s first tour. I had just reached a hundred, and Sachin had just come to bat. And he was being sledged by the Waugh brothers – Steve and Mark. ‘You little this, you little that’,” Shastri recounted.As the atmosphere heated up, even Mike Whitney, Australia’s 12th man, got involved, prompting one of Shastri’s trademark comebacks.
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Did Ravi Shastri give good advice to Sachin Tendulkar during his first tour of Australia?
“Mike Whitney had come on to the field. I was having a pow-wow with Allan Border until I reached my 100. He took the ball and said, ‘Get back into your crease; I’ll break your head’. I turned and shouted across the SCG, ‘Hey Mike! If you could throw as well as you bowl, you wouldn’t be the 12th man of Australia.’ And that was it,” Shastri said to laughter.But when young Tendulkar expressed a desire to return fire with words once he reached his hundred, Shastri quickly put his foot down.“Sachin came to me and said, ‘Wait till I get to my hundred. I’ll also give them some of this.’ I told him, ‘You shut up. You’ve got enough class; your bat will do the talking. Let me do the talking.’”That advice, as history would show, defined Tendulkar’s approach for decades. The “Little Master” went on to torment Australia like few others — piling up 6,707 runs across formats — letting his bat speak louder than any words ever could.
