Former India batsman VVS Laxman has revealed how a dejected Sachin Tendulkar once locked himself up in a room for an hour after throwing his wicket away during Australia’s visit to India in 1998.
Recalling the incident from the Chennai Test, which India eventually won by 179 runs, Laxman said that Tendulkar, who was dismissed by Shane Warne in the first innings, went straight to the physio’s room after getting out.
“Sachin was really well prepared for the Test match in Chennai,” Laxman told Star Sports Cricket Connected. “In the first innings, he was dismissed for four runs. He hit a boundary and then tried to play a big shot over mid-on, hitting against the turn and was caught by Mark Taylor.
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“I remember Sachin locked himself in the physio’s room and only came out after almost an hour. When he came out, we could see his eyes were red. I felt he was very emotional because he was unhappy in the manner he was dismissed.”
It was the first time Warne dismissed Tendulkar in Test cricket, the first of only three such instances in the format. Tendulkar turned the tide in the next innings by countering Warne, whose tactic of bowling into the rough did not bear fruit. It was one of the all-time great battles between the batsman and the leg-spinner.
“Then, in the second innings, the way he blasted and hammered Shane Warne, who was bowling into the rough outside the leg stump,” said Laxman.
“Warne was using the depth of the crease and when he used to pitch it up, Sachin used to hit it through the mid-off, mid-on region. He went on to get a hundred. That battle with Shane Warne is the best I have seen.”
