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Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar recalls his conversation with the legendary Australia cricketer Don Bradman when he met him at his residence in 1998.
Sachin Tendulkar (right) met Don Bradman (left) at his residence in Adelaide. (AP Photo)
Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar is celebrating his 52nd birthday today. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batters to have graced the game, Tendulkar retired as the all-time leading run-getter in international cricket and a whopping 100 centuries – both records still against his name.
Tendulkar seamlessly married aggression with elegance and went on to have a storied career that spanned 24 years. The legendary Don Bradman once famously said he never saw himself play but felt Tendulkar played “much the same as I used to”.
“I was very, very struck by his technique,” Bradman said in 1996. “I asked my wife to come and have a look at him. Because, I said, ‘I never saw myself play. But I feel this fellow is playing much the same as I used to.’ It was just his compactness, his stroke production, his technique. It all seemed to gel.”
Two years later, Bradman invited the Indian maestro to his residence in Adelaide and the two discussed cricket among other things.
Tendulkar, in an interview to Telegraph, has recalled what the two talked about during their meeting. “We discussed batting. How good batters could read the ball by looking at the bowler’s wrist position and also see which way the ball is spinning in the air and hence could read the delivery as soon as it was released,” he said.
