Indian Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar recollected an interesting memory of the Indian team before the high-octane game against Pakistan in the semifinal of the 2011 ODI World Cup. The matches between these two teams have always been high-pressure ones and the semifinal proved to exciting one in the master blaster’s cricketing career.
In the high-voltage encounter at Mohali, the World Cup 2011 semi-final between India and Pakistan was watched by the prime ministers of both countries and the pressure will increase exponentially on both sets of players. Speaking to ICC, on his 50th recalled the memories of the historic game.
“It wasn’t exactly a lighter moment, because it was the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2011. India was playing Pakistan. Both the Prime Ministers were going to be there. So it was very, very tight security,” Sachin Tendulkar said.
As the Mohali stadium was completely packed, Sachin Tendulkar said that the Men in Blue slowly started their prematch routine for the big clash and to everyone’s shock pre- match lunch could not reach the stadium because of security reasons, and stated that the whole team was worried about it.
“We got to the ground and the normal routine is, you know, once you get to the ground, you have pre-match lunch and then you go out on the field for your warm-up sessions and then slowly, slowly get in the game. Because of security reasons, you know, our food hadn’t reached the ground, and the whole team was agitated.
The Little Master had held his concentration through his 115 deliveries and struck 11 fours in his 85 runs. He had batted well all the way through, helping India total 260 for nine, which eventually helped India to win against arch-rivals. Tendulkar finally won a man-of-the-match award in a tournament in which two of his centuries resulted in a tie and a defeat.
“So we were in a huddle, and that’s when I spoke briefly. I said, ‘The world is not bothered whether we’ve had our pre-match lunch or not. This is the World Cup semi-finals,” he said.
This Is The World Cup Semi-finals, Go Out There And Express Yourselves – Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar remembered his words in the team huddle where he wanted to give players their best in the field as the world is not worried about whether the team had pre-match lunch or not and said that he wanted the players to show their hungry in the field to go for runs and wickets in the field.
“If you are so hungry, show the world how many runs you can score or how many wickets you can pick. That is what they’re interested in. Nobody is interested in knowing whether you’ve had your lunch or breakfast. None. This is the World Cup semi-finals. Go out there and express yourselves,” Sachin Tendulkar added.
The World Cup 2011 triumph was the crowning glory of Tendulkar’s exemplary cricket career, and for the Indian team which in the past decade had risen to No. 1 in the world both in Tests and ODis.