It seems like the Indian cricket fans should thank former Australia fast-bowler Dennis Lillee for his part in making Sachin Tendulkar arguably the best batsman of all time. While many know Sachin’s liking for batting right from his childhood days, very few know that the Master Blaster was garnering hopes of becoming a fast-bowler in his early days.
The former India batsman, while wishing Lillee on his 68th birthday on Tuesday (July 18), revealed a story of how the legendary bowler advised him to ditch bowling and concentrate on batting when he went to MRF Pace Foundation to hone his fast-bowling skills way back in 1987.
“Dennis, many, many happy returns of the day,” Tendulkar said in a video posted on Twitter.
“I can never forget the day I met you in Chennai in 1987. I was there to become a fast bowler but this is something that most of the guys don’t know.
“I was always a batter but while catching the train from Mumbai to Chennai my brother told me: ‘It won’t be a bad idea to carry your batting gear’, because after having bowled for a while you made me just standing there doing nothing, so then I padded up and played against all those fast bowlers.
“I actually ended up doing that for the rest of the week. You correctly said: ‘I think this young lad should go out and bat, forget about bowling’,” he added.
And while Sachin followed Lillee’s advise on the cricket pitch, he fulfilled his desire of fast-bowling in the nets.
“But that desire continued and instead of bowling in matches I used to fulfil all my desires in the nets bowling from 17 yards, sometimes also pretending to be Dennis Lillee in the nets,” the legendary batsman concluded.
Happy birthday to one of the best bowlers to have graced the sport, Dennis Lillee! Here's a small incident from our first meeting. pic.twitter.com/GZgEN7Zei8
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 18, 2017
Well, seems like Lillee’s advise played a huge part in helping Sachin Tendulkar play an unbelievable 664 international games in a career that spanned more than a couple of decades. The Master Blaster, who made his debut in 1989, retired in 2013 with almost all the major batting records to his name.
