It Was Not A Plan To Not Play The Cover Drive Sachin Tendulkar On His 241 At Sydney

Aakash Chopra asked Sachin Tendulkar how the latter managed not to play the cover drive even after he got set. The Mumbaikar responded that it was a long story while talking about the excellent form he was in before the Australia Test series, including the warm-up game.

Sachin Tendulkar recalled having got a poor decision in his maiden innings of the Test series at Brisbane. He had been given out LBW when the ball was clearly too high to be hitting the stumps.

The highest run-scorer in international cricket mentioned that he batted well in Adelaide in the next Test match, including an important partnership in the second innings with Rahul Dravid that won India a historic Test match.

Sachin Tendulkar recollected having scored almost a half-century in the second innings of the third Test at Melbourne, which was a match India lost despite Virender Sehwag’s belligerent knock.

Sachin Tendulkar on his unbeaten 241 at Sydney

Sachin Tendulkar shared that he had a discussion with his brother Ajit before the Sydney Test, during which the latter pointed out to the Master Blaster that his shot selection was not right.

Sachin Tendulkar recalled that his brother told him to analyse which particular shot was leading to his downfall and challenged him to remain unbeaten in that Test match.

Sachin Tendulkar revealed that it was not a preconceived plan to not play the cover drive. He said that he decided to forego the shot after realising that the Australians were trying to play with his patience by bowling wide outside his off-stump.

The 47-year-old highlighted that he had made up his mind to not fall into the Aussie trap at least in that match, even after he was well set.

Sachin Tendulkar shared that although he had the temptation to go for the cover drive a few times, his mind restricted him from doing so.

Sachin Tendulkar had played an unbeaten 241-run knock in the Sydney Test against Australia in January 2004. He was involved in a 353-run partnership with VVS Laxman for the 4th wicket as India declared their first innings at a mammoth score of 705 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

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