Former India cricketer Ravi Shastri recalled a stunning incident where he was sledged along with Sachin Tendulkar during their Test series in Australia in 1992. The incident took place during the third Test at Sydney.
Ravi Shastri was joined by Sachin Tendulkar during India’s innings. Sachin walked out to bat at number six. Shastri stated that Sachin was being sledged from the moment he came in. He also recalled being sledged by Allan Border, who threatened to break Ravi Shastri’s head.
“I remember it was Sachin’s first tour. I just reached a hundred. Sachin had come to bat and he was being sledged by the Waugh brothers. Mike Whitney had come onto the field as the 12th man. I was having a paw pow with Allan Border right through that innings. He took the ball into his hand and said get back into your crease, I’ll break your head. I turned around there and went on the centre of the pitch. I shouted at the SCG. Hey Mike, if you can claim you throw as well as you can bowl, you will never be the 12th man of Australia,” he said. (via Indian Link Media Group YouTube channel)
The former all-rounder recalled how Sachin walked up to him and said that we would give it back after getting to his hundred as well. However, Ravi Shastri hilariously asked Sachin to let his bat do the talking and leave the sledging part to Shastri.
“Sachin came to me and said wait till I get to my hundred, I will also give them some of this. I said you shut up. You’ve got enough class, your bat will do the talking, let me do the talking.”
The match had ended in a tie. Shastri and Sachin both showcased their class with the bat. Ravi Shastri slammed a double hundred, making 206, while Sachin struck an unbeaten 148.
Former Australian recalls sledging Virat Kohli while Ravi Shastri was India’s Head coach
In the same conversation, former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin recalled how they sledged Virat Kohli during the 2014 Test series Down Under. Kohli was in exceptional form and had scored twin hundreds at Adelaide. He revealed how they planned to get Kohli emotionally involved, hoping he would lose his concentration and throw his wicket away.
“Ravi Shastri was coaching and it was Virat’s first series as captain. He got two unbelievable hundreds in Adelaide. He had the measure, he was aggressive. The Indian team were in our face. It was a real contest. We were lucky to get out of the result I think 15 minutes before the end on day five. We go to Melbourne and we are trying to get a plan to get Virat Kohli out. We are sitting through the team meeting and the analyst put all the stuff up on the board. We said to him that is not working. We came up with a plan to get him to play on emotion and not skill,” he said.
Haddin further recalled how they got onto his nerves, and Kohli ended up edging the ball to second slip. Unfortunately for the hosts, Shane Watson put the catch down. The former wicketkeeper also revealed how Kohli was aware of what they were trying to do. While they did get him out eventually, he had scored a brilliant hundred by then, making 169 in that innings in Melbourne.
“We come out after the break and try to needle him a little bit and we got a reaction. He straightaway tried to hit the ball harder and we thought yes. It worked. Massive nick straight to second slip. Watson dropped it. Kohli turned around to us between overs and said I know what you are doing and then I remember walking past Watto and said I don’t know if we can get him out. And we got him out later and he got a 160.”
Irrespective of the series result, Kohli had a fabulous outing with the bat. Overall, he scored 692 runs from four Tests at an average of 86.50 with four hundreds.
Edited by Rishab Vm
