Expect the unexpected when it comes to Test cricket says Indian batting ace Sachin Tendulkar, who recalled how Wasim Akram peppered him with bouncers even as he expected yorkers in his maiden Test series in Pakistan.
Tendulkar was speaking here yesterday at the launch of a book 'Shadows across the playing field, authored by India's Minister of state for External Affiars Shashi Tharoor and former PCB Chairman and diplomat Shaharyar Khan .
"I was included in the first Test (in 1989). On the first day we fielded and I was so tired after six hours on the field that I slept after we returned to the hotel, woke up for my dinner and again went back to sleep," Tendulkar said.
"The next day we batted and Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were charging in. The first ball I faced from Wasim was a bouncer. I expected a yorker next ball but got a bouncer again. The third ball too was a bouncer when I was again prepared for a yorker for which he was famous.
"And the fourth ball, the last of the over, too was a bouncer and I told myself, welcome to Test cricket. You plan something else and you have to do something else," he said vividly recalling his entry into Test cricket two decades after that momentous visit to Pakistan.
{{/usCountry}}"And the fourth ball, the last of the over, too was a bouncer and I told myself, welcome to Test cricket. You plan something else and you have to do something else," he said vividly recalling his entry into Test cricket two decades after that momentous visit to Pakistan.
{{/usCountry}}