‘Sachin is Sachin, bro’: Tendulkar’s batting on a 9mm grassy pitch still gives goosebumps; Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni struggled

16 years later, the legend of that Tendulkar inning still stands out.

Another day, another unheard Sachin Tendulkar story. The Master Blaster carved a legacy out of doing the unthinkable for 25 years – rising up to the expectations of over a million Indian cricket fans. Hence, it is only fitting that some of his peers still continue to recall his genius every time Tendulkar’s topic comes up. Cricket history is filled with Tendulkar’s legendary anecdotes, but even today, some of the incredible things he’s done come to light, still leaving people in awe, and former India opener Murali Vijay had one such incident to narrate that once again proved there’s only one God of cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar in full swing (AFP)

The year was 2009, and India had embarked on a tour of New Zealand after a seven-year hiatus. Their last trip in 2002 had resulted in a horror result, losing both ODIs and Tests under Sourav Ganguly. However, with a ruthless MS Dhoni in charge and his captaincy graph on the rise, India won its first series in New Zealand since 1967-68. Hamilton’s Seddon Park was the venue for the first Test, where on a grassy surface, Tendulkar rolled back the years, batting as if it were the late 1990s with Sachin in his prime. Only this time, he was a whole lot experienced.

“We were playing a Test match, and Sachin was getting ready to bat. The wicket was green, had 6mm to 9mm grass. And it was damp. Sachin came in and said, ‘I’m going to be using the front press in the first session, and then I’ll go back and across, and then again go front press, and I’ll just adjust and play because the wicket has a little bit of bounce.’ I had never seen anybody change their stance and technique. So, I was interested in seeing Sachin paaji go about," Vijay told former India Under-19 cricketer Taruwar Kohli on his YouTube show.

Tendulkar scored 160 in that game, his off-side game flourishing. After bowling New Zealand out for 279 in both innings, India took the game by 10 wickets, with Tendulkar emerging as India’s only centurion, alongside fifties from Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, and Zaheer Khan; their combined effort propelled India to 520 in their first innings.

“And that’s exactly what he did. He was rhyming, and I was manifesting it. I was just seeing that thing happening and how he approached that inning. He got to 165 on that wicket. Only Sachin could have done it. Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni were there, but everyone struggled. Sachin is Sachin, bro. We are all blessed to be on the same land as him.”

Vijay’s description was so bang on that Kohli couldn’t help but say, “it gave me goosebumps”.