'Got hit in rib cage off a Shoaib Akhtar ball': Tendulkar recalls batting with an unknown injury for nearly four months

Sachin Tendulkar revealed how he had copped a blow during an ODI against Pakistan in the year 2007 on a Shoaib Akhtar delivery, and continued to bat on, only to realise four months later that had suffered a broken rib.

The legendary Sachin Tendulkar was no stranger to injuries during his career. The first-half of his international career was smooth sailing as the former batsman hardly missed a match for India. However, it was from the year 1999 that Tendulkar got hit by a string of injuries one after the other. The back spasms in 1999, the fractured ankle in 2001 and the dreaded tennis elbow are just some of the numerous injuries Tendulkar had to encounter during his 24-year-long international career.

File image of Sachin Tendulkar. (Getty)

However, there was one injury that nearly went unnoticed. Tendulkar revealed how he had copped a blow during an ODI against Pakistan in the year 2007, and continued to bat on, only to realise four months later that had suffered a broken rib. Pakistan had toured India in 2007 for a five ODI and three-Test series and Tendulkar recalled how he was hit by a Shoaib Akhtar delivery on his rib cage, leaving him in pain for quite a while.

"I got hit in my rib cage in 2007. We were playing Pakistan in India and in the first over itself I got hit in the rib cage off a Shoaib Akhtar ball. It was quite painful. For a month and a half or two months, I was not able to cough or sleep on my tummy. But I continued playing like that and had designed my own chest guard. I played the remaining four ODIs and the Test series. Before going to Australia as well, I played whatever cricket there was," Tendulkar said during a session on Unacademy.

The ODI series took place in early November and as explained by the master himself, Tendulkar kept on playing. He toured Australia for the 2007/08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which featured four Tests. After India lost the series 1-2, they played Australia and Sri Lanka in the VB tri-series, eventually winning it by securing victories in the first two finals. Tendulkar explained how he had suffered another injury, due to which he realised that he had earlier broken a rib.

"When I went to Australia, I played the whole series – we played the VB series and towards the end of it, I had a groin injury. I came back to India and we did a full body scan. At that time, it was the doctor who told me about it," Tendulkar added.

"I did not ask him about my rib, I was worried about my groin injury because the IPL was going to start. But I couldn’t get fit in time and missed the first seven matches. But the doctor told me that there was a hotspot. You must have broken your rib at some stage. It troubled me for two months."