Opening for India: Why Sachin Tendulkar ‘had to beg and plead’ in 1994

It was in September 1994, that the master blaster hit his first ODI hundred after making the switch from the middle-order to opening the innings. He retired after scoring 100 international centuries.

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the most prolific international batsmen in history. of cricket. However, despite having amassed more runs than anybody in Test and one-dayers, at the beginning of his glittering career Tendulkar had to take quite a few bold steps to succeed and abandon the fear of failure.

It was in September 1994, that the master blaster hit his first ODI hundred after making the switch from the middle-order to opening the innings.

In a recent chat show, Tendulkar revealed an interesting story on how he had to beg and plead for this opportunity because the mindset at that stage was of keeping things in the flow and not attempt to do something new.

“In 1994, when I started opening the batting for India, the strategy used by all teams was to save wickets. What I tried to do was slightly out of the box. I thought I could go upfront and take the opposition bowlers on. But I had to beg and plead to please give me a chance. If I fail, I won’t come after you again,” Tendulkar said in a video on LinkedIn.

He concluded, “In that first match [against New Zealand at Auckland], I scored 82 off 49 balls, so I didn’t have to ask again if I would get another chance. They were keen for me to open. But what I’m trying to say here is, don’t be afraid of failure,” he added.

After Sachin scored his first ODI century, he was a completely different batsman. Sachin started to open for India in the next 385 ODIs that he played came out to bat 377 times scoring 16300 runs at an average of 47.11 and strike rate of 87.28. He scored 49 ODI centuries and 79 fifties after that day.

Tendulkar retired after scoring 100 international centuries.

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