Dubai: Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram entertained cricket fans, who thronged the Arabian Centre at noon and Rixos The Palm in the evening on Friday, with interesting tales from their careers.
‘Cricket and Beyond’ talk show at the Rixon Palm with commentator Harsha Bhogle asking questions regarding the careers of the legends resulted in fans getting to know many unknown facts about these players.
Though Tendulkar is known for his batting exploits, he was made to reveal his love for bowling. Bhogle made Tendulkar recall the incident in the 1992 Hero Cup when six runs were needed to win off the last over against South Africa and he took the ball from his captain Mohammad Azharuddin and won the match for his side by bowling a tight over.
“Bowling is something that I always enjoyed because if I was not bowling in the nets then I felt I am wasting my time. I thoroughly enjoyed bowling in school cricket too because as captain I got to bowl the new ball and when the ball was semi new or ball got old, I started bowling leg spin. All in all I felt bowling was very exciting. There was less pressure or expectations when I was bowling so I had to freedom to experiement whatever I wanted to do,” said Tendulkar.
Bhogle then revealed why Tendulkar was a statistician’s nightmare. “Whenever Tendulkar is bowling, he was nightmare for statistican as they are forced to wonder what graphic to put up. First two Tests wickets for Tendulkar were picked by bowling with seam up in Adelaide. So they mentioned him as right arm medium but sometimes, Tendulkar bowled off breaks so the next graphic was right arm off break and then sometime later he would bowl leg break. So, one of the statistician finally said just put right arm – everything,” said Bhogle.
Akram, known for his bowling prowess, was reminded of his batting skills for his unbeaten 257 against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996. “I batted for 10 hours...I don’t know how. After than knock, I realised the muscles in my body required for batting - lower back and hamstring — were cramped. I was sick for nearly two months after that 200 and I decided I am not getting 200 anymore,” said Akram, who revealed that it was around the age of 24 he realized he has got pace.
“I had a great mentor in Imran Khan. He was unbelievable on and off the field and helped me a lot. Talent will always be there but it is hard work that will take you for the next 15 to 20 years. It was a blessing to have mentors like Imran, Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar who had a great influence on my career,” said Akram.
Tendulkar also narrated an incident which was not mentioned in his autobiography about the Mohali World Cup match against Pakistan when he got angry. “It was a high pressure game with India playing Pakistan in the semi-final in Mohali and the Prime Minsters of both the countries were present. It is not very often we get to see Prime Ministers of both countries watching a game in any match in the world. When we reached the ground, the first thing we do is relax and then have lunch, but somehow lunch was not there and the players were hassled and disturbed.
“We called for a meeting and I was really angry. I could not control my anger and gave a serious lecture to my teammates for five minutes. I said we have not come here to eat..if you are so hungry, score runs and get wickets and eat as much as you want after the match.”
When asked about their favourite ground, Tendulkar named Sydney Cricket Ground and Akram named Melbourne Cricket ground as their favourites.
