Sydney: Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne were so daunted by the prospect of meeting Australian cricketing legend Don Bradman for his 90th birthday in 1998 that they could not decide who should speak first, the Indian batting great said.
“I remember Warnie was with me in the car and we were discussing who was going to ask the first question,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying by the Syndey Morning Herald on Wednesday.
“I said, ‘You are from Australia, so you should start’. And he was like, ‘No, you’re a batsman, so you can relate to him much better than what I can’.
“I asked him a question: ‘What would you have averaged in today’s cricket?’. He thought about it and said ‘maybe 70’. The natural reaction was ‘why only 70 and not 99?’. He said, ‘C’mon, that’s not bad for a 90-year-old man’.”
Tendulkar spoke during a visit to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) while attending a programme where he was inducted alongside Steve Waugh as the latest Bradman Foundation honourees.
The batting maestro scored three centuries in five Tests at the ground at an average of 157, his best being an unbeaten 241 in 2004 in what also was Waugh’s final Test.
“The SCG is my favourite ground. I have always maintained that. It brings back all the memories. I was just outside in the car and I said it feels great to be back. It’s been a very special venue to me,” he said.
“Right back to 1991, which was the first time I played here. [It’s] just the feel of the ground. Whenever I walked in, I felt I could go on and on batting. I just enjoyed the atmosphere, and the pavilion especially. It’s a fabulous pavilion with a lot of history. It is the heritage and the impact all the players have left on this ground.
“Performing against Australia always gave me a lot of satisfaction because I knew, if you perform against the leading side, that everyone takes notice of your performance. It is a different kind of satisfaction,” he added.
Waugh, who was also honoured at the venue, described Tendulkar as “probably the modern-day Bradman”.
