Sachin Tendulkar is widely regarded as one of the most complete batsmen in cricket history. A player revered by teammates and opponents alike, Tendulkar's record speaks for itself. With over 18,000 runs in ODIs and close to 16,000 runs in the longest format of the game, the 'Master Blaster' remains in the league of his own.
However, former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock has now revealed how the great Sachin Tendulkar, too, found it difficult to tackle the 'short-pitched' deliveries in Australia. He also talked about how Tendulkar effectively managed to tackle the problem.
"He talked to me once about going to Australia and understanding he couldn't take on the short-pitched deliveries anymore so he would ramp the ball over the wicketkeeper and slip," Pollock said in a podcast with Sky Sports.
Pollock, who took 393 ODI wickets and 421 scalps in Tests besides scoring over 3,500 runs in both formats, said there was a time when all their plans would fall apart against Tendulkar and they would wait for him to make a mistake.
"There were times, especially in the subcontinent, where you thought, 'I'm not sure we can knock this guy over'. We were hoping he would make a mistake, rather than had a genuine plan," said Pollock.
Considered one of the greatest batsman to have played the game, Tendulkar ended his illustrious career after amassing 34,357 international runs across all the three formats.
The batting maestro also is the only batsman to have scored 100 international centuries (51 Tests and 49 ODIs).