Sachin Tendulkar always had an answer for not taking the strike, remarks Sourav Ganguly

The COVID-19 lockdown has brought out the best stories from the cricketers - with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma earlier involved in a tussle over who would face the first ball. In a similar fashion, former Indian cricketer and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly recalled his partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, where the southpaw would be made to face the first ball. Ganguly added that his opening partner, Sachin always had an answer ready for avoiding taking the strike. 

“He had an answer to that. I use to tell him, ‘Sometimes you also face the first ball’. He had two answers to it, one — he believed that if his form was good, he should continue and remain at the non-striker’s end and then if his form wasn’t good, he said ‘I (Sachin) should remain at the non-striker’s end because it takes the pressure off,’ Ganguly spoke to Mayank Agarwal on BCCI’s video chat, reported Indian Express. 

Hilariously, the southpaw cited how the Mumbaikar would always have his answers ready to avoid facing first up to the pacers. As cited by Ganguly, Tendulkar would always have two answers ready, which is bad form and good form, which prevented him from taking a shot upfront. Despite these differences, the duo marched up pretty numbers at the top of the order for India, stacking up 6,609 runs, the most by an opening pair in ODI cricket in 136 innings. 

“So, he had an answer for both — good form and bad form. Until and unless someone walked past him and went and stood at the non-striker’s end and he was already on TV and he would be forced to take the strike. That has happened one or two times. I have just walked past him and stood at the non-striker’s end,” the former India captain said.