While, former Australia’s pacer Glenn McGrath troubled Sachin Tendulkar on occasions due to his extra bounce, pace and discipline line and lengths, Sachin also found ways to tackle the speedster from his end. Often, the face-off between the two determined the outcome of an India-Australia clash during their active days.
Recalling an episode with McGrath from the ICC Knockout Trophy 2000, where India met Australia in the quarter-finals, Sachin revealed how he resorted to sledging to irk the pacer. He told cricket.com, “The way McGrath bowled the first over, I spoke to Sourav Ganguly and suggested that I go after McGrath. I realised we have to do something out of the box (play mind games). Exchanged a few words with him which took him by surprise. I also started playing shots against him, though some of them were risky.”
He further highlighted, “The plan was to get him angry and make him attack my body instead of looking to get me out. We were beaten on occasions but also were able to make McGrath bowl where we wanted. I made a quick-fire 38 and this came in a winning cause so I was very happy.”
As a result of Sachin’s ploy, India got off to a good start and stitched an impressive 66-run opening stand. Newcomer Yuvraj Singh’s 84 guided India to a respectable 265 for 7 whereas Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad folded the Aussies for 245 all-out in 46.4 overs. Thus, India won by 20 runs.
