Sachin Tendulkar recalls hilarious first interaction with Virat Kohli

Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli aren’t only the greatest batsmen in India’s history, they’re also among the greatest cricketers in the history of the sport. Both Tendulkar and Kohli have gone on to define an era in the world of cricket.

Towards the end of Sachin Tendulkar’s glorious career, Indian fans were troubled with the massive void that the Master Blaster’s departure would leave in the national team. However, it was then, that a young Virat Kohli stepped up to the mantle and has been playing out of his skin, dominating the cricket world ever since.

However, Sachin Tendulkar shared an interesting story regarding the first interaction between them. The Indian dressing room, full of pranksters and characters like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, and Irfan Pathan pulled off a prank on the young Virat Kohli who was new to the dressing room.

Apparently, Yuvraj Singh, Munaf Patel, and Irfan Pathan had instructed the rookie to touch the feet of Sachin Tendulkar and ask for his blessings, telling him that it was a custom for newcomers in the Indian dressing room.

Recalling the incident at a Youtube show called Legends with Unacademy, Sachin Tendulkar added’ “I didn’t know what was happening. I asked him ‘what are you doing?’. Told him that there was no need for this and such things don’t happen. Then he got up and we looked at those guys, they started laughing,” Tendulkar recalled.

Virat Kohli had also touched upon this hilarious incident where he came off looking silly a few years ago on Gaurav Kapur’s Breakfast with Champions show.

However, during the Unacademy show, Sachin Tendulkar also shed light on an aspect of his career that went unnoticed. He opened up about his mental health, his struggles with anxiety and how he coped with it throughout his playing career.

“Over period of time I realised that besides preparing physically for a game, you have to prepare yourself mentally also. In my mind the match started long before I entered the ground. The anxiety levels were very high,” Tendulkar said in an interaction organised by Unacademy.

“I felt the anxiety for 10-12 years, had many sleepless nights before a game. Later on I started accepting that it was part of my preparation. The I made peace with times I was not able to sleep in the night. I would start doing something to keep my mind comfortable,” Tendulkar concluded.