Cricket

Sourav Ganguly reveals why Sachin Tendulkar never wanted to face the first ball

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has revealed why his opening partner Sachin Tendulkar never wanted to face the first ball of the innings. Ganguly and Sachin opened together in 176 ODI matches and the former revealed that he was mostly facing the first ball of the innings. The southpaw disclosed that Sachin always had his ideas and it didn’t matter whether he was in good form or bad.

Ganguly added that Sachin said he shouldn’t take strike if he is in bad form as he is low on confidence and he shouldn’t change the routine if he is in good form. Consequently, Ganguly was forced to play the first ball of the innings by Sachin Tendulkar. In fact, Ganguly was also the captain of the side but Sachin would not listen to him.

“Always he did. He had an answer to that and I used to tell him ‘yaar sometimes you also face the first ball.’ One, he believed if his form was good, he should continue and remain at the non-striker’s end. And when his form wasn’t good, he would say ‘I should remain at the non-striker’s end, as it takes the pressure off me’. He had an answer for both good form and bad form,” Sourav Ganguly said while talking to Mayank Agarwal on BCCI Twitter.

On the other hand, Ganguly also played a trick when he didn’t want to face the first ball of the innings. Ganguly added that he would go and stand at the non-striker’s end and then Sachin would be forced to play the first ball as his partner will not respond.

“Until and unless some days, you walk past him and stand at the non-striker’s end, and he was already on TV, and he would be forced to be at the striker’s end. That has happened once or twice, I went past him and stood at the non-striker’s end,” Ganguly revealed.

Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly achieved great success while opening the batting together. Ganguly and Sachin were involved in 176 alliances in which they scored 8227 ODI runs at an impressive average of 47.55.

In fact, it is well known that no other ODI pair was able to even cross 6000 ODI runs. Both the batters were instrumental in providing solid starts at the top of the order and laid the foundation for the team.

Both Tendulkar and Ganguly served Indian cricket for a long time and ticked the right boxes in their illustrious career. The pair complimented each other and batted at the top of their game.