Glenn McGrath recounts his on-field banter with Sachin Tendulkar

Glenn McGrath and Sachin Tendulkar are the two most iconic cricketers the world has ever seen. They have a ton of records to their name. At their peak, the two were the very best. McGrath collected close to 1000 international wickets and Sachin amassed more than 30,000 runs in his international career. But they also had their share of banters during their illustrious career.

McGrath recollects the first time Sachin sledged him. He opened up the memories of the Champions Trophy in 2000 at Nairobi in South Africa. At that time Australia were in a perilous situation having a melting pot of players from the 90’s and 2000’s. They couldn’t find out the formula to win the Champions Trophy and it always evaded them.

The tournament was then christened ICC knock-out tournament. McGrath remembered the epic quarter-final clash between India and Australia. He said that in the match things were on the boil with Sachin at the crease. He was hitting the Australian bowlers at will to all parts of the ground. When he was bowling, Sachin pulled a shot towards fine leg which missed the fielder and sailed over the ropes for a six. Frustrated at the happening, McGrath threw a verbal volley to Sachin, who replied back in the same vein much to the agony of the pacer.

The incident

“It was in that match that Sachin sledged me. Things got hot in the middle. Sachin edged a pull and the ball would have been caught at fine leg, but somehow the wind carried it over the ropes. I gave him a little sledge and he got back at me,” McGrath told Sportstar.

That incident is still etched in McGrath’s mind. He continued that Sachin made a quick fire 30 odd runs and steadied the ship. Australia never recovered from his onslaught and lost the match by 20 runs. For McGrath, it was a frustrating match as he was smashed for 61 runs in his nine overs and he was wicketless.

“Sachin made a quick 30 odd gave the innings momentum. We lost the match by around twenty runs,” he quoted. The pacer had quite a few heated arguments on the field with the master blaster but he thinks they just added to the fun and he enjoyed the competition. Sachin in his opinion is a nice human being.

“Sachin is a good bloke, we enjoyed our duels,” he mentioned. He added that he was excited to catch Sachin’s biopic in the theatres soon to relive the moments he played with the Little Master.