Sachin and Dravid's out of the box strategy that helped them overcome Chris Cairns is pure gold

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have given us enough memories to cherish over the years. But this incident where the master blaster shares the talks that happened between the overs is pure gold. This incident is very old but will still make you smile and admire the legend of Sachin and Dravid.

The 43-year-old shared this incident at a private non-cricketing event in Melbourne. It was from the time when New Zealand were touring India in 1999. They were playing a Test match in Mohali when Dravid and Tendulkar were batting beautifully for India, suddenly the ball started reversing and it was troubling Dravid. Chris Cairns was their spearhead who was bowling at his peak.

Sachin explained the whole incident. “I was batting with Rahul Dravid. The ball was reverse swinging and Cairns was beating us two-three times. We were sort of clueless because we couldn’t see the shine. I told Rahul ‘I have an idea’. I said ‘I am closer to the bowler and when he is walking back to the run up I would be watching him closely and the ball.”

Then came the master stroke from the master blaster which only he could have thought of. He said “Whichever side is shiny, I will hold the bat in that hand. If he is going to bowl an outswinger the bat will be in my left hand. If he is going to bowl an inswinger, the bat is in my right hand at the non-striker’s end.”

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The idea of holding the bat into whichever hand according to the swing absolutely worked. Dravid hit Cairns for a cover drive and one through the mid-wicket immediately. “Suddenly you see a couple of cover drives for boundaries, on-drives piercing midwicket and mid-on and Chris is like wondering ‘these guys were getting beaten a couple of times every over and suddenly I am giving away boundaries. There is certainly something wrong,’” exclaimed Tendulkar.

New Zealand players figured this out pretty quick and Cairns was smart enough and bowled a cross seam delivery. But Sachin was a step ahead of the opposition. He had told Dravid “Chris didn’t realise that I had also warned Rahul that if I don’t know what is coming I’m going to hold the bat in the middle.” The room erupted in laughter as Sachin narrated the incident.

He also said that it is always about being ahead of the opposition and this incident tells us that the master was not only good with his technique but his presence of mind was second to none.

“In short, it’s just being a step ahead of your opposition,” the legend concluded.