Sachin Tendulkar once told he couldn’t take on short deliveries anymore: Shaun Pollock

Shaun Pollock, the former South Africa fast bowler, stated that Sachin Tendulkar once faced a significant amount of issues while facing the short deliveries. The retired Indian batsman also talked about his shortcoming with Pollock after he strained to take on the bumpers in Australia.

In a bid to counter them, Pollock said that Tendulkar resorted to playing the risky ramp short over the wicketkeeper and the slip cordon. There was an instance in the 2003 World Cup where Sachin  smacked England’s Andrew Caddick out of the stadium with a venomous pull stroke.

“He talked to me once about going to Australia and understanding he couldn’t take on the short-pitched deliveries anymore so he would ramp the ball over the wicketkeeper and slip,” Pollock was quoted as saying in a podcast, reported by the TOI.

Pollock’s tactics against Sachin used to fail

Pollock mentioned that Tendulkar had answers to most questions thrown at him. He quipped that all of his strategies used to fail and the South Africans only waited for the Mater Blaster to make a mistake.

“There were times, especially in the subcontinent, where you thought, ‘I’m not sure we can knock this guy over’. We were hoping he would make a mistake, rather than had a genuine plan,” the former speedster added.

Both Sachin and Pollock turned out to be legendary figures for their respective national teams. Sachin has as many as 18,426 runs in ODIs while in Test cricket, he has 15,921 runs. Around a decade ago, it was against the Proteas when Sachin scored the maiden ODI double century.

He is also the owner of 100 international tons, a record which stays unscathed even after seven years following his retirement. Pollock, on the other hand, picked up 391 ODI wickets and 421 Test scalps. He was no mug with the bat either. He managed over 3,500 runs, combining all the formats.

The enigmatic duo has also plied their trade for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the cash-rich and prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL). Both have captained the IPL franchise as well. Even after retirement, Pollock and Tendulkar stayed associated with the popular team.