Sachin Tendulkar recalls being ruled out of action due to an unknown injury caused by Shoaib Akhtar's delivery

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar had many riveting battles with the bowlers in a long and glorious 24-year, career starting from 1989 to 2013. The Master Blaster amassed over 34000 runs across formats with 100 centuries to his name. During his playing days, he faced a lot of bowlers the likes of Wasim Akram, Brett Lee, Matthew Hoggard, and Shoaib Akhtar who would clock speeds in excess of 140 mph per hour.

The 48-year-old former opening batter too had a fair share of injuries, but that didn’t stop him from bouncing back as a champion player and beat the opposition by scoring runs. During a recent interaction, Master Blaster recalled an incident where an Akhtar delivery had him ruled out of action for several months.

When Shoaib Akhtar troubled Tendulkar with his searing pace

“I got hit in my rib cage in 2007. We were playing Pakistan in India and in the first over itself I got hit in the rib cage off a Shoaib Akhtar ball. It was quite painful. For a month and a half or two months, I was not able to cough or sleep on my tummy. But I continued playing like that and had designed my own chest guard. I played the remaining four ODIs and the Test series. Before going to Australia as well, I played whatever cricket there was,” Tendulkar said during a session on Unacademy.

“When I went to Australia, I played the whole series – we played the VB series and towards the end of it, I had a groin injury. I came back to India and we did a full-body scan. At that time, it was the doctor who told me about it.

I did not ask him about my rib, I was worried about my groin injury because the IPL was going to start. But I couldn’t get fit in time and missed the first seven matches. But the doctor told me that there was a hotspot. You must have broken your rib at some stage. It troubled me for two months,” Tendulkar added.

The 48-year-old also spoke about the importance of mental health and opened up about how he tackled anxiety issues for close to 10-12 years.