‘Try and hit me' - Sachin Tendulkar recalls how Abdul Qadir provoked him to hit 4 sixes in an over

At the age of just 16 years, Sachin Tendulkar went on to hit Abdul Qadir for sixes during an international match between India and Pakistan, which signalled his arrival in international cricket. The young Tendulkar took on Qadir for four sixes in an over. The all-time best leg-spinner of the 1970s and 1980s, Qadir was smashed for 28 runs in a single over by Tendulkar.

T20 internationals were introduced in 2005 but India and Pakistan played their first-ever T20 in 1989. It was an international match that was trimmed into a T20 exhibition game. Recently, in interaction with Akash Chopra on his YouTube channel, Tendulkar revealed what happened prior to the match, and how both the teams went on to play a T20 exhibition match.

We were told this won’t be an international match: Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin said, “The match was in Gujranwala, I think. It had rained and both teams were informed that many spectators have come to see so why don’t we have a 20-over exhibition match?”

“We were told that this won’t be an international match but at least the crowd won’t return disappointed. So we agreed to play the match thinking we’ll at least get some practice out of this game. I was batting at No. 4 and I remember when I had gone out to bat, we had to score some 65-70 runs in four overs,” he added.

Despite the fact that the match went in favour of Pakistan, it was India’s young batsman Sachin Tendulkar who seized himself in headlines all around as he smashed Abdul Qadir for 4 sixes in an over. The over stats read 6, 0, 4, 6, 6, 6, with Tendulkar standing on the crease for 53*.

The former legendary batsman of India, Tendulkar revealed the exact interaction with Qadir which provoked Sachin to hit 4 sixes and a total of 28 runs in that single over.

“Kris Srikkanth was the captain so our discussion was to get some practice for the next game. I told Chikka ‘I think we should go for the total’. He said ‘Yes, why not.’ And that’s how I started connecting the shots,” Tendulkar said.

“Mushtaq (Ahmed) was bowling, he got hit for two sixes and a four. Abdul Qadir came to me and said ‘I’ll bowl from this side. Try and hit me’. I said you’re such a senior bowler; I can’t hit you that easily. So from there, we started chasing. That was a big over; we got some 27-28 runs,” added the Master Blaster.