24 Things You Still Didn't Know About Sachin
It's not all Chappell bashing, there are a lot of interesting tid bits about Sachin's career in his new book. Here are just a few...
Sachin's brother enrolled him in Ramakant Achrekar's cricket summer camp, to keep him out of mischief and getting into trouble in the locality!
Sachin got the scorekeeper to 'fix' his score from 24 to 30 in his debut school match, to get his name in papers the next day.
The Little Master used to imitate John McEnroe at the tennis court.
Sachin wasn't selected for Mumbai team initially because at 15 years of age, he was too young to play Ranji Trophy.
The Master and Sourav Ganguly were room partners in the MRF pace academy during the early days of their careers.
Sachin used to walk in his sleep and would shadow-practice at 2 in the night!
His wife Anjali first came to his house posing as a journalist!
Sachin did not use a bat sticker till 1996 World Cup to avoid distractions. Superstition at it best!
Sachin was not a great admirer of Kapil Dev's coaching methods.
Sachin was removed from captaincy without any notice by the BCCI in 2000.
Usually a cool customer, Sachin once lost his temper in a team meeting and scolded them for poor performance in 1999.
When Sachin gave up captaincy, he recommended Ganguly to be his replacement in 2000. Rest as they say is history!
During the tour of Australia in 2004, Sachin went to the same restaurant 3 times in a row and ordered the same dish to maintain his good run in the field.
Ever since the ban on him for the alleged ball tampering in 2001, Sachin would take permission from the umpires before cleaning the ball!
Sachin named his girl child Sara in memory of winning the Sahara Cup in 1997.
When batting together, Sachin and Rahul Dravid would chat in Marathi.
Sachin had almost quit cricket when India were kicked out in the first round of the 2007 World Cup.
During the 2011 World Cup, the Master Blaster practiced in the nets with his eyes closed for better concentration.
After his retirement, Sachin was given the first bat and helmet he had used in the debut series in Pakistan, which his brother Ajit had kept hidden all along.
Sachin's first bowling figures in both Tests and ODIs are identical : 1-0-10-0.
Sachin's wife Anjali would never eat or drink when the Master was batting!
Sachin always carried the national flag in his kit bag.
Sachin used to practice with wet rubber balls to see if he had middled the ball.
Sachin's kids are eligible to play for England as their maternal grand mother was English.
From the December 2014 issue of FHM India.
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