Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly has revealed how legendary player Sachin Tendulkar never used to face the first ball while opening the match for the country in ODIs during his playing days.
Ganguly's comments came during a conversation with Indian Test opener Mayank Agarwal in a video posted by the BCCI on its official Twitter handle.
During the conversation, Agarwal asked him if it is true that Tendulkar always forced him to take the first strike while opening the batting in the 50-over format.
The 47-year-old former skipper admitted that Tendulkar always wanted to remain at the non-striker's end when the first ball was bowled in a match due to two particular superstitions based on his form.
"Always he did. He had an answer to that. I used to tell him you also face the first ball sometimes. I am always facing the first ball. He had two answers to it. He believed if his form is good it should continue and he should remain at the non-striker's end. When his form was not good, he used to say I should remain at the non-striker end because it takes the pressure off me.He had an answer for both good form and bad form,"Ganguly said during the conversation.
Ganguly then revealed that he had managed to make Tendulkar face the very first ball of the match just once or twice during their playing days.
"Until and unless someone walked past him and went and stood at the non-striker's end. Andhe was already on TV and then would be forced to take the strike. It had happened just once or twice. I had just walked past him and stood at the non-striker's end,"he added.
Ganguly and Tendulkar opened the batting for the national side in 136 ODI innings and notched up a total of 6,609 runs, which is the most by any opening batting pair in the world.
Overall, the former opening duo has amassed 8,227 runs in 176 innings they played together as an openers.
Tendulkar is regarded as one of the most complete batsman in the history of the game as he holds almost all batting records which exists at the moment.
Hailed by many as the ' God of Cricket', Tendulkar went on to make 200 appearances for India in Test cricket and amassed 15,921 runs in the format. He also featured in 462 ODIs for the Men in Blue and scored 18,426 runs in it. Meanwhile, his only appearance in the shortest format of the game came during a T20I match against South Africa in 2006.
Ganguly, on the other hand, scored 7,212 runs in 113 Tests and 11,363 runs in 311 ODIs he played during his international career.
Following the resignation Tendulkar as Indian skipper in 2009, Ganguly was appointed as the captain of the Indian men's cricket team.Ganguly went on to become one the most successful captains of India in the longest format of the game till date, guiding the side to 21 out of 49 Test matches win. He had also led India to 146 matches in the ODI format, leading the Men in Blue to 76 wins and 65 defeats.
