Wasim, Waqar almost made me quit cricket: Tendulkar

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has shared his experience about what he went through in his first Test which he played against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989.

Tendulkar, who played 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and one T20I for the Men in Blue, is being termed as the greatest batsman of all time.

The 45-year-old, while talking to The Indian Express, revealed the moment he played his first innings, against arguably the best new-ball pairing of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, and explained how he felt after scoring a hard-fought 59 in the second innings of the match.

“First innings of my life, in Karachi, I thought it would be my first and last innings,” said Tendulkar. “In the first match, I had no idea. Waqar (Younis) bowling from one end and Wasim (Akram) going full-throttle from the other. And they had just started reverse-ball. To go there and play suddenly, I was completely out of place.”

He added: “I took advice from everyone in the dressing room and they told me to spend some more time on it. ‘This is international cricket. You’re playing possibly the best bowling attack in the world. Give them that respect.’ Second innings of my life, I scored 59 runs. I got back to the dressing room and looked at myself and said, ‘You’ve done it.”

Tendulkar is the first, and till now the only, player in the history of international cricket to score 100 centuries combined in all formats of the game.