Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar came out of retirement during the Bushfire Bash at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Saturday. Australia women’s all-rounder Ellyse Perry challenged him to face one over in the innings break of the fund-raising match. The Master Blaster accepted it with glee and eventually took the field.
In the first delivery, Perry dug the leather in short and Tendulkar was quick to rock back on to the back foot. The Little Master was on his toes and glanced the ball past the short fine-leg fielder to start with a boundary. In the second ball, Perry again sprayed the ball down the leg side. Even this time, Tendulkar glided the ball through fine leg, but couldn’t get proper timing. The fielder running in from square leg cut of the boundary and Tendulkar could only score a couple.
Perry bowled it a little fuller third time around and Tendulkar went for the same stroke. This time around, the ball went straight to the fielder inside the circle and the batsman was denied any run.
In the fourth delivery, Perry hit the back-of-a-length around the off and middle stump. Tendulkar now moved back and tried to slice the ball away. But the short third man fielder moved a bit to the right and stopped the ball.
Perry then handed over the ball to Anabelle Sutherland, who recently made her debut for Australia in the ongoing Women’s T20I tri-series.
Sutherland started with an over-pitched delivery outside the off-stump and Tendulkar drove the ball straight to the cover fielder. In the last ball, Sutherland floated one up and Tendulkar this time pulled off his trademark straight drive, presenting the full face of the bat and oozing class.
The Aussie women cricketers then went up to Tendulkar and shook hands with him.
Facing an over after five years, Tendulkar admitted that he was nervous before coming out to bat.
“I think I was more nervous than (Perry) because I was not sure whether I was going to see the ball or not. I told her that after last evening’s net, I did one throwdown session and I said, ‘I can see the ball but I cannot guarantee whether the ball is going to hit the bat’, at least I could see the ball and spend some time in the middle,” he said.
"I was more nervous than she was" – Sachin Tendulkar did his bit for the #BigAppeal today, facing Aussies Ellyse Perry & Annabel Sutherland. You can still donate at https://t.co/HgP8Vhnk9s pic.twitter.com/6bLWPSJ5Lh
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 9, 2020
As far as the charity game is concerned, Ricky Ponting XI beat Adam Gilchrist XI by a solitary run after putting 104 for five in their allotted 10 overs.
