"He said, 'Take my trousers, put them in Srinath's bag'" - When a former India batter opened up about a hilarious prank by Sachin Tendulkar

Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar was known as a serious character on the cricket field. However, there were times when he did not mind playing a prank or two. In July 2020, on an episode of #StorieswithHemangBadani on his Instagram account, former India batter Hemang Badani revealed a hilarious prank played by Tendulkar on former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath.

Ahead of an ODI match in 2002 against England in Cuttack, Srinath was rather nervous and hence Tendulkar decided to play a prank on the fast bowler to lighten his mood. He told Badani to exchange his (Tendulkar's) trousers with that of Srinath for some fun. Revisiting the incident, Badani said:

"For some strange reason at Cuttack, he (Srinath) was extremely nervous, extremely wobbly, which he normally isn't. Java (Srinath) is extremely vocal and very confident in his normal self, but for some strange reason, he was a little nervous that day.

"And, I wasn't playing that game. So, what Sachin asked me to do that game was... Srinath, obviously being a 6'2, 6'3, had really long pants, and Sachin, being about 5'5, 5'6 had shorter pants.

"To just try and lighten the mood and to make sure that Srinath got back to normalcy, during practice before the game, when the match hadn't started yet, he asked me to switch trousers. He said, 'Take my trousers, put them in Srinath's bag, and pull out his trousers and keep it away wherever you can, be it in your bag, be it in my bag. Just take it away'," the 48-year-old continued.

Amazingly, Srinath put the wrong trousers on and started bowling. The Indian team was laughing on the field. Eventually, someone pointed at the fast bowler's trousers. He then realized that something is wrong and came off the field after the first over to change his trousers.

Concluding the hilarious story, Badani recalled:

"He asked me, 'What the hell is happening, kisne kia [who did it]' and all that. I said I have no clue. I innocently put my hands up and said, 'I don't know, Sri, what you're talking about. I don't know what's happening!' And [he] eventually changed his trousers, went back in, and he bowled a brilliant spell."

Srinath ended with figures of 1-41 from nine overs, getting the wicket of Nick Knight. India ended up losing the match by 16 runs. Chasing a target of 251, they were all-out for 234.

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Srinath is among India's Top 10 leading wicket-takers

Srinath (55) is seventh on the list of bowlers with the most wickets in international cricket for India. In 296 matches, he claimed 551 wickets at an average of 29.11, with 13 five-fers and one ten-wicket match haul.

The former right-arm pacer represented India in 67 Tests and claimed 236 wickets at an average of 30.49, with 10 five-fers and one 10-wicket match haul. In ODIs, he played 229 games and claimed 315 wickets at an average of 28.08, with three five-fers and a best of 5-23.