Sachin Tendulkar lashes out at Greg Chappell over India stint

Sachin believes Greg Chappell had hindered India’s progress

Some unknown stories of batting legend Sachin Tendulkar were disclosed when tapes were played out in the 'Unknown Sachin Tapes' session of Times Lit Fest on Saturday. Some incidents were narrated by Sachin himself and some by Boria Majumdar, co-author of ‘Playing It My Way’.

One such story revealed how he had criticised Greg Chapell right in front of his brother Ian Chappell.

During one of Tendulkar’s bad patches, Ian had said that the cricketer needs to look in the “mirror”. Years later when they met in a gym at Durban, Greg’s brother saw Master Blaster working out and said, “So this is the secret.”

Sachin was in no mood for being politically correct and replied, “You guys conveniently change your tone. Your brother created all the problem. He took Indian cricket at least five years behind.” In his biography ‘Playing It My Way’, the Indian opener has also referred to Greg as ‘ringmaster’ who used to force his ideas on players during his stint as India’s coach.

While speaking about his captaincy Sachin sounded disappointed with the selectors. He said, “First time I was captain I felt there wasn't enough support from the selectors.” The former cricketer also said that his tennis elbow injury was so painful that at times in place of swallowing, he would chew painkillers, hoping they would work better. One day he had called up his wife from hospital and asked her to get a video camera. He told Anjali, “Get a video camera. You have never seen me in so much pain.”

Kohli’s emotional retirement gift

An emotional moment with India’s current Test team captain Virat Kohli was also revealed on the tapes. After announcing his retirement, Sachin was spending some quiet moments in the dressing room.

Kohli came with something like a pouch in his hand. He handed it to Tendulkar and said, “I want you to have this. It was given to me by my father. I am giving this to you.” When the senior cricketer opened it, he found some threads inside. The next moment Kohli was touching Tendulkar’s feet and the latter said “Arre tujhe toh galey lagna hai(Hey, we should be hugging instead).” A teary-eyed Virat said, “I will miss you” and walked out.

Talking about the high point of his life, Sachin recalled an incident when a child suffering from cerebral palsy got up and hit three balls with his bat before falling to an inactive state.