When Sachin Tendulkar played a stunning cover drive with bat handle on trip to Kashmir [Watch]

Legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar has been in the news after Virat Kohli failed to deliver with the bat in Australia during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). Many experts and fans pointed out how Tendulkar was a genius, citing his innings of 241* in Sydney during the 2004 BGT. The main highlight of the innings was that he didn't play a cover drive and refrained from playing deliveries outside off stump.

The two-decade-old innings came to light after Kohli got out similarly throughout the recent series. The 36-year-old was caught behind while edging the outside-off-stump deliveries on all eight occasions. Despite his unbeaten 100 in Perth, he managed a mere 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75, as the tourists lost the five-match series by 1-3. This was the first Test series loss for India against Australia since 2014-15.

Amid this, an old clip of Tendulkar has surfaced on social media, in which the legend can be seen playing a cover drive while holding the bat upside down. He was playing gully cricket with the locals during his trip to Kashmir in February last year.

Watch the video below (shared on X):

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"Sachin Tendulkar had a lot of range" - Irfan Pathan slams Virat Kohli's failure in 5th BGT 2024-25 Test

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recently criticized Virat Kohli for his shot selection in the fifth Test in BGT 2024-25. He reckoned that the star batter could not be compared to Tendulkar, who had a lot of shots in his armory. The 40-year-old said during commentary (via Star Sports on X):

"Whoever makes the comparison, like great Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli should leave the balls outside off stump and show discipline [surprises me]." (0:33)

"Sachin Tendulkar had a lot of range, there was cut, square cut, upper cut but Virat never plays those cuts, it’s not like he’s never played that. He doesn’t want to do that. He is reluctant and that’s the reason he goes for the drive or tries to defend sixth or seventh stump balls. All the time there is an outside edge and he gets out," he added.

Kohli will likely be in action during the three-match ODI series against England ahead of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy next month.