5 interesting facts about Don Bradman

5) Passing the mantle to Tendulkar

In 1998, the Don celebrated his 90^th birthday. Sachin Tendulkar was the only Indian cricketer invited to the gala. There is a famous photograph of Bradman, Sachin and Shane Warne together on the occasion.

Tendulkar discussed batting average with the great man. Revealing the conversation to The Guardian, the Indian batting maestro said, “We [Tendulkar and Warne] went to see him on his 90th birthday. It was very special. We were talking about averages and I said, ‘Sir Don, if you were playing today, what would you have averaged?’ And he said, 70 probably.’ I asked, ‘Why 70 and not your actual average of 99?’ Bradman said, ‘Come on, an average of 70 is not bad for a 90-year-old man.”

Bradman adored Tendulkar and saw shades of himself in the little master. He revealed as much to his wife on occasion. In fact Tendulkar and Warne were the only modern era cricketers in an All Time XI picked by Bradman. This, however, was published posthumously, and led to controversy, with some doubting its validity.