“That’s how everyone started calling Sachin Tendulkar Paaji”: Ashish Nehra once revealed how Sachin Tendulkar got his nickname ‘Paaji’

Sachin Tendulkar is one of those rare cricketers who is respected by almost all of his rival players as well. The ace Indian batter hung his international boots in 2013 and his records are still going strong, some of them are almost impossible to achieve as well.

Tendulkar has been called by many nicknames, but he is called ‘Paaji’ as respect by many of his former colleagues. Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra once told everyone how Tendulkar got that nickname during the 2003 World Cup. The 2003 World Cup was heartbreaking for Indian fans as they lost in the final against Australia.

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Tendulkar was the highest run-scorer of the 2003 World Cup with 673 runs at 61.18, whereas Nehra scalped 15 wickets in the tournament. Nehra once was a part of the 2003 India vs Pakistan watch along on Star Sports, where he talked about the interesting story.

Ashish Nehra once revealed how Sachin Tendulkar got his nickname ‘Paaji’

Ashish Nehra revealed how Tendulkar got his name ‘Paaji’ after the 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. Tendulkar played some great knocks in his career, but the knock against Pakistan in 2003 is one of his most iconic knocks.

Nehra revealed that they used to call Tendulkar ‘Bhai’ earlier, but after the win, Harbhajan Singh was singing ‘Paaji No. 1’ at the back, and everyone then started calling Tendulkar ‘Paaji’. He also insisted that earlier paaji was related to former Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev only.

“Before this, we used to call him Sachin or Sachin ‘bhai’ (brother). The first time we used the word ‘paaji’ was after the 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan,” Nehra said on Star Sports.

“On our way back to the hotel, in the bus, Harbhajan Singh started singing in the back ‘Paaji No. 1’. So that’s how everyone started calling Sachin Tendulkar paaji. Before him, there was only one paaji, who was Kapil paaji.”

Pakistan posted a challenging total of 273/7 in the match, and with the likes of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis, they had a brilliant bowling lineup. However, Tendulkar played an excellent knock of 98 runs in just 75 balls to dominate Pakistan’s pace trio.

In the 2nd over of the Indian innings, Tendulkar smashed Akhtar for a six over the point boundary and that six is still remembered fondly. During the innings, he also surpassed the mark of 12,000 ODI runs.