“Exchanged a few words with him”: Sachin Tendulkar once sledged Glenn McGrath to play with his ego in ICC Knockout Trophy 2000

Sachin Tendulkar and Glenn McGrath are two of the greatest cricketers to ever play the game. Both of them were masters of their respective fields, and the world feared them. Tendulkar has scored the most number of international runs, whereas McGrath stands 5th on the list of highest international wicket takers.

Tendulkar was famous for his generous nature on the pitch, but he went slightly off his usual nature against Australia in the quarter-final match of the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000. India were up against Australia, and it was certain that McGrath will be the biggest threat.

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In an interview with Cricket.com. Tendulkar told how he sledged McGrath in Nairobi as the pitch was very difficult to bat on, and there was a lot for the pacers on the wicket. If McGrath would have dominated the proceedings, the chances of the Indian team could have gone down.

Sachin Tendulkar once sledged Glenn McGrath to play with his ego

Sachin Tendulkar revealed that he spoke to Sourav Ganguly after the 1st over of the match and that he will go after McGrath. McGrath bowled a brilliant first over, and Tendulkar realized that they will have to do something out of the box, and he decided to exchange a few words with the Australian pacer.

Tendulkar said that he wanted McGrath to attack his body instead of the wickets, and the plan worked as well. He could not play a big innings but was happy with the quickfire knock as this allowed the Indian team to surpass the tough initial spell of the match.

“The way McGrath bowled the first over, I spoke to Sourav Ganguly and suggested that I go after McGrath. I realised we have to do something out of the box. Exchanged a few words with him which took him by surprise. I also started playing shots against him, though some of them were risky,” Sachin Tendulkar said to Cricket.com.

“The plan was to get him angry and make him attack my body instead of looking to get me out. I made a quick-fire 38 and this came in a winning cause so I was very happy.”

When Tendulkar became a Sledger#OnThisDay in 2000, @sachin_rt played a little cameo, smashed 37 v Australia in the 1st Quarter final of ICC KnockOut, Nairobi.

He was particularly severe against McGrath & smashed him for 3 sixes along with that ‘F’ word.pic.twitter.com/cjxUdRtrvR

— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) October 7, 2022

Tendulkar got out after scoring 38 runs in 37 balls, and India managed to score 265/9 in 1st innings where Yuvraj Singh scored a brilliant knock of 84 runs. Australia got all-out on 245 runs, and India won the match by 20 runs. The pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad took a couple of wickets each.