“That’s gonna take five minutes to find the ball”: When Sachin Tendulkar tight-lipped Andrew Caddick by hooking him for a colossal Six during 2003 World Cup

The legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar, in red-hot form during the 2003 World Cup, had played a class knock of 152 (151) during their third league match against Namibia – the one wherein he had nearly knocked-off umpire Aleem Dar’s head during the latter stage of his innings.

They were set to play their next match against a challenging English side, with it being a must-win match for the teams. However, during the match eve, English pacer Andrew Caddick’s remarks which seemed to downplay Tendulkar’s innings against Namibia had become a talking point.

The Indian fans in particular, just couldn’t wait more for the Master’s clash against Caddick on the match day, and the former made sure to not disappoint them one bit. In fact, all it took was a single moment of brilliance on display by Tendulkar that day – the one shot which is still talked about till date and adds further weight to the genius that he was with the bat in hand.

Sachin Tendulkar tight-lipped Andrew Caddick by hooking him for a colossal Six

Tendulkar had smashed Caddick for a Four towards the leg side on the first delivery of the eighth Over. Having perhaps anticipated that the English pacer might well bowl short at him, the ‘Master Blaster’ shuffled a bit towards his off-side and nailed the Hook shot with perfection for a huge Six, with the ball landing somewhere outside the stadium towards the Deep Square Leg region.

Renowned commentator Tony Greig’s description to the shot acted as the cherry on top of the cake which was already iced beautifully. “He’s hit that for a Six. Oh! it’s a beauty. It’s out of the ground. Sachin Tendulkar has Hooked Caddick out of Kingsmead. It’s in the car park. What a shot! That’s gonna take five minutes to find the ball,” exclaimed Greig on-air post the shot.

 “Sachin’s just like another batsman in the Indian team” – Andrew Caddick

As mentioned above, ahead of the match Caddick was of the view that the credit for Tendulkar’s century knock against Namibia should actually go to the ‘nimble-fingered’ Namibians, and his team’s pace battery would fancy its chances to get rid of him with the new ball.

“India should not take pride in scoring 300-plus against Namibia. They were aided more by the nimble-fingered Namibians than their batting strength. Even Sachin did not play well despite his century. Sachin’s just like another batsman in the Indian team, and there are a lot of others in the Indian side,” remarked Caddick.

Tendulkar went on to score yet another half-century (50 off 52 deliveries), as team India posted 250/9 in their 50 Overs, and eventually went on to win the contest by 82 runs.