Sachin Tendulkar turns 47: Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag recall batting maestro's pranks

Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 47th birthday on Friday. Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the greatest batsman of all-time and is widely regarded as the ‘God of Cricket’. Sachin Tendulkar, who is the highest run-scorer in Tests as well as ODIs, was known for his impeccable batting technique. As serious as Sachin Tendulkar was while facing the bowlers on the field, he seemed to be exactly the opposite off the field.

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Sachin Tendulkar is considered to be a jovial character, who was an equally fun-loving prankster in the dressing room despite his seniority in the team for the majority of his 24-year career. Sachin Tendulkar's former teammates Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly have revealed several incidents where the Master Blaster had played notorious pranks on them and shed some light on the same.

Sourav Ganguly recalls his teenage days with Sachin Tendulkar

While speaking on a chat show Breakfast with Champions, Sourav Ganguly revealed a hilarious incident from their teenage days when they were in Indore for a national camp. Sourav Ganguly said he along with his roommate were sleeping in the afternoon as it was a Sunday and he was extremely tired after a gruelling training session that morning. Sourav Ganguly added that when he woke up around 5 pm, there was water in his room and all his things were floating in water. 

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Sourav Ganguly thought a pipe must have burst in the bathroom so he went to check, only to find it completely fine. Sourav Ganguly then opened the door of the room where Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli were standing with buckets filled with water in their hands. He added that they were going to throw more water in the room when he asked them what were they doing.

Sachin Tendulkar asked them why were they sleeping in the afternoon. To which Sourav Ganguly replied if they had committed a crime by sleeping in the afternoon. Tendulkar then asked them to come to play tennis ball cricket. Ganguly told Tendulkar that he could have woken them normally and added that why did he wake them up by filling his room with water. On the same chat show, Tendulkar seconded the story and said that eventually, Ganguly got used to such pranks in the dressing room eventually, which improved its atmosphere more importantly.

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Virender Sehwag reveals how Sachin Tendulkar once pranked him 

Virender Sehwag also revealed a prank played by Sachin Tendulkar on him. Virender Sehwag said that in the famous match against Pakistan at the 2003 Cricket World Cup, he asked Tendulkar to take the strike against Wasim Akram as he had been getting out to left-arm pacers like Chaminda Vaas and Nathan Bracken in the past. Tendulkar denied Sehwag's request constantly.

Sehwag further said that he kept begging him at lunch break and after the innings as well. But Tendulkar was firm on his decision. Virender Sehwag added that even when they went out to bat, he kept requesting while reaching the 30-yard circle, but Tendulkar didn't change his mind. In the end, Tendulkar suddenly went ahead to take the strike and faced Wasim Akram, which was a huge sigh of relief for Virender Sehwag. Tendulkar confirmed that he was pulling Sehwag's leg jovially as both laughed off the incident and took India to a memorable victory.

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IMAGE COURTESY: PTI