India great Sachin Tendulkar recalls his low scores in his early days

Sachin Tendulkar during the ISPL launch at MCA-BKC Club, yesterday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Batting icon Sachin Tendulkar revealed how he overcame the disappointments of scoring back-to-back ducks in his first two games to finally score one run in his third practice match at Shivaji Park during the early days of his career. Despite witnessed zero, zero and one in his first three practice games, the same Tendulkar ended his career with 100 international centuries and 200 Tests.

Tendulkar said that the BEST bus journey after scoring one run, from Shivaji Park to his Sahitya Sahawas Colony residence in Bandra East, was the most satisfying and pleasant one.

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"In the first [practice] match of my life [at Shivaji Park], I called all my friends from Sahitya Sahawas. I was the main batsman of the colony and I called them to watch. All my friends came and I got out first ball, which was quite disappointing. I made some excuses which were usually acceptable in gully cricket. I said, ‘actually the ball was low' and they all agreed.

"In the next match, I called them again and got out first ball. I made an excuse again and said, ‘this ball was a little high, it flew away from there and it was the fault of the pitch and not mine'," Tendulkar recalled his first two knocks at the Indian Street Premier League event launch at the Mumbai Cricket Association's BKC Academy on Wednesday.

Though Tendulkar managed to face only a few balls and score one run in his third game, it was a start to the making a great batsman, who went on to play for the country for 24 years.

Tendulkar, 50, remarked: "But in the third match, I said I won't call them [friends] as I would be wasting their time. I thought I would go alone. I remember, I played five-six balls and I got out for one run. But somewhere I was happy that I scored one run. I went back to Bandra from Shivaji Park and that bus journey was a pleasant journey because I had scored one run."