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Former India stars Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag formed a lethal opening combination for the Indian team in ODIs.
They were the side’s first-choice openers in the 2003 and 2011 World Cup; while India had reached the final of the edition in 2003, India eventually lifted the title eight years later. Justifiably, the duo of Tendulkar and Sehwag played a key role in India’s wins throughout the 2011 tournament and both have talked extensively about their pairing, batting together, their conversations and time in the dressing room together.
Sehwag, however, has come up with a never-heard-before story about batting with Tendulkar during the side’s group game in the 2011 tournament against South Africa. It was India’s only defeat in the tournament but both openers had a fine outing with the bat; while Sehwag had scored 73, Tendulkar smashed a century (111). During his commentary stint on Star Sports for the 2023 Indian Premier League, Sehwag revealed that Tendulkar had actually hit him with a bat during the 142-run partnership in the game, because the former wasn’t talking to him.
“We were playing against South Africa in 2011 World Cup. I was singing songs while batting and he was also in good touch that time. He had a habit of talking between overs, but I wasn’t talking at all. I was only singing because that helps me concentrate. This continued for three overs. After fourth over, he came from behind and hit me with a bat. He said, ‘tujhe Kishore Kumar bana dunga agar aise hi gaane gaata raha (I’ll go crazy if you keep singing songs like this),” Sehwag said, leaving fellow commentators Ravi Shastri and Jatin Sapru in splits.
“I was like, ‘we are batting so good. What’s there to talk, let’s keep it going!’. In 20 overs, we scored around 140-150 that time. When the over gets finished, he wants to talk about bowlers and their tactics. basically the cricketing things. But I don’t care about that at all,” Sehwag further said.
India had faced a middle-order collapse in the innings, as the side was bowled out on 296. The Proteas chased down the target with two balls to spare.
