Sachin recollects how Lillee made him give up fast bowling
Sachin Tendulkar, while wishing former Australian pacer Dennis Lillee on his 68th birthday, revealed that it was Lillee who advised him to forget about becoming a fast bowler. Sachin said that when he visited the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai in 1987 to hone his fast bowling skills, Lillee noticed his batting skills and asked him to stick to batting.
Former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee turned 68 on Tuesday and while there were a number of wishes from former cricketers and fans across social media, the most iconic one came from a legend of the game who admitted that he ?pretended to be a Dennis Lillee in the nets?.What made it iconic is that the legend is none other than former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar. With over 34,000 runs to his name in his international career, Tendulkar is regarded as arguably the best batsman in the history of the game with comparisons drawn alongside the legendary Sir Don Bradman. It isn?t a secret anymore that Tendulkar wanted to be a fast bowler at one point, but that didn?t happen, and instead he rolled his arms as a part-time leg-spinner later in his career.READ?| Ravichandran Ashwin fastest to 250 Test scalps, breaks Dennis Lillee?s recordIn a video posted on Facebook by Tendulkar late on Tuesday night, he wishes Lillee on his birthday before stating: ?I can?t ever forget the day I met you in Chennai in 1987. I was there to become a fast bowler, but this is something most of the guys don?t know. I was always a batter but while catching the train from Mumbai to Chennai, my brother told me ?It won?t be a bad idea to carry your batting gear because after bowling for a while, you might be standing there doing nothing. And that time you can pad up and play against all those fast bowlers.? I actually ended up doing that for the rest of the week. You correctly said ?I think this young lad should go out and bat and forget about bowling.??Well, Lillee seemed to have seen the talent hidden in that 16-year-old back then and the rest is history. However, Tendulkar admits that it wasn?t the end of his dreams of becoming a fast bowler and added: ?But that desire continued and instead of bowling in matches, I used to fulfill all my desires at the nets, bowling from 17 yards (and) sometimes also pretended to be a Dennis Lillee at the nets.?