Had to ''beg and plead'' to open innings for India: Sachin Tendulkar
New Delhi: Batting great Sachin Tendulkar says he had to "beg and plead" to open the innings for India in an ODI against New Zealand in 1994, recalling a major turning point of his career.
The switch from middle-order to opening the innings proved to be a masterstroke as Tendulkar finished with a world record 49 hundreds in the 50-over format.
Sharing a video on LinkedIn, Tendulkar recollected the moments leading up to that one-dayer against New Zealand at Auckland.
"In 1994, when I started opening the batting for India, the strategy used by all teams was to save wickets. What I tried to do was slightly out of the box," he said.
"I thought I could go up front and take the opposition bowlers on. But I had to beg and plead to please give me a chance. If I fail, I won't come after you again," he added.
Using that move as an example, the prolific former batsman urged his fans to never shy away from taking risks because of the fear of failure.
"In that first match (against New Zealand at Auckland), I scored 82 off 49 balls, so I didn't have to ask again if I would get another chance. They were keen for me to open. But what I'm trying to say here is, don't be afraid of failure," the 46-year-old Tendulkar said.
While he may have ended with a 49 ODI centuries, Tendulkar's first ton in the format came after a long wait of five years.
It was in September 1994 that he hit his first ODI hundred, against Australia in Colombo, having made the switch from the middle-order to opening the innings.
He recorded scores of 82, 63, 40, 63 and 73 in his first five innings as an opening batsman. Tendulkar finished his ODI career with 18426 runs in 463 matches -- the most by any in the history of the format.
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12 Sri Ram Sene activists booked for holding rifle training in Bagalkote
Bagalkote, Jan 10: Karnataka police have registered a case against 12 Sri Ram Sene (SRS) activists for conducting rifle training in a village in Bagalkote.
According to the complaint, the SRS activists held a rifle training camp where 196 youth underwent training in the last week of December, 2024. The rifle training was allegedly held on the last day of a week-long 'personality development programme'.
The training was held in a farmer's field in Todalabagi village, Bagalkote police said, adding that he had no idea that rifle training was part of the programme.
According to Bagalkote police, the case was registered on the complaint of a Bengaluru-based NGO, All India Association for Justice. The members of the NGO submitted a memorandum to the Director General of Police Alok Mohan seeking action.
In their memorandum, the NGO had claimed that they were alerted after a video of the rifle training was shared on social media.
"A case has been registered and investigation is on," Amarnath Reddy, Superintendent of Police, told reporters in Bagalkote.
