New Delhi (Pakistan News) Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, known as the Master Blaster in the world of cricket, fielded for the Pakistan cricket team almost two years before making his debut for the Indian national team.
According to News agency INP, This incident dates back to 1987 when Sachin Tendulkar was just 13 years old and was among the local young cricketers. At that time, the Pakistani team was playing an exhibition match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on a tour of India.
In this 40-over match, when two of Pakistan’s key players, Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir, walked out of the field after the lunch break, there was an immediate need for replacement fielders.
On this occasion, Pakistan captain Imran Khan spoke to Hemant Kankre, the caretaker of the Cricket Club of India, and asked if he could get some local youngsters as replacement fielders.
According to Indian media reports, before Hemant could find anyone else, an enthusiastic 13-year-old Sachin Tendulkar ran onto the field with enthusiasm and started fielding as a replacement fielder, wearing the green uniform of Pakistan.
There was also an occasion during the match when the Indian team captain Kapil Dev threw the ball in the air, which went straight towards Sachin. Sachin Tendulkar has also mentioned this incident in his autobiography Playing It My Way.
He wrote that I do not know whether Imran Khan Does he even remember or know that I once fielded for his Pakistani team? Sachin’s childhood friend Marcus Cotto later told an interesting story about this incident, saying that Sachin was a little upset that he was made to field near the boundary line.
Sachin asked me if that shot by Kapil Dev could have been caught? To which I told him that the ball was going towards the spectators’ seating area.
Two years after this incident, in 1989, at the age of 15, Sachin Tendulkar made his international cricket debut for the Indian team, where he once again faced Pakistani star players like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
This incident is still considered one of the interesting events in the history of cricket, in which one of the world’s greatest batsmen represented the Pakistan team as a substitute fielder for a short time before starting his international career.