LBW? It should've been SBW: McGrath recalls Sachin ducking his bouncer, getting furious

Recalling some of his fiercest battles with Sachin Tendulkar, legendary Australian bowler Glenn McGrath has said it ended 50-50 between m but Indian batting genius was really furious when he was declared out after a low bouncer hit his shoulder.

"Was it LBW? Probably, it should have been an SBW - Shoulder Before Wicket," McGrath said, recalling December 1999 incident in Adelaide Oval when Sachin walked off pitch clearly unhappy at decision by umpire Daryl Harper.

Speaking here at a special private session hosted by HCL Tech during World Ecomic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting week, McGrath also recalled an incident when Tendulkar "sledged" him after hitting him for a six and also World Cup final match in 2003 when he got Indian legend out.

McGrath said he spends a lot of time in India, has got a lot many friends re and always catches up with Tendulkar when he is in Mumbai, but many Indians still tell him y have t forgiven him for getting Sachin out in 2003 World Cup final.

In conversation with HCL Techlogies' CEO C Vijayakumar during special programme hosted by Indian IT major, 'HCL Sports Night', on sidelines of WEF 2020, McGrath also said it was attitude, confidence and self-belief that mattered most when he played cricket.

"For me, it was about always going out re and do whatever best I can do. My attitude was always about focussing on my gameplan and executing that. And I was lucky to play with a team that was excellent with people like Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne etc. y were pretty incredible players.

"Attitude was most important thing to me and even if we had a bad game resulting in a loss, I'll always take responsibility of what I gave. If I did well and team lost, I'll always view it as what more I could've done," he said.

Asked about his epic battles with Tendulkar and huge difference in ir heights, almost 6.5 feet tall McGrath said he enjoyed bowling to batsmen who were best, such as Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar.

"I had some great battles with Sachin. I spend a lot of time in India w for coaching etc and that's like a second home for me. I have a lot of friends re but people re tell me we have still t forgiven you for getting Sachin out in 2003 World Cup final," he said.

"It was a big match and Sachin opened innings in Johannesburg, South Africa. Almost 90 per cent, or probably 95 per cent crowd were supporting India, because South Africans eir support South Africa or whoever is playing against Australia.

"Sachin came for batting and first three balls, I kept pretty tight and he didn't score any runs. fourth ball, he went for a pull shot, hit me over to mid-off for four runs.

" crowd was cheering and I'm sure people watching match India must have been pretty happy too. next ball was a very similar delivery, just bounced a little more, he went to play that pull shot again but he hit it straight up in air and it came straight to my hands for a comfortable caught and bowled. I was pretty happy with that, but obviously Indian fans were t happy with that."

Chasing a massive target, Tendulkar was caught and bowled by McGrath in first over itself of Indian innings when he top-edged a pull shot. Tendulkar, who was at top of his form during that World Cup, has often described India's loss in that match as one of most disappointing moments of his career.

Recalling ar game in Kenya for Champion's Trophy, Australian pacer said he was bowling to Sachin who was opening innings again.

"I bowled to him, he pulled it and it went straight up in air. I thought I had got him out and wicketkeeper would get an easy catch. But re was a breeze re and ball kept drifting furr and furr away from wicketkeeper and n I thought third-man is going to take it who was ready to catch it and n he started going back and back and ball finally fell out of fence for a six.

"I was t very impressed and n I could hear someone saying a few words to me and I turned around and it was Sachin sledging me. That was very unusual and had t happened before," McGrath told an amused audience.

Australian said later when Sachin released a book few years ago, he read in book Tendulkar talking about how he sledged him.

"But it was all good fun," said McGrath, who is w 49 years old.

Remembering third incident from a match in Adelaide Oval, McGrath said, "Sachin was batting and I think he had still t scored many runs or was still on zero, having just come in. I bowled him a bouncer and Sachin is t tallest guy going around.

" bouncer will generally bounce and clear him quite easily, but that day when it bounced, it kept low and he ducked it and it hit him on his shoulder. And because he is t very tall, when he ducked it... from where I could see, I could see bails over top and it was hitting middle stumps.

"So, I appealed and umpire gave him out and he was t happy. So he walks off. Is it LBW? Probably, it should have been SBW or Shoulder Before Wicket," McGrath said.

Australian star said still when he talks to Sachin, he says that ball was clearly going over stumps.

"Again many Indians were t happy with that match and I got sledged a lot after that. But that's passion, people have for cricket in India, especially when it comes to Sachin."

This decision by n umpire Daryl Harper in match played in December 1999 is still kwn as one of most controversial ones.

McGrath said it was always good to play against Sachin.

"I got him out a few times and he hit some good hundreds against us. So it was like 50-50 between us," he said.