Sachin Tendulkar reveals why he rejected an ad after Sharjah desert storm, 'Disrespectful'

Sachin Tendulkar had already earned a lot of attention when he made his international debut at the age of 16, but it was his incredible knock in Sharjah in 1998 that launched him to stardom. Sachin scored 143 off 131 balls in the ODI game against Australia, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Sachin said at an event recently that he was offered an advertisement shortly after the Sharjah tour, which he turned down since the script was insulting to cricket.

Sachin revealed that right after he returned from Sharjah, he was offered an advertisement where cricket balls were coming at him and he was hitting them out of the park with a fly swatter. Sachin said he found the ad to be disrespectful towards cricket and hence he asked the makers to change the script threatening to quit if they don't. The 2011 World Cup-winning player further added that the script was changed after he requested them to do so.  

"It happened in 1998 after the desert storm tour in Sharjah. We came back and one of the sponsors wanted to shoot an ad where cricket balls were coming at me and with a fly swatter, I'm hitting them outside the stadium. So, I turned down the ad, I said you have to change the script because this is disrespecting my sport and I worship my sport. I will not be shooting for this ad," Tendulkar told Gaurav Kapur during an event organised by Infosys.

"Fortunately, they did (change the script). I don't think that after shooting that ad, I would have been able to go back home or even go back to my coach. That wasn't something they had taught me. They had inculcated the right values and I stand by those values," the former India cricketer added.

Sachin's career

Sachin remains the most prolific run-maker of all time. He is the leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs with 15,921 and 18,426 runs, respectively. Sachin is the only batter with 100 centuries in international cricket. Sachin was the first player on the planet to score a double century in 50-over cricket. He announced his retirement in November 2013 after playing his 200th Test match against the West Indies. 

Image: Twitter