Sachin Tendulkar shocked us in Pakistan with triple tons in school cricket: Waqar Younis

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis is currently the bowling coach of the Pakistan cricket team. The legendary pacer made his international debut alongside former Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar in the 1989 Karachi Test. Widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, Waqar Younis recently appeared on The Greatest Rivalry Podcast where he recalled memories of the Tendulkar debut match and chronicled his rivalry with the 200-Test veteran.

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Tendulkar debut match: Waqar Younis talks about the then “batting prodigy”

Waqar Younis admitted that he and the rest of his teammates were aware of a young 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar prior to India’s tour of Pakistan in 1989. According to him, the Pakistan team had heard about Tendulkar’s achievements in school cricket as Younis recalled, “We always knew there was this young kid coming on the block who was going to be amazing”. Waqar Younis also praised the ‘Master Blaster’ by adding that even though he was a young boy back then, the right-handed batsman was scoring triple centuries in school. Waqar Younis stated that scoring a century in school cricket is also an “amazing thing”, let alone a triple hundred.

The former Pakistan captain admitted that the youngster “didn’t really” give him the impression that he would go on to become “the great Sachin Tendulkar he is today”. Waqar Younis further praised the 2011 World Cup winner by saying that Tendulkar’s hard work paid off and his on-field and off-field achievements over the years have been amazing.

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Talking about the Tendulkar debut match in Karachi, Waqar Younis recalled that he dismissed the batting prodigy for just 15 in his first innings. However, he claimed that Sachin Tendulkar’s 15-run innings was filled with classy on-drives and straight drives. Waqar Younis also spoke about the bouncer that hit the batsman in his nose later in that same series. While the then youngster still got up and scored 57, the pacer believes that his 50-plus knock “really showed his class”.

Sachin Tendulkar 98 vs Pakistan

Sachin Tendulkar 98 vs Pakistan at the 2003 World Cup is considered as one of his best match-winning innings of all time. His 98 off 75 balls enabled the ‘Men in Blue’ to comfortably overhaul Pakistan’s 273-7 in a crucial match of the tournament. Waqar Younis was the captain of the Pakistan team at the time and he bowled alongside the likes of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq.

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Sachin Tendulkar centuries

The sheer number of Sachin Tendulkar centuries place him at the top of the pile in the all-time century-makers list. The former Indian captain has registered 51 centuries in Tests and 49 tons in ODIs. With 100 international centuries, he is 29 ahead of second-placed Ricky Ponting (71) and 30 tons ahead of Virat Kohli (70).

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Image credits: AP and ICC Twitter