Image Credit- BCCI
Many people have
found inspiration in cricket great Sachin Tendulkar, both on and off the pitch.
In the meantime, the player who made the legend has always been encouraging to
his teammates. Pacer Varun Aaron recalled Tendulkar’s words of encouragement, stating
that the veteran cricketer raised his spirits and that ‘changed’ his Test debut
in 2011. Aaron was having trouble getting his first Test wicket as a pacer when
India played the West Indies at Wankhede in his debut encounter in the format.
It was at this point that Sachin inspired him to press on.
“We were
playing at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a really flat wicket, and the West
Indies were 500 something for four. And I was really down. I was 21 years old
and had never bowled 21 overs without a wicket. Sachin Tendulkar was standing
at mid-off, he looked at me and asked, ‘why are you looking so down?’ I was
like, you know what, Paaji, I’ve never bowled 21 overs for no wickets. I can’t
believe this is happening on my debut,” said Aaron in an interview to
BCCI.
“He (Sachin) is like, come here. We stopped mid-over and he said, ‘Do you
know I waited 22 years for my first World Cup Trophy? So you can wait 21 overs
for your first wicket, there’s no problem with that. Please come down to earth
and get bowling. I was like, Man, seriously, that makes so much sense. The very
next ball, I got Darren Bravo (166) out, caught behind. Then got two other
wickets – Carlton Baugh and Daren Sammy. And that just changed my debut.
“Just a few
words from Sachin Tendulkar. I had also induced an edge off Marlon Samuels, but
it was dropped. I was bowling flat out, gas out in my 26th over. If I had
gotten that wicket, you never know, I would’ve gotten one more over from MS
Dhoni and may be a fifer as well. It was just a great spell inspired by the
great Sachin Tendulkar. And it just shows you that these very small things can
actually change careers, change a debut for somebody.”
Aaron played 9 Test
matches for India and took 18 wickets. He called time on his red-ball cricket
career in February this year.