Everyone is aware about batting legend Sachin Tendulkar ruling the 22-yard-pitch and sending the opposition into wary. However, very few know about this particular incident when the 'God of Cricket' continued to explode runs for Team India, while battling severe pain.
The Little Master himself revealed an incident involving him and Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar, which took place during the the latter's tour to India in 2007. In a virtual interaction organised by Unacademy on Sunday, Tendulkar went on to share a story from his cricketing days, when he continued playing for over two months with a suspected broken rib.
“I got hit in my rib cage in 2007, while we were playing Pakistan in India and in the first over itself I got hit in the rib cage off a Shoaib Akhtar ball. It was quite painful. For a month and a half or two months, I was not able to cough or sleep on my tummy,” said Tendulkar.
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Tendulkar added despite being in extreme pain he chose to continue playing and went on to participate in the remaining ODIs (4) and the Tests.
“But I continued playing like that and had designed my own chest guard. I played the remaining four ODIs and the Test series. Before going to Australia as well, I played whatever cricket there was,” added Tendulkar.
Following the series against Pakistan, the Men In Blue then travelled to Australia for four Tests and a limited-over tri-series featuring Sri Lanka.
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Tendulkar, who was part of both the tours, continued playing until the final stages of the limited-over series but was eventually ruled out of the Indian squad after picking a groin injury. He then returned to India and after completing a full body scan, the Master Blaster was informed that he was possibly playing with a broken rib.
“When I went to Australia, I played the whole series – we played the VB series and towards the end of it, I had a groin injury. I came back to India and we did a full body scan. At that time, it was the doctor who told me about it,” added Tendulkar while talking about the incident.
“I did not ask him about my rib, I was worried about my groin injury because the IPL was going to start. But I couldn’t get fit in time and missed the first seven matches. But the doctor told me that there was a hotspot. You must have broken your rib at some stage. It troubled me for two months,” he concluded.
