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Sachin Tendulkar has shocked the cricketing world by accepting the very fact  a cricketer hates to speak.

Sachin Tendulkar, the Legend in the cricketing world, has accepted the fact that he sledged Australia’s fast bowler Glen McGrath to keep the momentum in the cricket match and to give India a chance to win the match with the then-powerful Australian attack.

According to the book SACH by Gautam Bhattacharya as reported in Yahoo, Tendulkar says

“I have never sledged  merely for the sake of sledging. I did that only once as a part of team strategy. This was at the Kenya Champions Trophy. We were playing Australia.”

Tendulkar describes how he irked McGrath with a cheeky line.

“The match was played under overcast conditions. The wicket was also very damp. I had told Sourav before that I would do something to upset McGrath’s rhythm. So, in the very first over, I stepped out to him. The first thing I said to him was ‘Today I will hit you out of the ground.’ He got really angry and started spraying the ball around. This was exactly what we wanted. As on that surface, he may have been very dangerous.”

“We did win that match ultimately and I felt very happy. My sledging did work for the team.”

“My own experience of sledging came very early on my first tour to Australia. I remember having blocked a delivery and the ball landed near my foot. I tried picking it up when Allan Border shouted from gully, ‘Don’t touch the ball.’ So I stopped immediately.”

Gosh, this changes things isnt it. Sachin is known as a gentleman in the game but even the Cricketing gentleman has sledged.

Lol!  How can a game be competitive without sledging. The sledging done by Sachin created good competition between India and Australia. I guess it must have been a treat to watch.

In the meanwhile, what is your reaction on Sachin Tendulkar comments on his own sledging.

Iconic Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who on Sunday became the only cricketer in history to have scored 50 Test tons, emerged runaway winner over Don Bradman in a poll commissioned by an Australian newspaper on who is the best batsman of all time.

In an online poll conducted by the ”Sydney Morning Herald” asking readers to vote for ”The greatest batsman ever: Bradman or Tendulkar?”,Tendulkar secured 67 per cent of the votes as against Bradman”s 33 per cent. 20768 cricket fans voted.

Tendulkar seemed to have got votes from those who took into account that he played in three formats of the game and against 10 countries while Bradman played in only Test matches and primarily in Australia and England only.

“Tendulkar is better than Bradman. Tendulkar has played three forms of the game to Bradman”s one. Tendulkar has played around in many different pitches, against a variety of bowlers, and is the highest run getter in Tests and one dayers. Undisputedly, the BEST EVER,” one comment said.

“Bradman scored a total of 7000 runs of which 5000 plus were against one country. He played only against four countries in an era where not many matches were played in a year. He did not face too many world class bowlers, with the fastest being Larwood who bowled supposedly at 95 mph,” another post said.

“I am Australian. I love Don Bradman …. But my unbias thought is Sachin is Greater. Sachin has more than 30,000 Runs. He is playing in an era where every ball is analyzed and taken note of. Yet 12 nations have not found the way to stop this man.

“When Bradman played cricket .. . it was not analyzed as we do it today. Bradman only played Test and that to only in ENG and AUS. This 30,000 runs, 50 Test hundreds, 45 ODI hundreds, 200 runs in ODI stands out for Sachin and that”s why he is greater,” another fan said.

Those who consider Bradman better than Tendulkar felt the Australian legend played on uncovered pitches at a time when there was no helmet and yet he had a near hundred average.

“Bradman – no helmet, uncovered pitches, higher average, no advantage of a modern bat, more centuries per innings – enough said really. Tendulkar is the best in the modern game, but Bradman is hands down the greatest,” one cricket fan commented.

“No brainer in my view, but no doubt that both were legends of their era. There are two many variables to make an accurate comparison across eras. Conditions, equipment, frequency of matches, quality of opposition. 99.94 is the stand out for me,” another comment said.

But some felt the comparison was futile as the two legends played in different eras.

“Sounds foolish to compare players from two different eras. Numbers don”t count much when the conditions are so different. Same debate has been on comparing Pele and Maradona,” a comment said.

We want to become world No 1 team and hold ashes for 2 decades says Stuart Broad. Besides that, Broad says “England Cricketers want to humiliate Australia as Aussies did to their ancestors, and keep ashes urn for atleast 2 decades”

Boy! Isn’t this similar to day dreaming? I agree that Aussies are out of track and need real hard time to bounce back but to say keep the Ashes urn for 2 decades is some kind of joke.

As quoted in The Sydney Morning herald by Stuart Broad, he says “We’re looking to become the world No.1 team and you do that by winning constant series and consistent series”.

“We want England to be a place that’s feared to be toured like Australia is. We want to do something like Australia did to us for 20 years. They used to come over to England every time and win, then clean up in Australia as well.

“That’s something we want – to be part of a legacy with this England cricket team. You can learn a huge amount from what the Australians did and have done and built a legacy with their team,’ Broad said.

“We’re not happy with winning one Ashes series or two on the bounce, we want to go as many years as possible and that can only start with us performing well this winter,” he said.

Man, i love these stuff. Ashes heat has already begin. I am hoping for serious ashes action this November.

England player Flintoff who is the most successful english all-rounder and probably one of the best cricketer in the International Cricket has announced his retirement today.

Flintoff who was unfit from playing for the country due to the knee surgery which he underwent earlier in 2009 made him to take the most toughest decision of his career.

In a statement released by his agents, International Sports Management (ISM).,Flintoff said “It is with both disappointment and sadness that I am today (Thursday) announcing my retirement from all forms of cricket,” .

“The decision to end my career came yesterday (Wednesday) after consultation with medical advisers,” added the 32-year-old all-rounder, who quit the Test format after helping England regain the Ashes last year.

“I was told that the problems I have been trying to overcome in re-hab for the last year following the latest in a series of operations would not recover sufficiently to allow a comeback. Having been told that my body would no longer stand up to the rigours of cricket, I had no alternative but to retire.”

“I would like to thank my family, Lancashire Cricket Club, England, all my sponsors, friends and advisers for all the help and support they have given me throughout my career. Last, but by no means least, I am indebted to the encouragement and support I have always received from England’s magnificent supporters.”

Flintoff said he will decide his future career later.

Flintoff Greatest Achievement

Flintoff was always considered to be the back bone of the England Cricket team. He has both captained and vice-captained for the England team.

The most unforgettable moment will be his contribution for the Ashes tournament 2005 where he scored 402 runs and took 24 wickets. After this tournament, he was called the best performer after Ian Bottam’s performance in ashes 1981.

Flintoff holds the record for the most sixes scored for England, beating Ian Botham’s record of 67 with a six off India’s Piyush Chawla in Mohali on 11 March 2006.

Flintoff is only the seventh player to have batted on all five days of a Test match, achieving this feat at Mohali, in the same match in which he broke the sixes record

We will miss you freddie

Most of his compatriots have developed cold feet about playing in the Indian Premier League in the wake of Shiv Sena’s threat but retired opener Matthew Hayden said he is very much looking forward to be part of the third edition of the Twenty20 extravaganza. Hayden, who represents Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, said he never had problems in India and the country meant a lot for him and his family.

“I can say that I have been welcomed in all parts of India as a brother and friend of the country, which is a great privilege and I’m humble about it. Over a long period of time, I acknowledge, what India meant to me, individually and to my family as well. I’m looking forward with great confidence to playing in IPL,” the towering Australian said.

“In every tour, generally what happens that it is in player’s discretion to decide whether he wants to play or pull out because of personal reasons or other reasons. Obviously the matter now rests in the players’ hands,” Hayden said.

He conceded the players and the Australian Cricketers’ Association were concerned but felt the Aussies would be part of the tournament if the franchisees keep them updated about the security issue.

Australian players’ IPL participation became uncertain after Shiv Sena said they would not allow any Aussie cricketer to play here unless the attack on the Indians did not stop Down Under.

Source : Yahoo! News

Sachin Tendulkar has been named Master Blaster, Little Master, Legend by whole of cricket world. Right from ICC, Legends like  Sir Don Bradman,  rival players everyone a huge fan  of  Sachin .

But apart from these, Sachin has been called a kind hearted guy and named Gentleman.

Why do we call  Indian Cricketer and  legend Sachin Tendulkar a Gentleman.

Well Here is a small example to it