‘After first innings in Test cricket, I doubted my ability to bat’

New Delhi: International Test debuts can be intimidating and Sachin Tendulkar could not have imagined a tougher one when he padded up against pace legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in 1989, the experience leaving him so scarred that he doubted his ability to continue at the highest level.

In his just-released autobiography 'Playing It My Way', Tendulkar reveals how he found it tough in his very first Test innings.

"It was baptism by fire. So much so that after my very first innings in Test cricket, during which I was all at sea against Wasim and Waqar, I began to doubt my ability to bat and question whether I was ever going to be good enough to play at international level," Tendulkar writes in the book.

"What made it (my debut) more significant was that we were playing against Pakistan in Pakistan and their bowling attack included fast bowlers of the quality of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Aaqib Javed, not to mention the leg-spinners Mushtaq Ahmed and Abdul Qadir - quite a test for any debutant," he wrote.

Writing about his first tour in Chapter 3, the maestro recalled how the fiery Wasim, then in his prime, welcomed the youngster to Test cricket.

"I was on strike to him for the third ball of the over, which turned out to be a vicious bouncer. Having studied Wasim's bowling, I was convinced the next ball would be yorker and was mentally prepared for it," he said.

"It turned out to be another bouncer, which I left. While I kept expecting a fiery yorker, balls five and six also turned out to be bouncers, and at the end of the over I said to myself, 'Welcome to Test Cricket'."

Getting used to the pressures of international cricket against arch-rivals Pakistan, Tendulkar also recalled the rising ball from Waqar in the fourth Test in Sialkot, which left him bloodied.

"I had just scored my first run when Waqar bowled a short delivery, which I expected would rise chin-high. I misjudged the bounce of the ball. It rose six inches higher than expected and hit me on the flap of the helmet before deflecting and hitting my nose.

'Never felt comfortable with lighter bats'

His heavy bat was a major talking point whenever Sachin Tendulkar battled injuries in his over-two-decade-long career but the iconic cricketer said he was never convinced about giving it up for a lighter one as his timing got affected everytime he tried the change.

In his autobiography 'Playing It My way', Tendulkar wrote he was asked several times to try a lighter bat but it never worked for him.

"I used a pretty heavy bat and I was sometimes encouraged to move to a lighter one. Again, I did try but I never felt comfortable, as my whole bat swing depended on that weight. When I was hitting a drive, I needed the weight to generate the power. It was all to do with the timing," he explains.

The all-time leading scorer in the game also offered an interesting take on how to hold the bat.

"To me the bat should be an extension of your arm, and if you've reached the stage where it's become an extension of your arm, why do you need to change? What mattered to me most when I was batting was feeling comfortable.

"As long as I felt comfortable, it didn't matter where I was playing or who I was playing against. If you make technical adjustments, such as moving to a lighter bat, to cope with different conditions, there's a risk of making yourself feel uncomfortable and of thinking too much about your technique," he says.

Tendulkar has advised budding batsmen against too much experimentation, saying the "bat should be an extension of your arm" and there is no need for a change in technique if "you have reached that stage".

The master blaster also talks about the intricacies of his batting.