Mumbai: It is seven years to the day that Sachin Tendulkar became the first cricketer in history to score a double-century in One Day Internationals.
The little master scored exactly 200 not out against South Africa in Gwalior with India reaching a total of 401/3 and winning by 153 runs.
But Sachin has revealed that after his historic innings, he could not get any sleep that night!
"Back in the hotel, I was feeling really tired but, because of all the excitement, was unable to sleep. Lying awake in bed, I decided to check my phone and found that it was flooded with messages congratulating me and I spent two hours responding to them, a task that eventually took me two days to complete," writes Tendulkar in his autobiography Playing It My Way.
"I was up early the next morning, too, but it didn't really matter, as I was heading home for a much-needed break after one of my best-ever seasons in international cricket."
Tendulkar also recalls leaving the bathroom lights on because of a feeling of unease he had in the huge hotel room.
"I have to admit that there was another reason I could not sleep in Gwalior. The hotel authorities had very kindly given both Dhoni and me a suite each and these were located at a fair distance from the rooms of the rest of the team. My suite was enormous and even had a private swimming pool," Tendulkar has written.
"The bathroom was gigantic and was separated from the main living room by a glass door. Outside there were huge trees and at night, with the silk curtains fluttering in the breeze, I didn't find it the most comfortable room to sleep in. It was pitch dark outside and the size of the room, together with the unfamiliar sights and sounds around, made me seriously uneasy and I had to keep the bathroom lights on all night!"
After Tendulkar scaled the 200-mark, Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle have all emulated him with Sharma managing it twice.
