Former India cricketer Hemang Badani recalled an interesting anecdote when Sachin Tendulkar once asked the wicketkeeper to exchange his and Javagal Srinath’s trousers to lighten up the latter’s mood during a One-Day International match against England in 2002.
Badani said Tendulkar decided to play a prank on the bowler after he found out Srinath was nervous before the match against England in Cuttack where the India pacer was playing his final ODI series.
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“For some strange reason at Cuttack, he [Srinath] was extremely nervous, extremely wobbly, which he normally isn’t,” Badani revealed on his Instagram account.
“Java is extremely vocal and very confident in his normal self, but for some strange reason, he was a little nervous that day.
“I wasn’t playing that game. Srinath, obviously being a 6-feet-2, 6-feet-3, had really long pants and Sachin, being about 5-feet-5, 5-feet-6 had shorter pants. To just try and lighten the mood and to make sure that Srinath got back to normalcy, during practice just before the match, he [Tendulkar] asked me to switch trousers.”
Badani said Srinath didn’t notice he was wearing Tendulkar’s trousers before someone told him about it once the match began.
“Srinath being Srinath, doesn’t even care. He finishes his practice, gets back to the dressing room, puts his trousers on, gets on the field, bowls the first ball, and there are people laughing on the field. The Indian side was laughing on the field and little does he realise what has happened,” Badani said.
“Then someone points at his trousers and said, ‘Sri, look at your trousers, they’re so short.’ That’s when he realises that something is wrong. Actually, what has happened after that is, because of this banter and lighter moment, he gets back to being normal and bowls a brilliant spell.
“But he had to come off the field after the first over, he changed his trousers, he asked me, ‘What the hell is happening? kisne kia [who did it]?’ and all that. I innocently put my hands up and said, ‘I don’t know Sri, what you’re talking about. I don’t know what’s happening.’
“He eventually changed his trousers, went back in, and he bowled a brilliant spell.”
Srinath soon picked up India’s first wicket in the match against England during the sixth over and conceded only 41 runs in nine overs that he bowled as the visitors scored 250/7. India, however, failed to chase the target as they fell short by 16 runs in the end.
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