Sachin Tendulkar once played with tissues in his underwear

Sachin Tendulkar batting against Sri Lanka at the 2003 World Cup

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that due to an upset stomach he had to once play with tissues inside his underwear!

The incident happened during the Super Sixes phase of the 2003 ICC World Cup when India were taking on Sri Lanka on March 10 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

"Here I am a bit embarrassed to reveal a very personal secret relating to the Sri Lanka match. On the eve of the match, I had a bad stomach and was feeling dehydrated. This happened because I had not yet fully recovered from the cramp I had suffered while playing Pakistan and as a result had had a lot of isotonic drinks," Tendulkar writes in his autobiography 'Playing It My Way' which was released earlier this month.

Just nine days previously, Tendulkar had played a match-winning knock of 98 against Pakistan for which he was named man of the match at Centurion.

"I also added a teaspoon of salt to the energy drinks, thinking it would help the recovery, and that caused a tummy upset. In fact, the situation was so bad that I had to bat with tissues inside my underwear. I even had to go back to the dressing room during one of the drinks breaks and was feeling extremely uncomfortable in the middle."

Despite the issues, Tendulkar went on to score a patient 97 off 120 balls, the highest score of the match, which helped India win the contest by a massive 183 runs.

"I somehow scored 97, but batting with stomach cramps wasn't a pleasant experience. I was pushing myself to the limits of endurance and in the end I was glad that the effort paid off," Tendulkar added.