5 instances when Sachin Tendulkar made opponents deeply regret sledging him

#2 Glenn McGrath

“Today I will hit you out of the ground.”- Sachin.

Glenn McGrath is one of the few bowlers whom Sachin Tendulkar got back at both through his bat and verbally. At a match in Adelaide McGrath hit Sachin with a bouncer on his shoulder as Sachin had ducked to escape the blow. The Umpire Daryll Harper declared Sachin out. That is not how he would have wanted to go.

In the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 McGrath was again facing Sachin. One of Sachin's shots barely cleared the boundary for a six thanks to the wind. That is when McGrath made the cardinal mistake. He recalls the incident saying "I felt a little unlucky, because anywhere else it would have been a good chance to get him out with an easy catch. After that moment I gave Sachin a little sledge — one of the only times I did that in my career. He proceeded to smash us all over the ground." But that wasn’t the end of it.

Sachin also got back at McGrath in the Kenya Champions Trophy. Sachin recounts the incident saying "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.'”

McGrath understandably lost his composure. Sachin blasted him with a pair of sixers and scored 38 runs from 37 balls. McGrath failed to take a single wicket in that match. He bowled 9 overs and conceded 61 runs. Sachin said "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.”