Former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has stated that he never practised the upper-cut and neither had he planned for playing the shot specifically.
In a YouTube video for 100MB, Tendulkar revealed that it was in 2002 during India’s tour of South Africa when he thought of playing the iconic shot.
During a Q & A session, a fan named Anuraj Ande asked – “#AskSachin did you practice upper-cut shot or was it just an instinct when you were playing.” In reply, Tendulkar said it was all instinct.
“It happened in 2002 in South Africa, when we were playing a Test match in Bloemfontein. We were batting first and Makhaya Ntini was bowling around the off stump as he normally used to bowl short of a length. He rarely bowled length deliveries. Since he used to run wide of the crease, I could sight the line,” Tendulkar said.
“The South African pitches offer enough bounce. The normal tendency to deal with those bouncers is to go top of the bowl. And if it bounces more than usual for somebody of my height, why not get under it and still be aggressive and attacking,” the 47-year-old added.
“That was something I felt. Instead of getting on top of the ball and trying to keep it all along the ground, get under it and play it towards third man boundary, utilising the pace,” he further said.
Tendulkar also said that his shot left many of the bowlers of his time “disturbed” as bouncer was a delivery which they bowled in order to concede a dot ball.
“That shot disturbed a number of fast bowlers because they bowl bouncers to concede a dot ball. But I converted those into boundaries. I actually didn’t plan anything. Sometimes you just have to let your natural instincts take over after getting at the crease. And that’s what I did,” said Tendulkar.