Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, who mercilessly whacked bowler across the park during his career, recently revealed that he never practised playing his famous upper-cut in the nets.

Tendulkar, who perfected the art of playing the upper-cut against Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Makhaya Ntini and others, while answering questions from fans in a recent interview stated that he had never planned in advance on when to play his remarkable shot, adding that he did not practise playing it in the nets.

A fan named Anuraj Ande had questioned the master blaster, who has 34,357 runs to his name in international cricket,  “#AskSachin did you practice upper-cut shot or just instinct when you’re playing?”

The Little Master gave an instant reply confessing that playing the shot was all instinct and zero planning. The 47-year-old then took fans on a trip down memory lane recalling an instance when he had dispatched a delivery from South African pacer Makhaya Ntini by playing the upper-cut.

Also Read: Sourav Ganguly backs KL Rahul, says it is Virat Kohli’s job to extract the best in players

Sachin talked about how he rethought his strategy of dealing with a bouncer and hence implemented the upper-cut shot. He stated, “Instead of getting on top of the ball and trying to keep it all along the ground, get under it and play it towards the third man boundary, utilising the pace.”

Recalling the incident from India’s tour of South Africa in 2002, the master blaster said, “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.”

He 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.”

Tendulkar then recollected how his quick thinking had rattled fast bowlers. The former team Indian captain stated that most fast bowlers would deliver a bounder to stifle flow of runs and added that pacers had to rethink their strategies while bowling to the Mumbai-born cricketer.

Also Read: Australia vs India: Expectant father Virat Kohli may miss last two Tests

The former team India opener said, “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.”