"You Shut Up": When Ravi Shastri Scolded Sachin Tendulkar on the Field

Former India captain Ravi Shastri recently took a nostalgic trip down memory lane, recalling an intense encounter against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) — a match filled with fierce sledging from the hosts. Shastri revealed that both he and Sachin Tendulkar were targeted by the Australian players, particularly the Waugh brothers, during Sachin’s maiden tour. According to Shastri, the sledging irritated the young Tendulkar, who even considered giving it back in kind.

Recounting the fiery exchange, Shastri said, “I remember one at the SCG. It was Sachin's first tour. I had just reached a hundred, and Sachin had just come to bat. And he was being sledged by the Waugh brothers (Steve and Mark). 'You little this, you little that'. And Mike Whitney had come on to the field as a 12th man. I was having a pow-pow with Allan Border until I reached my 100. He took the ball in his hand and said, 'Get back into your crease; I'll break your head'. I turned around there. There were mics, and you could be fined. So I went on the centre of the pitch and I shouted across the SCG, 'Hey Mike! If you can claim to throw as well as you can bowl, you wouldn't be the 12th man of Australia. And that was it.”

He added, “Sachin came to me and said, 'Wait till I get to my hundred. I will also give them some of this'. I told Sachin 'You shut up. You've got enough class; your bat will do the talking. Let me do the talking. And from 100 to 200, there wasn't a word but at the end of the game, they were the first guys in the dressing room with a beer. Play it hard. You've got to be competitive. That's what the crowd respects. That's what the opposition respects.”