'The kid can play': When Sachin arrived Down Under

'A seaming, steaming, bouncy greentop'

Lismore locals didn't know it at the time, but as they watched the baby-faced teenager with the over-sized pads and the textbook technique flay the New South Wales attack to all parts that Saturday afternoon, they were witnessing their own little slice of Sachin Tendulkar history.

More than 1,500 had rolled into Oakes Oval to see a full-strength NSW take on the touring Indians less than a week out from the first Test at the Gabba, just a three-hour drive north on the other side of the state border.

Among them was a cricketing luminary in Alan Davidson, as well as celebrities Paul Hogan and John Cornell, who were such cricket tragics that the day prior they had also been to watch the Blues train indoors, owing to a torrential downpour.

The next day, when the rain cleared and the ground was deemed fit for play, the pitch that was unveiled was barely distinguishable from the outfield.

"We won the toss and sent them in on a seaming, steaming, bouncy greentop," remembers former left-arm quick Mike Whitney, who took nine wickets for the match.

"The ball swung a foot either way, and it was perfect conditions to bowl.

"They pretty much had their first Test line-up, but they just couldn't handle the bounce and the swing.

"But Sachin, well, none of that bothered him too much."

Image Id: B15B0F1CA10D462685D85020770FB645 Image Caption: An 18-year-old Tendulkar stunned Australia // Getty

By this point, the visiting Indians of 1991-92 had been in Australia for a little more than a week, the nadir of which had been a capitulation at the WACA Ground, where a team led by Ravi Shastri was skittled for 64 by Western Australia.

Among those posting a single-figure return on that scorecard was Tendulkar, the 18-year-old batting prodigy who was already creating hysteria in his homeland. Fifteen months earlier, he had narrowly missed out on becoming Test cricket's youngest century-maker by about a month when he scored 119 in the second Test against England at Old Trafford.

India however, likely fuelled by a desire to claim a second World Cup crown, had not played Test cricket since that series, and in the 14 ODIs in between, the young right-hander had made four half-centuries with a best of 62 not out.

Few Australian cricket fans – or even players – had seen any of India's new wunderkind. In the days before pay television, foreign stars often landed on these shores with big reputations, which were either enhanced or diminished depending on their returns across the summer.

Far from a red-carpet welcome, the teenager's arrival Down Under was greeted with more than a healthy dose of scepticism. As far as Australia captain Allan Border was concerned, the Tendulkar plotline was simply a case of new Indian sensation, same old hype.

"We'd heard all that before," Border tells cricket.com.au. "They had a habit of producing good players who struggled in Australian conditions.

"We thought that when we got him down here, especially at places like Brisbane and Perth, and with four good quicks, we'd sort him out pretty quickly.

"That had been the way it had happened with a lot of subcontinent batsmen – the extra pace and bounce had found them out."

Image Id: A6989423CA284AC1ADE8D5430909ED5D Image Caption: Border was having none of the hype around Tendulkar // Getty

Tendulkar's preternatural talents meant he had already been exposed to top-level cricket in a variety of conditions. He arrived in Australia with 588 Test runs at 39.2 from 11 matches, all away from home.

He had scored runs against Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir in Pakistan, Richard Hadlee and Danny Morrison in New Zealand, Devon Malcolm and Angus Fraser in England. He had even played for a World XI side against a West Indians XI with Malcolm Marshall and Ian Bishop in its attack, making 61 from number three.

A world away in Lismore however, those achievements seemed of little consequence when the slightly built kid with the heavy bat strolled to the middle with India 4-47, and Whitney and young Blues tearaway Wayne Holdsworth steaming in on a greentop.

After three one-day games since landing in Australia – two in Perth and one in Wagga Wagga – Tendulkar had made scores of 24, 4 and 24no, and there was little expectation he would put up any more of a fight than his more well-credentialled teammates had managed already that day.

"All the talk was about how good he was," recalls Holdsworth, "but it was a pretty dodgy pitch, and we were all saying, 'Hang on, he's only 17, 18, he can't be that good'.

"Of course, we know now that he actually was."

Tendulkar counter-punched from the outset, peppering the point-gully region with alacrity. And as he noted later, it was from that part of the field that he first heard what would become a familiar voice across the next decade.

"Steve Waugh … didn't seem keen on the idea of an 18-year-old attacking the bowling like that," Tendulkar wrote in his autobiography, Playing It My Way. "A lot of things were said to me and they were the first of many over the years."

But Waugh and his NSW teammates were beginning to find out that the young man destined for great things was as spirited as he was talented.

"It was in the course of this match that the Australian team for the first Test at Brisbane was announced," Tendulkar continued. "Steve Waugh was not included in the side, so I said to him that if he wanted to fight with me, he first needed to get into the Australian team."

Image Id: 25FA769837214782BE08027EAAE38690 Image Caption: Waugh and Tendulkar built a mutual respect across more than a decade of battles // Getty

Across the next three hours, the diminutive youngster took control of his team's ailing innings, scoring more than two-thirds of the 120 that was added in three partnerships.

He was the seventh man out, and while the Indian tail wagged a little, his 82 was the clear standout in a total of 209. At stumps, NSW had moved to 0-22, but all the post-play chatter was about Tendulkar.

"I remember us talking about it in the dressing room after and going, 'Man, yeah, he is a player'," says Whitney. "I mean we'd heard about him but after that innings it was like, 'Wow'.

"He was 18 but we all thought he just looked a class above – far superior to any of the other guys in the team, and a lot of them had been around for a long time."

After NSW piled on 364 in response, it was again only Tendulkar who stood tall for India, hitting 59 – including a stunning upper-cut off Holdsworth that landed beyond the third-man fence – out of 147.

The kid who would become known as The Little Master had just completed his maiden first-class match in Australia. Now, bigger things awaited.

'He walked out with his chest puffed out'

Tendulkar spent the whole of that December properly learning his trade in Australia.

At the Gabba, he was knocked over for 16 by a beautiful inswinging yorker Whitney, then caught behind off Craig McDermott for seven as Australia cruised to a 10-wicket win.

Australia enforcer Merv Hughes took seven wickets in that Test and echoed his skipper Border in his assessment of the Indian prodigy.

"I just remember thinking, Well he's a kid – how good can he be?" Hughes recalls. "Yes, he'd shown a little bit of talent, and he'd probably made a bit of a name for himself on the slower, lower decks, but Australia was going to be a different story for him."

As the schedule shifted to the 50-over format, Tendulkar played six games in 12 days, scoring 1, 36, 57, 48, 21, 34 in Adelaide, Hobart and Perth. Against Australia, a West Indies side boasting Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Patrick Patterson, and even a Prime Minister's XI that included Damien Fleming and Shane Warne, he faced a combined 273 balls and took in almost six hours' worth of invaluable batting experience.

"The great players just suck up all the information wherever they are," says Whitney. "They remember what the wickets were like, how they got out, what the conditions were.

"That's why they become great players, they just work all that out really early – and Tendulkar worked out Australia on his very first tour."

The dividends to his December education looked imminent when he reached 40 in the second innings of the Boxing Day Test after another two hours at the crease, helping India to a small lead alongside Dilip Vengsarkar. But a rash shot to off-spinner Peter Taylor ended a promising innings and left Tendulkar feeling "disgusted with myself … after doing all the hard work and playing myself in".

Image Id: 6CAD9F9067FD4A8FAD2EAE5122B80E8E Image Caption: Tendulkar made 40 in India's Boxing Day Test defeat // Getty

Australia went on to claim an eight-wicket win and take a two-nil series lead, but Border had been observing Tendulkar across those first two Tests, and his pre-series assumptions had shifted.

"The first thing that struck me about him was his confidence," he remembers. "He walked out with his chest puffed out, and for a kid his age to be looking so comfortable, I thought it was almost cocky, which I later realised couldn't have been further from the truth with Tendulkar.

"At the crease, he was so organised with his technique – nice straight bat and an excellent forward defence. And he just didn't seem overawed by the occasion."

It seemed all he needed was something to go in his favour. And in Sydney, that's precisely what happened.

'Don't waste your breath'

Australia were dealt an injury blow in the opening phase of their bowling innings in the New Year's Test at the SCG when Bruce Reid suffered a side strain after sending down just four overs.

It left the hosts with McDermott and Hughes accompanied by debutant leg-spinner Warne, though they also had allrounders Mark Waugh and Border to call on.

"I was pretty disappointed to miss out because that was my home ground," Whitney recalls. "I'd been playing for 12 years and I'd had a lot of success at the SCG – Geoff Lawson and I had worked out how to bowl reverse swing there.

"Then Bruce breaks down, I'm in the field, and I just chased leather all over the SCG for two days."

Image Id: DFC93A3844834531A007879CB2D0B5F4 Image Caption: Tendulkar roomed with fellow teen Sourav Ganguly during the SCG Test // Getty

In response to Australia's 313, India's batters finally got going, which allowed No.6 Tendulkar – who had endured a restless night thinking about facing McDermott and co – to catch some extra sleep on a dining table in the Indian team dressing room.

"By then I was feeling refreshed and was ready to go out and bat," he later wrote. "For the first time in the series our top order had fired and by the time I went in, the score was a healthy 4-201.

"The second innings at Melbourne had definitely helped me and I was able to middle the ball from the very start … After reaching my half-century, I began to play a lot more shots and was soon close to my second Test hundred.

"I vividly remember the glance to fine leg that brought up my century. I ran two and the second run was the fastest I have ever run."

Tendulkar had become the youngest Test century-maker in Australia – a record he still holds – and was instantly a household name in the country he would return to for another two decades. His love for the SCG – his favourite ground outside India – was immediate and lasting.

"Sydney was like India – a typical spinning, low-bouncing wicket – and Sachin had grown up on surfaces like that," Whitney recalls.

"He just batted beautifully, played shots all around the wicket.

"We walked off saying the same thing we'd said in Lismore: 'Yeah, the kid can play'."

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Youngest Test century makers in Australia

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) 18y 253d | 148no v Aus, Jan 1992

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) 18y 283d | 114 v Aus, Feb 1992

Neil Harvey (Aus) 19y 121d | 153 v Ind, Feb 1948

Archie Jackson (Aus) 19y 141d | 164 v Eng, Feb 1929

Adrian Barath (WI) 19y 226d | 104 v Aus, Nov 2009

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McDermott got through 51 overs – the equal-most by a paceman in Australia in the past 30 years – while Hughes powered through 41.4 as Tendulkar made an unbeaten 148 and Shastri 206, the visitors taking a first-innings lead to put Border's men under pressure for the first time in the series.

Australia ultimately clung on for a draw, and Hughes' abiding memory of Tendulkar is one of composure and confidence.

"We tried everything," he recalls. "We tried to intimidate him verbally, we bounced him – it was just water off a duck's back.

"His temperament was very good. He just didn't take any notice. If you were going at him verbally, he'd just turn his back and walk away, like he was saying, 'Don't waste your breath'."

Years later, Warne was even more succinct when writing about Tendulkar in his autobiography, No Spin: "He was about 12 years old, looked eight and smashed me."

'He had a bat that seemed wider than others'

Tendulkar missed out in both innings of the fourth Test in Adelaide, but the match marked a significant moment in his career in that it was the first time he came in at number four. He would go on to bat there 275 times in Test cricket – comfortably more than anyone else – and score 44 centuries from the position, the first of which was just around the corner.

Paul Reiffel had watched Tendulkar in action throughout the series, twice as 12th man, while he had also been playing League cricket in Lancashire the previous year when Tendulkar made his maiden Test hundred and averaged 63 across 11 matches with the touring Indians.

"I'd watched him bat in England a lot," Reiffel recalls. "He played so well there. I remember watching him score that (maiden) hundred and thinking what an outstanding player he was. And he was just so young."

In the fifth Test in Perth, with Australia leading three-nil in the series, Reiffel finally had his chance to bowl at him, having earned a Test debut as the hosts opted for a four-strong pace attack on a fast WACA Ground wicket.

Tendulkar meanwhile, had been continuing to refine his craft in increasingly familiar conditions. Between the third and fourth Tests, he had played five more ODIs, scoring another three half-centuries against strong Australian and West Indian attacks.

By the time the Indians returned to Perth ahead of the fifth Test, they had been in Australia for more than 10 weeks, and while most of their batting group were about to show they had still to learn their lessons, Tendulkar was to prove himself a man apart.

The Australians however, remained unconvinced, even after his SCG century.

"In Sydney, it was slow, low, spinning conditions – nothing for him to be afraid of," Hughes recalls. "We thought we'd get him over to Perth and just serve it up to him. We thought he was going to be out of his league.

"But the way he played on a fast, bouncy wicket, where the other Indian batsmen just didn't cope, well to do that as an 18-year-old, you thought, Jeez, this bloke is going to make a lot of runs."

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 Most Test runs in Australia

Sir Jack Hobbs (Eng) | M: 24 | R: 2,493 | Ave: 57.97 | 9x100s | HS 187

Wally Hammond (Eng) | M: 19 | R: 1,981 | Ave: 61.90 | 7x100s | HS: 251

David Gower (Eng) | M: 24 | R: 1,824 | Ave: 44.48 | 5x100s | HS: 136

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) | M: 20 | R: 1,809 | Ave: 53.20 | 6x100s | HS: 241no

Sir Viv Richards (WI) | M: 22 | R: 1,760 | Ave: 47.56 | 4x100s | HS: 208

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With India 2-69 midway through the second day in response to Australia's 346, Tendulkar strode confidently to the middle with a game plan in mind.

"By that stage of the tour I had mastered a back-foot punch," he later wrote. "While most batsmen favoured the cut shot at Perth because of the extra bounce, I used the back-foot punch at every opportunity and because I was able to do so against good-length balls, it was making the bowlers' job that much more difficult.

"I never had a problem batting at the WACA. This was because I managed to adjust to the bounce. Every time the ball got big on me, I stayed on the back foot and played the ball with soft hands at the last moment, standing up on my toes rather than playing a flat-footed defensive stroke."

Hometown allrounder Tom Moody watched in awe at the masterclass unfolding in front of him.

"At the WACA, you need to be sure about which shot you want to play between that back-foot punch that he's talking about, or a square cut," Moody explains, "because with the extra pace and bounce, if you're somewhere in between and you're going at the ball with an angled bat, you're going to get yourself in trouble.

"But Sachin had clearly decided he was going to play that punch off his toes and he played it beautifully.

"He was very compact in his technique. He was just a boy really, but he carried himself impressively even then. And for a young Indian batsman to play like that at the WACA for the first time, against a good attack, there was certainly a sense that it was a sign of big things to come."

Hughes recalls more attempts at mental disintegration again falling flat, while at one point, Border was quick to step in when Tendulkar went to pick up a dead ball and toss it to an Australian fielder.

"That was always a big no-no throughout my career, and you know, this was an 18-year-old kid," he grins today. "I'm sure I would've said something like, 'You think you should be picking that ball up do you? Where in the rule book does it say you're allowed to do that?'"

For Tendulkar, it was a harsh example of "the intensity and competitiveness of the game in Australia" at the hands of a 130-Test veteran.

"After that I never tried to pick up the ball and throw it back to fielders," he later wrote. "It was a lesson in how international cricket is played and I remembered it till the last day of my career."

As had been the case in Lismore, Tendulkar was a one-man band throughout that first innings, counter-attacking where he could as India at one stage lost 6-59 while he was at the crease.

His 114 came at a strike-rate of just above 70 and, at the end of his career, he reflected on his second Test hundred as "one of the very best I have scored".

Image Id: 3E699DAE70274B368944CBAC521028FE Image Caption: Tendulkar reaches his century at the WACA // Getty

"The thing about Tendulkar was he had a bat that seemed wider than others; he gave you the full face," says Reiffel. "He played a little bit different to a lot of the players through that era who were very strong through the off-side – he was a little bit to leg and played very straight down the ground.

"It was his defence though that was Sachin Tendulkar's greatest asset. Whenever you bowled to him, the full face always met you. That was what I initially noticed about him, and that never changed.

"Generally the Indian batsmen struggled in those conditions, and the rest of them really didn't make a lot of runs in Perth, but Tendulkar did, and he wouldn't have seen bounce like Perth before, ever.

"He was just a cut above the rest of the batsmen going around."

India were again well beaten – this time by 300 runs – as their first-innings 271 was followed by a feeble 141 in the second. Tendulkar missed out with five in the second innings, falling to newcomer Reiffel, but the young Indian had left an indelible mark on the summer.

"No-one expected an 18-year-old kid who was five-foot-two to be able to handle the conditions in Perth," Hughes says. "But he mastered it at his first attempt.

"For us to get the rest of them out for about 160 in the first innings (excluding Tendulkar's 114), and 140 in the second, and for a kid to get 110 somewhere in all that, it was just phenomenal."

Adds Whitney: "We should've known that knock was coming – the way he performed against us in Lismore was almost precursor to that hundred in Perth, where he was the only one who could handle the pace and the bounce."

In India's lacklustre World Cup campaign that immediately followed, Tendulkar – still only 18 – was a rare bright spot, scoring another three half-centuries in seven innings and averaging 47.16.

Image Id: 2548140836DC4BCD8B0A195532855729 Image Caption: Tendulkar made 54no against Pakistan in the '92 World Cup // Getty

More than two decades later, he looked back on the summer as a seminal one.

"The 1991-92 Australia tour undoubtedly had a fundamental impact on my career," he wrote. "When we returned to India at the end of March after four-and-a-half months in Australia, I was a transformed cricketer."

Before the year was out, Tendulkar added a third Test hundred to his growing resume, and was ranked inside the ICC's top 20 Test batters.

Two years later, after another four hundreds and a stretch of 1,340 runs at 78.82, he was number one in the world.

"And every time he came back for the next 20 years, he just flogged us," grins Whitney. "He was an absolute master."