Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has opened up on the infamous Indian declaration during the 2004 Test against Pakistan in Multan, saying that Sachin Tendulkar should have been given the opportunity to complete his double century. The Test match, where Virender Sehwag scored his epic Test triple century and scored 309, saw India declare their first innings on 675/5 with Tendulkar stranded on 194. The decision, taken by stand-in captain Rahul Dravid, was much talked about, with Tendulkar himself later explaining that he was disappointed with the call. Yuvraj, who was the last man out revealed the message that had been conveyed to him and Tendulkar.
“We got a message in between that we had to play fast, and we were going to declare. He could have got those six runs in another over and we bowled 8-10 overs after that. I do not think another two overs would have made a difference to the Test match,” Yuvraj recalls in an exclusive interaction on Home of Heroes, Sports18’s newest offering.
At the launch on Tendulkar’s autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’ in 2015, Sachin, Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had a good laugh about the entire episode, as he opened up on what transpired between him and his captain after the declaration.
“Rahul finally came to me and said he had heard that I was upset and wanted to have a chat… I was indeed upset. I asked him what the thinking was behind the declaration at that time… I was batting for the team as well. Yes, I had scored 194, but the 194 was meant to help the team and it was my individual contribution to the team’s cause. So to say that the decision was taken in the best interest of the team, wasn’t correct,” Tendulkar had said.
“If I had got one rupee for every time I was asked a question about Multan, I would have been a multi-millionaire,” said Dravid. When you have played together for 16 years, you will have agreements and disagreements.”
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