Xtra Time Web Desk: April 30, 1992 will always remain a special day in the life of legendary Sachin Tendulkar. The master blaster became the first ever overseas cricketer to play for Yorkshire county at only 19 years 6 days.
The circumstance under which young Tendulkar made his Yorkshire debut is no less fascinating. The county had already signed Australian Craid McDermott as their overseas cricketer. The county made all the arrangements for a live link up with the Aussie fast bowler and had all the press & media representatives assembled in their studios. But the fast bowler at the last moment told the county about his unavailability since he had a groin injury.
According to Chris Hassell, the chief executive of the county at that time, “The signing was quite a spectacular one because YTV had a live link up with him whilst he was still in Australia. We had all the press boys in their studios.
“That was all going along very nicely, so we went out to Cape Town for our pre-season tour. We then got a message from him (Craig McDermott) to say that he had got a groin injury and wouldn’t be able to fulfill the contract.
“So we all put our heads together, including our president Sir Lawrence Byford and Brian Close, who was on the committee at the time. Bob Platt was cricket chairman at too. We came up with Sachin.”
“We did it through Sunil Gavaskar, who was our go between. He persuaded Tendulkar that it would be a good move for him as he looked to develop his game,” said Hassell.
The next day Hassell travelled to India and met Sachin at the Brabourne stadium. The signing was done in the dressing room. Young Tendulkar travelled to Leeds few days later.Tetley’s, the sponsors of the county at that time presented Sachin with a flat cap and put a pint in his hand which became an iconic photo.
The master blaster, aged just 19 at the time, scored 1,671 runs in 35 matches across all forms, including two centuries. His top score was against Durham at the Racecourse ground.