The Indian cricket team, led by Rohit Sharma, suffered an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand in a recently-concluded Test series at home. Notably, this is the first time India have faced a clean sweep on home soil in a Test series of three or more matches. The Indian batters failed miserably against the New Zealand spinners, who used the conditions better than the host team. Former India captain and batting great Sunil Gavaskar criticised the Indian side for its flop show. Stating that India were not ready for the series, the legend gave an example of how Sachin Tendulkar prepared himself for an important series back in 1998.

India were to take on Australia in a home Test series in 1998. Gavaskar revealed how Sachin prepared himself during warm-up games for Mumbai against Australia to counter Shane Warne during the Test matches.

“That’s the reason why Sachin Tendulkar was Sachin Tendulkar. He was so fiercely proud of what he could do and what he wanted to do for the team. Don’t forget the 200 at the Brabourne Stadium for Ranji champions Mumbai and the visiting Australian team,” said Gavaskar as quoted by India Today.

“Then when he went to Chennai, he asked Laxman Sivaramakrishnan to come and go around the wicket, create a rough around that area so that he could practise that slog sweep and the inside out shot against Shane Warne.

“So that is the kind of preparation why Sachin Tendulkar has got almost 16,000 runs in test cricket and 100 international centuries. So, I think that is the kind of preparation that everybody needs to do. If you don’t do it then with the gaps that are there will always be that little body speed and back speed situation, which takes a long time to get back.”