Former India opener Aakash Chopra recently recalled an incident in which he had to lend batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar his abdominal guard during the 2003-04 Australia tour. He revealed that Tendulkar’s abdominal guard broke during the series.
The cricketer-turned-commentator remarked that batters carry a lot of equipment on tours but seldom carry an extra abdominal guard. Revealing the incident, Chopra said on the YouTube channel Khaane Mein Kya Hai:
“We were together in the dressing room. His abdominal guard actually broke. So, he had to borrow someone’s. I gave it. You carry a lot of things, but you don’t carry two abdominal guards.”
Chopra made his Test debut in October 2003 and scored 437 runs across 19 innings at an average of 23. Notably, six out of his 10 Tests came against Australia.
“Poor guy ate vegetarian” – Aakash Chopra opens up on sharing a room with MS Dhoni during an India A tour
During the same video, Aakash Chopra also shared his experience of sharing a room with MS Dhoni during India A’s tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2004. He mentioned that the wicketkeeper-batter was very shy and never ordered any room service himself for 45 days.
The 48-year-old disclosed that the former India captain had to eat vegetarian food throughout the tour because of that. He added:
“He was a very shy guy at that point in time. So, he won’t order. He said, ‘You order whatever you feel like.’ Now, if I have to order, I will order palak paneer or vegetarian food. Poor guy ate vegetarian. He used to bring some pastry from downstairs. For 45 days, he did not call room service even once.”
Chopra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in February 2015. The right-handed batter finished his career with a first-class average of 45.35 and 10,839 runs across 266 innings. He ventured into broadcasting and is now among the most popular Hindi commentators.
Edited by Aditya Suketu Desai