Sachin Tendulkar warns Australia ahead of India series; goes gaga over Federer, Nadal

Mumbai: ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar has said he’s confident of the Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team beating Australia in the upcoming Test series. Speaking at an event, Tendulkar also chipped in about the epic Australian Open final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Team India will square off against the team from Down Under in a four-match Test series in India, starting from February 23.

The former Indian skipper was extremely confident about the Indian team’s abilities but warned the ‘Men in Blue’ to not underestimate Australia, who were whitewashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka in their last Test series in the subcontinent.

“The last thing you would want to do is to underestimate your opposition,” said Tendulkar. “Australia is a strong side. It will be different to play in Indian conditions and Australian players have also acknowledged that, which is a compliment to the Indian team and the way they have been playing.”

The confident ‘Little Master’ also urged the national team to prepare to the best of their abilities.

“You cannot take things for granted and you need to prepare yourself. Australia are going to be tough to handle as they have always been, but I am confident of the Indian team,” added Tendulkar at an event organised to launch the ‘Sachin by Spartan’ range of sporting equipment.

Speaking about the Australian Open final, Tendulkar said he never wanted the clash between Federer and Nadal to get over.

“Tennis was exciting. I have always been a huge fan of Roger Federer. I was one of those guys who did not want the match to get over,” said an excited looking Tendulkar. “We enjoyed their tennis, they (Federer, Nadal) have given us remarkable moments and that’s always going to stay with us.”

Federer and Nadal rolled back the years with a classic five-set match in the finals of 2017’s first Grand Slam, where the former beat his nemesis 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to lift his 18th major at the age of 35.

The duo made an extraordinary comeback after they both battled recent injuries and were written-off. Tendulkar, who played for more than two decades for India had his fair share of injuries, said that he could relate to both the tennis players.

“The quality of tennis was just incredible. More so, I enjoyed because I could relate myself with both those athletes (Federer, Nadal),” revealed Tendulkar.

The batting maestro also talked about an incident wherein he was asked about his retirement plans as he was suffering with injuries.

“There were some tough times along the way when I had a lot of injuries. In 2005-06 in one of the press conferences I was asked that when am I going to retire and my best years came after that. The biggest thing in my life happened after that, the 2011 cricket World Cup. I could understand what both those athletes (Federer and Nadal) were feeling,” he concluded.