Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has revealed in a recent video that he had to "beg and plead" for the opener's slot so that he could play in an aggressive manner, which was not the norm back in those days.
"In 1994, when I started opening the batting for India, the strategy used by all the teams was to save wickets. What I tried to do was slightly out of the box. I thought I could go upfront and take the opposition bowlers on. But I had to beg and plead to give me a chance. If I fail, I won't come after you again," Tendulkar said in the video.
"In that first match (against New Zealand at Auckland), I scored 82 off 49 balls, so I didn't have to ask again if I would get another chance. They were keen for me to open. But what I'm trying to say here is, don't be afraid of failure," he said.
India, under the captaincy of Mohammed Azharuddin, beat New Zealand in Auckland in that match with Tendulkar opening the batting for the first time with Ajay Jadeja.
While he may have ended with a 49 ODI centuries, Tendulkar's first ton in the format came after a long wait of five years. It was in September 1994 that he hit his first ODI hundred, against Australia in Colombo, having made the switch from the middle-order to opening the innings. He recorded scores of 82, 63, 40, 63 and 73 in his first five innings as an opening batsman.
Tendulkar finished his ODI career with 18426 runs in 463 matches -- the most by any in the history of the format.
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