{"id":141159,"date":"2026-03-13T14:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=141159"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T19:35:40","slug":"from-adelaide-oddity-to-eden-gardens-heartbreak-mcgrath-revisits-india-battles-at-sportstar-aces-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=141159","title":{"rendered":"From Adelaide oddity to Eden Gardens heartbreak: McGrath revisits India battles at Sportstar Aces Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

Few bowlers embodied the edge of the India\u2013Australia rivalry at the turn of the century quite like Glenn McGrath. His contests with Sachin Tendulkar were among the defining duels of that period, battles shaped as much by calculation and patience as by pace and precision.<\/p>\n

One of the more curious episodes in that long rivalry unfolded during the 1999 Test at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

Tendulkar had only just arrived at the crease when McGrath decided to test him with the short ball. What followed became one of the stranger dismissals the two would produce across years of competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Sachin had faced about four balls,\u201d McGrath recalled in a freewheeling chat with Suresh Balakrishna, Chief Revenue Officer of the Hindu Group and Sunil Gavaskar, who presented him with the International Icon award at the Sportstar Aces Awards<\/a> at Taj Mahal Palace on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was time to give him a bouncer. He saw it was short and ducked, turning side-on and crouching low.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ball, however, did not behave as expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ball didn\u2019t bounce as much as expected and hit him on the shoulder. From where I was standing, I could see the bails over the top of his head. I thought the ball was hitting the stumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Glenn<\/p>\n
Glenn McGrath of Australia celebrates after trapping Sachin Tendulkar of India LBW after Tendulkar ducked into a bouncer, on Day Four of the first Test between Australia and India, at the Adelaide Oval.
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

\"lightbox-info\"\/<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\n

Glenn McGrath of Australia celebrates after trapping Sachin Tendulkar of India LBW after Tendulkar ducked into a bouncer, on Day Four of the first Test between Australia and India, at the Adelaide Oval.
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Getty Images\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Umpire Daryl Harper raised his finger.<\/p>\n

Even now, McGrath says the debate around that moment has never quite ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cSachin and I have discussed it for years. He reckons the ball was going over the stumps by a foot and a half. I thought it was hitting. Recently, we did a TV commercial together, and the whole point of it was that Sachin thinks I need to get my eyes checked. He still believes it wasn\u2019t out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia would go on to win the Test comfortably, but the dismissal remains one of the more unusual footnotes in the long McGrath\u2013Tendulkar contest.<\/p>\n

If Adelaide carried a hint of oddity, the memory of the 2001 Test at Eden Gardens is one McGrath now recounts with a touch of humour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really remember that match,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n

At the time, the Australian side, led by Steve Waugh, appeared firmly in control. Having already won the first Test in Mumbai by 10 wickets, it enforced the follow-on after dominating the opening three days in Kolkata.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve was a very aggressive captain. If you ask him today whether he\u2019d change that call, he\u2019d probably still enforce the follow-on,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: \u2018We played purely for the passion,\u2019 says former India women\u2019s cricket team captain Diana Edulji<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Australia expected the finish to arrive quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into day four, we thought we\u2019d get an early wicket and wrap things up. Unfortunately, the wicket didn\u2019t come for us until about 24 hours later.\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed would become one of Test cricket\u2019s greatest reversals, driven by the brilliance of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows the quality of players back then. I was fortunate to play against guys like Laxman, Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laxman\u2019s innings, in particular, left a deep impression on the Australian quick.<\/p>\n

\u201cShane Warne was bowling into the rough, and the ball was turning square. But VVS was in such amazing form. He\u2019d see where the ball pitched and then hit it over mid-wicket. It was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

With time, even a defeat of that magnitude has settled into perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can live with the fact that it took knocks of that special kind to beat us. We can live with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, there is one memory that invariably resurfaces whenever McGrath finds himself in India.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n
\n

In the 2003 World Cup final, Glenn McGrath\u2019s early strikes (including Tendulkar) helped Australia beat India.
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Hamish Blair\n <\/p>\n

\"lightbox-info\"\/<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\n

In the 2003 World Cup final, Glenn McGrath\u2019s early strikes (including Tendulkar) helped Australia beat India.
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Hamish Blair\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s another one that comes back every time I\u2019m here,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cPeople still haven\u2019t forgiven me for the 2003 Cricket World Cup Final.\u201d<\/p>\n

On that night in Johannesburg, McGrath\u2019s early strikes helped Australia overwhelm India national cricket team and secure the title, adding yet another sharp chapter to a rivalry that rarely lacked drama.<\/p>\n

Published on Mar 13, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
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Few bowlers embodied the edge of the India\u2013Australia rivalry at the turn of the century quite like Glenn McGrath. His contests with Sachin Tendulkar were among the defining duels of that period, battles shaped as much by calculation and patience as by pace and precision. One of the more curious episodes in that long rivalry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6744_13_3_2026_22_38_18_1_29_RVM_9411.JPG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgnRh4-AIL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/141160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}