Believe it or not, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar once played for arch-rival Pakistan under Imran Khan's captaincy. And that too, in a match against India in his home city of Mumbai.
Well that was way back in 1987, when Sachin fielded for Pakistan as a substitute for Javed Miandad in the exhibition match at Brabourne stadium in Mumbai. Two years later, Sachin made his official international debut against Pakistan in Karachi.
The 48-year-old has recalled the incident in his memoir, 'Playing It My Way', excerpts of which have been recently released to the Indian media.
"I don’t know whether Imran Khan remembers this or has any idea that I once fielded for his Pakistan team,” the Master Blaster wrote. In fact, Sachin claimed that he was asked to field for the visiting team when Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir had left for the lunch break.
The Pakistan cricket team was in Mumbai then to play the exhibition match versus India to mark the golden jubilee of the prestigious Cricket Club of India.
Sachin retired in October 2013 after playing his 200th Test match against West Indies at Wankhede Stadium in his hometown of Mumbai. It was a 24-year-long stint since his Test debut in November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of 16.
The former Indian batsman, who captained India twice during his career, is the highest scorer of all time in international cricket, having more than 30,000 runs in his kitty.
Sachin is also the only cricketer in the world to play 200 Tests and score as many as 100 international hundreds. He has amassed 18,426 runs from 463 ODIs at an average of 44.83 and 15,921 runs from 200 Tests.
He was also conferred India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 2014 by then President Pranab Mukherjee. In 2010, Time magazine included Sachin in its annual Time 100 list as one of the 'Most Influential People in the World.
Since his retirement, 'The God of Cricket' has garnered fans in the startup community also -- playing the role of an ideal civilian mentor to the young minds of India.