Steve Waugh recalls a young Parthiv Patel trying to sledge him
When India and Australia are competing on a cricket ground, there are bound to be some moments of banter and verbal exchange considering the fact that both these teams are highly competitive as they should be.
Banter, aggression, and competition are part and parcel of the realm of sports. Some incidents turn nasty like 'Monkeygate', some get forgotten while some moments get etched in the minds of cricket fanatics, like the 'Kohli-Johnson rivalry'.
One such incident took place in 2004 at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground where Steve Waugh was playing his last-ever game for Australia and an 18-year old Parthiv Patel tried to get under his skin.
It was the fourth Test of the series and a crucial one for both the teams as the series was tied up on 1-1. India had set a huge target of 443 runs in front of the hosts, post a fabulous knock of 241* by Sachin Tendulkar.
Australia had a single day to achieve the target and were 170/3 when the skipper Steve Waugh, who was playing the concluding match of his glorious 19-year long international career, walked out with the blade for the last time, much to the delight of the fans in attendance.
Waugh was on strike when the young Indian wicket-keeper Parthiv decided to have a go at the legend. Parthiv provoked Waugh to try his trademark slog sweep and even predicted that he will miss it.
"Let's see if you can play one of those famous slog-sweeps, and miss one," Patel said.
The veteran Waugh, not so pleased with Parthiv's comment, came up with a thunderous response that rendered the wicket-keeper speechless.
He said, “Show a bit of respect, You were in nappies when I played my first Test match."
In a recent interview to Cricket Australia, Waugh opened up on this incident
“It’s not sledging. People say there’s too much sledging in the game, I think you can do it in a different way and have a bit of a laugh and a bit of fun.", he said.
"While people say that was a sledge, to me that was banter,” he added.