New Delhi: Legendary India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar celebrates his 52nd birthday on Thursday, amidst a plethora of wishes showered upon him on social media. Widely known as the “God of Cricket”, Sachin’s stature is that of an icon in the world as he is one of the highly respected athletes in the world. A man with sheer charisma, humility, and a knack for not getting into ugly spats or controversies.
While touring foreign soils or playing on one’s own land, one thing that Sachin carried without fail was “discipline.” He can be termed as the epitome of what dedication and determination look like. Although there have been numerous instances of Sachin taking India over the line with his grit and batting prowess, there’s one such instance that has engraved itself in the annals of cricket history.
Notably, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan, who also happens to be Sachin’s ex-teammate, made use of one such instance of Sachin’s greatness to send him birthday wishes on “X” (formerly Twitter). Amidst a plethora of birthday wishes from the now-retired cricketers, Irfan’s wish stood apart from the rest. Like others, he didn’t use any of Sachin’s pictures or a picture of him alongside the great batter.
Irfan rather posted a “wagon wheel” on his X handle and simply captioned it, “Wishing the GOAT a very happy birthday.” While the hardcore cricket fanatics took no time in understanding what the image actually means, it was quite difficult for some fans to decode the image. For those unversed, a wagon wheel is an overview pictorial depiction of a batter’s innings in a particular game in which either singles, doubles, or boundaries like fours and sixes are marked with trajectories (field areas where runs were scored).
Wishing the GOAT a very happy birthday. pic.twitter.com/qGtjurLSDA
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 24, 2025
What does Irfan’s wish mean?
The wagon wheel posted by Irfan is a tribute to Sachin’s impeccable batting skillset, which weighs in on him being called the “greatest of all time.” The image originates from India’s 2003-04 tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in which the two nations were to play four Tests. The result stood 1-1 after the first three Tests as the very first Test in Brisbane was drawn, followed by India’s win in Adelaide and Australia’s victory in Melbourne.
Sadly, Sachin didn’t score much in all three Tests as he struggled with deliveries bowled to him outside the off stump. Out of the five innings that he got, Sachin was dismissed every time he chased the outside off-stump delivery. Therefore, it was in the fourth Test in Sydney that he kind of promised himself that he wouldn’t play that specific delivery anymore and would just focus on scoring on the leg side.
What the innings turned out to be is one for the ages! Sachin refrained from going after the off-side deliveries that the Aussie bowlers bowled him the most, having figured out his woes against those. But Sachin had come with a mission this time. His ignorance of the offside balls meant he didn’t score even a single cover drive in his entire innings, and the majority of his boundaries came on the leg side.
Having faced 436 deliveries, Sachin smacked 241* with the help of 33 fours and had none other than Irfan Pathan by his side when India captain Sourav Ganguly declared the innings at 705/7 after 187.3 overs. Sachin, who was the no. 4 batter for India, overcame his struggle on the off-side in some fashion, and his unbeaten double century is an example of what discipline and determination can lead you to and how it can make you overcome your worst nightmares.
Therefore, the wagon wheel shared by Irfan Pathan is a reference to Sachin’s iconic knock of 241* at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) against Australia in 2004. The match, however, ended in a draw with the series ending at 1-1 and India retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to their triumph in its previous edition.
As Sachin Tendulkar turned 52, several former cricketers led wishes to the legendary cricketer including Irfan Pathan, who rather chose a quirky way of wishing his senior, leaving the fans on the internet perplexed. What does it mean exactly? Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
