Former England wicketkeeper James Foster relives knocking off Sachin's bails, the historic Test stumping

By Parv Anand
New Delhi [India], December 20 (ANI): Former England cricketer James Foster took a trip down memory lane, recalling the moment when he became the first and the last wicketkeeper to get the legendary Sachin Tendulkar stumped in Test cricket.
In 200 Test matches and 329 innings, Sachin was lured into being stumped just once. The 'Master Blaster,' well-regarded for his exemplary form and technique against spinners, was caught off-guard in a well-constructed plan by the English think tank.
During a Test match between England and India in Bengaluru in 2001, Sachin looked rock-solid against Nasser Hussain-led side. As Sachin dazzled on the crease, he looked well-poised to put another big score to his name.
Hussain understood the threat and knew he had to act swiftly to contain the potential danger. He thought out of the box and introduced left-arm orthodox Ashley Giles into the thick of action.
The 6'4 spinner kept his lines tight to frustrate Sachin. Foster, who was assigned the duty of keeping the wickets, had a sniff of the opportunity that was about to come his way. He shifted his position towards the leg stump, assuming it would give him the best shot to get the legendary batter stumped for the first time in Test format.
The clever strategy from the English side worked wonders after Sachin stepped out, took a wild swing and missed the turn completely to get stumped on 90. The precision of Giles and Foster's swiftness with composure led to the first instance of Sachin's dismissal in such a fashion.
It's more than two decades since Sachin's sole stumping act, and during an interaction with ANI, Foster chuckled as he remembered the dismissal, "I actually remember it pretty well. It was a long time ago."
"Look, it was a tactic to try and slow the scoring rate. It was to try to frustrate him. An interesting thing is I remember the night before, and I was watching television, and I was watching a show, and it was about the Test match we were playing at that time and for some amazing reason, it came out that Sachin Tendulkar had never been stumped in Test match cricket. I thought that's interesting, and then I went to bed," he added.
When Foster was keeping against Sachin, he felt the opportunity could come his way with the events that started to transpire in front of him.
"Then during the game, when I was keeping, I actually started down the leg side. I never really experienced someone bowling like that, so I thought, let's down the leg side to make it easier for me. I suddenly thought I was going to get an opportunity for stumping with what I heard last night. I stayed nice and relaxed. As it turned down, Tendulkar rand down the wicket trying to pick a six and ended up getting stumped," he remarked.
The Bengaluru Test where Sachin lost his wicket after being stumped for the first and the last time, ended in a draw. (ANI)