Sachin Tendulkar scored an epic 98 while batting against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup is well known to everyone but very few know how he risked his health during the very next game against Sri Lanka as he was suffering from severe diarrhoea. He was forced to carry tissue paper while suffering from a bout of diarrhoea. And he scored 97 in India’s 183-run win as well. His 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa is the highest runs scored by an individual in a single season but there were two matches where he pushed his body beyond its limit.

“Pakistan is the only game that I have ever taken a runner in my life. That was the World Cup game I couldn’t even stand and it felt like someone has tied 500 kg weights. You can check with our then physio Andrew Leipus,” Tendulkar said during India Today’s special programme ‘Inspiration’.

“I was cramping ….and I took a quick single which wasn’t a wise thing to do. As it happened I collapsed and I said I can’t go on like this and I tried standing up and I couldn’t. So I thought because of cramping, the damage done was severe,” Tendulkar said.

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Sachin Tendulkar believes that both Centurion and Johannesburg where they played against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively delayed his recovery as they are at high altitude. So before Sri Lanka match, Tendulkar said he took too much fluid to recover from cramps and it boomeranged.

“I had a tummy problem. Because I didn’t want to cramp in the next match, I kept having so much salt (water) and I had terrible diarrhoea,” he said. “Those are the challenges you face when you have to go out there and play, no matter what if I was able to stand there, bat or not. I was always going to go out there on the field.”