How Melbourne Stars tried to sign Sachin Tendulkar for a one-off Big Bash game
Former Melbourne Stars chairman Eddie McGuire has revealed the franchise once explored the possibility of bringing Sachin Tendulkar out of retirement to make a one-off appearance at the Big Bash in what could become one of the most unusual spectacles in Australian cricket history.
Speaking on the official Melbourne Stars podcast, McGuire recounted how the idea came about during a period when franchises were losing key home-grown players, leaving teams looking for alternatives.
McGuire said he lobbied officials for what he felt was an unfair system where teams would lose more players but gain little flexibility in return.
“I was just thinking about the international angle because I was lobbying when they started taking all our players,” McGuire said.
“It’s ridiculous that some have been picked up and not even played. You’d have to go all the way to Tasmania, sit on the team bus and then not get a game.”
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Frustrated with the situation, McGuire proposed a sensational solution.
“I told him, ‘Well, if you take four of my batsmen or four of my bowlers, let me bring at least one international,'” he said.
That’s when the idea of bringing Tendulkar to the Big Bash came up.
“And I actually said at one stage, ‘If I can go and get Sachin Tendulkar, I’ll fill this ground five times over.’
McGuire said the dream scenario involved pairing the Indian batting icon with Australian legend Shane Warne for a one-off Big Bash final.
“I said, ‘Just for one match, if we can get him to come and play the big final. You’ve taken three or four of my best batsmen, so let me bring one in. Let me get Sachin Tendulkar as our batsman and Warnie as our bowler and we’ll see how many people turn up,'” McGuire recalled.
“We would have to put screens in the park. It would be the biggest cricket match in Australian history, all in one night in a Big Bash T20 game.”
CHANGING TIMES
Although the move never materialised, Indian players have slowly started to appear in overseas franchise leagues in recent years. Ravichandran ashwin has signed up to play for sydney thunder in the 2025–26 Big Bash League season, only to withdraw due to injury before the start of the campaign.
Former India Under-19 World Cup captain Unmukt Chand remains the only Indian-born cricketer to appear in the Big Bash when he represented Melbourne Renegades in the 2021-22 season after switching allegiance to the United States.
WHY IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
At that time, McGuire introduced the idea of Tendulkar, an approach to Indian players remained very limited, making such a move virtually impossible despite the former Indian captain having already retired from international cricket.
Even so, the mere prospect of Tendulkar stepping out in Melbourne Stars alongside Shane Warne remains one of cricket’s greatest franchise acts, a crossover spectacle that could have changed the early years of the Big Bash.
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Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
26 May 2026 16:25 IST
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