London: England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar revealed he almost lost his mind after trapping Sachin Tendulkar in the Lord’s Test.

Tendulkar had scribbled “once in a blue moon” on the ball with which Panesar had removed the maestro for his maiden Test wicket in the Nagpur Test last year.

Panesar, however, was not ready to wait that long and trapped his childhood hero plumb in front before bursting into his trademark celebration in the second innings of the drawn Test at Lord’s.

“It was as if I lost my mind. I honestly didn’t know what was going on. I just started running and it felt like I was flying somewhere. The only thing I can remember is hugging everyone. Afterwards, all I could think to myself was: ‘Did I really do that?’ I haven’t had the chance to see a replay of the celebration but my friends told me that I just went crazy,” Monty wrote in his newspaper column on Wednesday.

Despite getting Tendulkar out for 16, Panesar still remains in the Mumbaikar’s awe. “I was just savouring the moment and the reason I reacted like that was because he is such a great player.”

“That is the impact he has on people. I would not have run so far and jumped around like that if he was not so good.”

Panesar recalled a drive Tendulkar played off him and said, “most batsmen would have defended the ball but he just put it away. There was also a backfoot drive which was fantastic.

“Even though I am playing against him, I still think ‘wow’ when he does something like that.”

Looking forward to renew the rivalry in the second Test, which gets underway at Trent Bridge on Friday, Panesar said conditions may not be as helpful as it was in Lord’s.

“…I am preparing myself to be very patient there, because you don’t get the bounce as the wickets always seem quite flat. “But I will keep plugging away and hopefully I’ll get a bit more luck there,” he said. (AGENCIES)