"They kindly advised me to go back to playing cricket with my school chums, suggesting that I wasn't fit to compete at international level. I kept my mouth shut."
Tendulkar made 24 in the second innings as New Zealand won the match by 10 wickets but it wasn't long until the Little Master would begin to take revenge on Kiwi attacks.
In the second test of the same tour, in Napier, Tendulkar came agonisingly close to his maiden test century before being dismissed, once again by Morrsion, for 88.
"I was heartbroken. As I walked back to the pavilion I couldn't control my tears. Why on Earth did I play that shot when I was just 12 runs short?"
The recently-retired great went on to score four test centuries against New Zealand in his career, including a top score of 217, while compiling an average of 46.91. That mark was down on his career average of 53.78, and Tendulkar explained the numerous difficulties faced with touring this country.
"New Zealand has always been a very difficult tour for an Indian cricketer," Tendulkar wrote. "It's often windy and chilly and that, coupled with the short boundaries in most of the grounds, makes it very different from conditions back home in India."
If Tendulkar found the windy conditions unwelcoming, it would be no surprise to hear his thoughts on the Basin Reserve in Wellington, where he described the conditions as almost unplayable.
"Batsmen have to be able to make subtle adjustments to adapt to conditions like these. One problem with looking into strong winds is that you can't keep your eyes open for too long at a stretch. Also, when facing someone bowling with the wind, your bat speed has to be slight faster than normal because the ball hurries on quicker than expected."
But Tendulkar's qualms extended beyond the sledging and conditions, taking issue with even the Kiwi accent. He remembered teammate Manoj Prabhakar particularly struggling, receiving more than he bargained for after requesting a power adapter from hotel housekeeping.
"The accent of the locals there was very strange to our ears," Tendulkar wrote. "In a few minutes there was a knock on [Prabhakar's] door and he opened it to find a doctor standing there.
"The staff had heard 'doctor' for 'dapter' [partly because they pronounced 'doctor' as 'dactor'] and had sent the resident physician to Prabhakar's room."
It wasn't all doom and gloom when it came to New Zealand, though, with Tendulkar calling Richard Hadlee "one of the finest ever exponents of swing bowling".
