Sachin Tendulkar has announced his retirement from One day international cricket. We will no longer see him in India blues, but the little master, as he is affectionately known in the cricketing world, will continue to be seen in whites in the longest format of the game. It was way back in 1989 that he arrived on the scene as a child prodigy, under the captainship of Krishnamachari Srikkanth, and made a mark in an exhibition match by hitting Abdul Qadir out of the park.
Not many know that Sachin had gone for the MRF pace foundation camp as a cricketer wanting to bowl fast but he was rejected by none other than Dennis Lillee. But he was more than useful with the ball as he has shown on many occasions during his illustrious ODI career. In 1991-92 tri-angular series down under, he was handed the ball with only one wicket remaining. He got the wicket of Cummins and match ended up as a tie. In front of 100,000 spectators, he showed plenty of guts by asking his skipper to give him the ball in the famous Hero Cup semi final at Eden Gardens against South Africa which was also the first Day Night match at the venue. He conceded just 3 runs from 6 balls and helped India go through to the final. And in the final of that 1993 Hero Cup, Saching again did the trick for his captain by removing Brian Lara’s off stump.
He got his first chance as an opener in a match at Auckland in 1994. Waking up early, Indian viewers were pleasantly surprised to witness that innings of 82 runs which came in 49 balls. It was also the year in which he made his first ODI hundred against the mighty Australians at Colombo. Then came the world cup in 1996 where he showed tremendous form right throughout. In the semi final of that tournament, he gets stumped chasing a total of 250 odd with scorecard reading 98-2. Within seconds, the score becomes 120-8.
Over to Sharjah in 1998, India were on the verge of being thrown out of the series and Sachin comes to their rescue with a scintillating knock of 143 in 131 balls versus Australia and helping India to go through to the final. Even a desert storm could not stop him during that day such was his dominance. In the final, on his birthday, chasing a stiff target, he scored a well compiled hundred. That year was special for him, more so because he got invited to meet Sir Don at his home in Adelaide. Another match, this time in Dhaka, against his favorite opposition Australia, he comes up with a performance of 141 runs with the bat and 4 wickets.
2003 saw him getting the Man of the tournament for his superlative performance in the world cup but he couldn’t fulfill his dream of lifting it. Four year later, in the next edition of the ICC event, India got knocked out in the first round, bringing him to tears. Then came the Commonwealth Bank series in Australia, where he batted marvelously in both the finals to help India win the series in Australia for the first time. One more gem came against Australia, this time in Hyderabad, chasing a mammoth target of 350. He almost single-handedly took India to the brink of victory with an innings of 175 which made Mark Taylor, the former Aussie captain, feel that Tendulkar has had a rebirth.
This piece will be incomplete without mentioning that double century making him the first batsman in the history to reach that landmark in ODI history. This superhuman effort came against the likes of Dale Steyn who is by far the best fast bowler in the modern era. That was class personified. He is also very proud of India’s record of never losing to Pakistan in a world cup match. He has made significant contribution in those matches too. People still talk about his onslaught on Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis & Co. in that crucial match of 2003 World cup. 23 years, 463 games, 18426 runs, 49 hundreds, 96 fifties, 154 wickets…an era has ended. Thank you Sachin for the entertainment.
