Sachin, page 5
Pakistan were docked two overs for their slow over rate, so their revised target was 306 in 48. They put up a terrific fight and were 172 for two in the 26th over when Aamir Sohail (78 of 76 balls) was run out with a throw from Vikram Rathour following a mix-up with Rashid Latif, whose 31 of 50 deliveries may well have cost them the match. Pakistan were dismissed for 277. With two wickets and a score of hundred, Tendulkar was Man of the Match.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar’s first two centuries against Pakistan came on neutral soil: Singapore and Sharjah.
» Sachin Tendulkar had seven Test centuries before his first ODI century; now he had 16 centuries with an equal number in both formats.
Tendulkar’s Brilliance Not Enough to Save India
‘There is only one man who can hit a better shot than Tendulkar. And that is Tendulkar himself - Harsha Bhogle in the commentary box
THE SITUATION
It was a historic series in many ways. Sachin Tendulkar scored two centuries, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made electric debuts and Navjot Singh Sidhu walked out on the team following what seemed to be an altercation with skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. Even today it is a story spoken of only in whispers.
Earlier in the year, during the World Cup in India, Sidhu had been livid about the team batting second after winning the toss in the ill-fated semi-final against Sri Lanka. India had lost the match and questions had been asked as to why they had fielded first when batting was the obvious choice.
The divisions in the team were now out in the open. But Tendulkar continued to march on with his batting. He had one century each in the first and third Tests of the series, which India lost 0-1. But in the second Test at Lord’s, India found two other stars who would shine for the next 15 years - Ganguly and Dravid. Ganguly scored a century on debut and Dravid got 95 in his first Test. Then in the third Test at Nottingham, Ganguly got a second century, while Tendulkar scored 177 and 74. Dravid scored 87.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
The attention of English sports fans was understandably focused on Wembley, where their football team was playing its opening match against Switzerland in the European Football Championship. England drew the football game but won the cricket Test before lunch the following day.
For those who were at Edgbaston in Birmingham, a rare batting display was in store, courtesy Tendulkar. It came on a strip that was the second choice at Edgbaston. Only a fortnight earlier, the pitch originally marked for the match had been declared unsuitable.
Tendulkar lit up the third day with his incandescent batting. Despite wickets falling like ninepins around him, Tendulkar, just past his 23rd birthday in April, made a brilliant 122 of 177 balls for his ninth Test hundred, which he reached with a six of Min Patel.
But he could not save India from an eight-wicket loss in a match where the next best score for India came from Javagal Srinath (52) in the first innings. Sanjay Manjrekar (18), batting with a runner, was the second highest scorer in the second innings.
India played the first Test with four debutants, one of them being Venkatesh Prasad, who, two decades later, would become India’s bowling coach.
The Test looked like getting over within three days after England took a 99-run first-innings lead. India made 214, thanks to a 53-run eighth-wicket stand between Javagal Srinath (52) and debutant Paras Mhambrey (28). England, riding on a century by Nasser Hussain, made 313. Hussain was adjudged not out by umpire Darrell Hair on 14 when his glove seemed to have kissed the ball on its way to wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia on the leg side. He went on to score a century and got the Man of the Match award.
The umpiring came in for a lot of criticism as Vikram Rathour got a poor decision and Umpire Hair also gave two 7-ball overs to the English side.
Faced with the task of setting England a testing fourth-innings target, India collapsed to 219 and England were left with only 121 to score for a win. But for those who were there that Saturday, the result was secondary to Tendulkar’s display of brilliance.
Did you know…
» The second Test of the series at Lord’s saw Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid make their debut. It was also umpire Dickie Bird’s last Test.
» Sachin Tendulkar, a year earlier, had stunned the cricketing world by signing a contract in excess of one million pounds (the pound was worth between Rs 49 and Rs 52 in 1995).
Series Gone, but Tendulkar Hits a Century and a Fifty in the Same Test
‘This time the most delicate of leg glances brings him just the same as a forthright thunderous strike through the covers - Peter Roebuck in the commentary box
THE SITUATION
India lost the series 0-1, following their defeat in the first Test at Birmingham (the other two were drawn), but found two new talented players who would serve them for the next decade and a half in Sourav Ganguly (315 runs in five innings) and Rahul Dravid (187 in three innings). Tendulkar made 428 in five innings to become the top-scorer on either side.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss for the third time in the series and elected to bat first on a wicket that looked full of runs despite it being a cloudy, blustery day. India were soon two down for 33, but then came one of the significant moments in Indian cricket.
Sourav Ganguly (136), who had made a century on debut in the previous Test at Lord’s, and Tendulkar were involved in a partnership of 255 for the third wicket as India piled on 521. The other superstar of the future, Rahul Dravid, who had missed a century on debut at Lord’s, missed it again, being dismissed for 84.
Tendulkar, who had been let of early in the innings, lasted for seven-and-a-half hours. Apart from his stand with Ganguly, he put on 89 with Sanjay Manjrekar (53). India ended with a score of 521. England, with centuries by Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain, and fifties by Alec Stewart and Mark Ealham, went past the Indian total and reached 564.
Tendulkar’s innings was one of total authority. He played some delightfully delicate shots and some so savage that the bowlers did not know what to expect next.
Ganguly (48) and Tendulkar (74) shone in the second innings too, as India scored 211 by the end of the fifth day. The Test ended in a draw.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar, for the second time, scored a century and a fifty in the same Test. At 23 years and three months of age, he had reached 10 Test centuries in 41 Tests.
» Sourav Ganguly became only the third batsman after West Indians Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharan to score centuries in his first two Test innings. Rowe and Kallicharan did it in the same series against New Zealand in 1971-72.
A Losing Start As Captain, Despite Yet Another Century
‘Sachin is like my younger brother. I really admire the way he carries himself. He is such a nice bloke - Mohammad Azharuddin, espncricinfo.com, 24 August 1996
THE SITUATION
Sachin Tendulkar was without doubt the best Indian batsman, and possibly the best in the world. But could he also become India’s best-ever captain, was the question that would now start being asked. India’s loss in the 1996 World Cup semi-final started the campaign for the removal of Mohammad Azharuddin, who had led the team for five years. Tendulkar, already the vice-captain of the team, was now elevated to captaincy for the Singer World Series in August-September 1996.
India lost their first match under Tendulkar but the skipper himself made a hundred. After that loss, India beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets and lost to Australia by three wickets, failing to reach the finals.
A month later, India went to Toronto, Canada for a five-match ODI series against Pakistan. They made a winning start, with skipper Tendulkar’s 89 not out earning him the Man of the Match award, but eventually they lost 2-3 at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Four days before India’s first match in the Singer Cup, Tendulkar played under Azharuddin in a World XI against Sri Lanka, as Mark Taylor, originally slated to lead the World XI, pulled out. But now, in the Singer Cup, he led the team that included his former skipper.
The match, which was played on ‘Coconut Day’ – a national holiday in Sri Lanka – saw Tendulkar win the toss, elect to bat and proceed to crack an unbeaten century of 138 balls, before being run out in his first match as skipper. He also shared a 129-run stand with Azhar (58). India, as has happened so of en, were unable to build on Tendulkar’s innings despite having wickets in hand, and made only 226 for five in 50 overs.
In reply, Sri Lanka made light of the target as Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana were involved in a devastating opening stand of 129 runs. With his main bowlers failing, it was left to Tendulkar to break the stand, but it was also the only wicket India would take as they lost by nine wickets. Jayasuriya scored his third ODI century and also took the Man of the Match award.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar’s first century as captain of India took him past Krishnamachari Srikkanth as the second highest Indian run-getter in ODIs. He was now second only to Mohammad Azharuddin.
» Sachin Tendulkar’s ninth ODI century put him level with West Indian Brian Lara and Pakistan’s Rameez Raja in the list of maximum ODI centuries by then active players. Those ahead of him but retired were Desmond Haynes (17), Gordon Greenidge (11) and Viv Richards (11).
A Bagful of Trophies and a Century Too
‘The word great is often overused… Greatness should be reserved for masters. Sachin is a Master - Richard Hadlee on CNN-IBN, November 2009
THE SITUATION
It was a benefit match for one of India’s grittiest players, Mohinder Amarnath. Unfortunately, the match that produced Sachin Tendulkar’s tenth ODI century became better known for figuring prominently in the infamous match-fixing controversy involving South African skipper Hansie Cronje.
India were now playing a lot of cricket, with one-dayers dominating the calendar. Bilateral series at home and then in Toronto, Canada, 3-nation and 4-nation events at home and abroad had become the norm. So it was only understandable that Tendulkar was scoring more centuries and runs in the shorter version.
As captain, Tendulkar had lost his first two ODI series in Sri Lanka and Toronto. But now he was on a winning streak. After the win in the Gavaskar-Border Test, Tendulkar was outstanding in the Titan Cup. Even though he had no centuries from the six matches in the tournament, he top-scored with 365 runs, including four fifties. The Cup was won in his hometown, Mumbai. This was followed by a three-Test series against South Africa, which India won 2-1.
After the Titan Cup and the three-Test series, South Africa stayed on for a one-of benefit match for Mohinder Amarnath. This was one of Tendulkar’s best periods as captain. After winning three trophies, he celebrated with a century in the benefit match in his hometown.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat. From the time he went in, he seemed destined to score a century. The South Africans, normally excellent fielders, seemed to have butter-fingers. They dropped him at least three times, and Tendulkar made them pay with some extraordinary hitting.
He put on 90 for the first wicket with Workeri Raman (29) and then 60 with Azharuddin (22). India made 267 for six in 50 overs. His 114 came of 126 balls.
South Africa were never really in the hunt despite Andrew Hudson’s 45 and Darryl Cullinan’s 44. Venkatesh Prasad took four for 27 and Javagal Srinath picked up two for 40. South Africa were all out for 193, leaving India victorious by 74 runs.
In years to come, the match would be mentioned time and again, when questions were asked about South Africa’s fielding and batting.
Did you know…
» In the 27-month period between 9 September 1994, when he got his first ODI century, and 14 December 1996, Sachin Tendulkar played 13 Tests and scored 1,064 runs with three centuries. In the same period, he played 56 ODIs and scored 2,697 runs and 10 centuries.
» This was Sachin Tendulkar’s first century in 11 ODIs at the Wankhede Stadium.
PARALLEL LIVES
Viswanathan Anand: The chess star rebounded from his 1995 loss to Garry Kasparov by beating him in the Credit Swiss Rapid Chess Grand Prix in Geneva. He was also joint winner at the Dortmund chess tournament with Vladimir Kramnik, besides finishing second in the Las Palmas ‘Super Torneo De Ajedrez’, then the strongest tournament. Interestingly, in the same year, Kasparov lost to IBM’s Deep Blue.
Leander Paes: It was one of Paes’ best performances ever in singles outside of the Davis Cup. Ranked 127th in the world, Paes stunned everyone by reaching the semi-finals of the Olympic tennis competition and gave Andre Agassi, then one of the best players in the world, a run for his money. Paes was unable to convert the two set points he had in the first set, and lost. But in the play-of for bronze, despite playing with an injured wrist, he beat Brazilian Fernando Meligeni in three sets to claim India’s first Olympic medal since 1972. On the way to the semi-finals, Paes upset the form book time and again by beating Americas Richey Reneberg, Nicolas Pereira of Venezuela, third-seed Swede Th’omas Enqvist and Italian Renzo Furlan.
The year also saw the start of the ‘Indian Express’: a partnership between Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. They were not very successful in 1996, but the following year they began their rise to the very top in the doubles world rankings.
This also happened in 1996
While Sachin Tendulkar was setting new landmarks, the Hotmail email service, the biggest revolution in technology and communication, came into existence on 4 July, which was also the 220th anniversary of American independence.
Even as South Africa found its way back from the Apartheid era, their iconic leader Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela, his wife of 38 years, were divorced. Winnie, who was with Nelson when he was freed in 1990, faced charges of kidnapping, fraud and being an accessory in an assault in connection with the death of a 14-year-old boy.
Another divorce that hit the headlines was that of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. And yes, those were good times for the market as Dow Jones rose over 6,000 points in October.
It was not the most pleasant of years for sport. In January 1996, Muttiah Muralitharan was first no-balled for ‘throwing’. The incident sent ripples around the cricketing world and soured relations between Australia and Sri Lanka. Later, on 27 July, sports fans around the world were jolted by a bomb explosion at the Atlanta Olympic Park one week into the Centenary Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA.
Tiger Woods won his third successive US Amateur Championship in August, and a month earlier, Michael Jordan, who would become one of his best friends, signed a one-year NBA contract for US$25 million. For Indian cricket fans, the pain of not winning the World Cup was somewhat eased by their Under-15 team beating Pakistan for the Lombard World Challenge title at Lord’s.
Indian politics witnessed a dramatic fortnight in May. The Congress lost the general elections and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. Fomer outlaw Phoolan Devi was elected to the Indian Parliament and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was elected the new prime minister. But 13 days later, he resigned rather than face a no-confidence vote and was replaced by H.D. Deve Gowda, who headed the United Front, a coalition of 13 parties, which the Congress supported but did not join.
In July, former prime minister P. V. Narasimha Rao was summoned as a co-accused in a cheating case. He resigned in September, and a month later, he was arrested on a charge of forgery.
A greater tragedy awaited India as a cyclone struck Andhra Pradesh, killing more than 2,000 people and destroying 95 per cent of the crops on 7 November of that year.
Five days later, a Saudi Arabian Boeing and a Kazakhstan Cargo plane collided near New Delhi and killed 349 people in the world’s worst mid-air collision.
CHAPTER 7
1997
More Centuries Than Years
Though he was barely 24 years of age, Sachin Tendulkar had established himself as the most prolific run-getter in the world. The format did not matter. In 12 Tests in 1997 he made exactly 1,000 runs with four centuries; he had scores of 88, 92 and 83 in three of the five Tests he played against West Indies. Sri Lanka came in for special treatment with three centuries in five Tests, two away and three at home. His 39 one-dayers that year produced 1,011 runs with two centuries and five fifties. By the time the year ended, he had more centuries than years to his name! Yet he could hardly have been happy.
Tendulkar was mauling the bowling, but India as a team under him was taking a beating. Barring the Sahara Cup in Toronto where India beat Pakistan 4–1, Tendulkar had little success as a captain. India lost a tri-series final in South Africa, lost an ODI series in Zimbabwe, where one of the two matches was cancelled, lost a three-match ODI series in West Indies, failed to qualify for the Independence Cup final at home, lost the Asia Cup final to Sri Lanka, were wiped out 0–3 in an ODI series in Sri Lanka and drew the ODI series at home.
In Tests, it was no better. India lost a series in South Africa, another in West Indies, and drew both home and away series against Sri Lanka.
A Sublime Innings that Will Last a Lifetime in Memory
‘During our team meetings, we often speak about the importance of the first 12 balls to Tendulkar. If you get him, then you can thank your stars, otherwise it could mean that tough times lie ahead - Allan Donald, rediff.com, September 2002
THE SITUATION
The Indians were coming of a 2-1 series win at home over South Africa. But dealing with South Africa on their fast pitches was a different matter.
Back in 1992, when India had visited South Africa, Sachin Tendulkar, just 19, was already recognized as a huge talent. Now, a little over four years later, he was the captain of the Indian team.
