Sachin recollects desert storm

In his long and illustrious career, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has played many spectacular knocks. However, the one innings which stands out is his epic knock of 143 off 131 balls against Australia in the Coco Cola tri-series played at the Sharjah cricket stadium on April 22, 1998. On the occasion of his 45th birthday, Sachin recalls the famous desert storm that blew away the Aussies exactly 20 years ago. Sachin managed to ensure that India finished with a better net run rate than New Zealand — the third team in the  fray, to qualify for the final.

Chasing an imposing target of 285, India needed 254 runs to make the cut when the venue was hit by a sandstorm suspending play for about 25 minutes. It went on to make the target stiffer for India. But Sachin had other ideas. With 277 needed to win under the revised target and 237 needed to qualify after the break, Sachin smashed the Aussie bowlers to all corners of the ground. India lost eventually, but managed to put up 250/5 in 46 overs to qualify for final.

Talking about what was going on his mind at that mind, the former cricketer said, “The only thought that was running in my mind was that we needed to win this match against Australia. If we managed to beat them and qualify for the finals, we would put Australia under pressure, Sachin said at the launch of Boria Majumdar’s book, Eleven Gods and a Billion Indians, where he  was present on stage along with India head coach Ravi Shastri, Rohit Sharma and former Australia skipper Michael Clarke.

Two days later on his 25th birthday, Sachin smashed yet another century, this time to help India win the Coco Cola Cup. He spoke about post-match recovery, which wasn’t given much importance in those days. “I woke up in the morning feeling really stiff. I went and had lunch and immediately in the evening there was an official dinner. So there was no time for recovery as such. Before I knew it, I was on the way to the ground the next day with the team.”

Sachin reveals  how he wasn’t comfortable in the middle until he hit two sixes off Michael Kasprowicz, which gave him confidence. “When I went out to bat in the evening. I felt that mentally I was not quite there. It took me about 5-6 overs to get into the groove. Until then I wasn’t happy with the way I was moving as I wasn’t finding the middle of the bat. I played a couple of big shots which went for two sixes in a row. From there on, I started rolling the way I wanted and we ended up winning.”

Those two innings enhanced Sachin’s growing stature further and he admitted that the Australians were by far the better side in the world and beating them while chasing 272 was a big thing back then. “The Australians had thrashed everyone. They were by far the best side in the world. So to go out and chase 272 against them was a big task. And to able to do that was an incredible feeling.”

The Mumbai batsman retired as the highest-scorer in Tests (15,921) and ODIs (18,426). He ended up with a century of hundreds across all formats throughout his career — 51 in Tests, 49 in ODIs. While it seems that his 50 Test centuries record will remain untouched, in ODIs, Virat Kohli has shown that he has a chance to overhaul his idol. The Indian skipper has 35 ODI hundreds already to his name.

“If he breaks my record. I won’t just send him champagne bottles, but I will go there and personally share it with him,” Sachin said on being asked if he will send champagne bottles to Virat, like Sunil Gavaskar sent him after he broke his record of 34 Test centuries.

Happy Dents
Sachin revealed that the Indian side became confident of its chances to win the 2011 World Cup after the tied match against England in Bengaluru. The side, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni as skipper, then went on to win the first T20 World Cup and IPL.  

After India won the World Cup on April 2 at Wankhede stadium, Sachin recalls how he wanted his wife Anjali to be a part of the team’s celebration at the stadium. “I called her and said, ‘What are you doing at home? You’ve got to be here in the dressing room, we are all celebrating.’

“Somehow she made it to the stadium but while she was getting there, just outside the ground, people were dancing, celebrating and jumping on top of cars. When they spotted, they told  Anjali that, ‘We can’t touch this car, we can’t do anything to this car.’ Anyway, she made it inside the stadium and then we were all celebrating. When it was time to go back to the hotel, I looked at the car and noticed dents on the roof.

The driver said, ‘After I dropped madam, everyone started jumping and dancing on the top of the car. I said that’s not a bad idea, these dents will always remind us of those wonderful moments from the World Cup, so I call them ‘happy dents’,” he said.

Emotional retirement
The Master Blaster recalled his last international game, which was played at Wankhede stadium on his request to BCCI, so that his mother could watch him from the ground for the first time.

 “My mother had never watched me play on the ground. I told her that for last 30 years I have been playing, once at least you should come to the ground and see me play.  That day at the wicket, I had batted for almost 20-25 minutes  and right before the last over was bowled, I think Darren Sammy was on his run-up, that I suddenly spotted my mother on the mega screen. There was a close up of hers. I was overwhelmed with emotions and kept trying to keep myself in control to face the last over. After my mother, I spotted Anjali and then the rest of my family. It made things doubly difficult for me. I was constantly telling myself to concentrate on the next ball. That was an unbelievable experience for me,” says Sachin, signing off.