Sachin Tendulkar was the find of a post-liberalised India, as Harsha Bhogle would put it, he played cricket as though he was trading on the stock exchange – gutsy, flamboyant and with a never seen before risk appetite.
But where Tendulkar stood out though was in the fact that never ever did an Indian batsman bat with the weight of the country’s expectations on his shoulder. Never ever did an entire generation grow up inspired by the exploits of a single cricketer. In the globalised world, Tendulkar was India’s champion, competing with and beating the best across the globe.
Sachin turns 43 today and to celebrate another year in the life of the Master, we take a look at seven moments from his career that don't fade away, just like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes.
1) Bats on with a broken nose
‘Will this bloke be able to play?’ was the question doing the rounds in Pakistan when a baby-faced 16-year-old first made his debut for India in 1989. It was a pertinent question to ask. Never before had a boy barely in his teens padded up to face the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
However, it didn’t take too long for the question to answer. In the Fourth Test at Sialkot, on a green pitch, a young Tendulkar took guard to help India save the Test with Navjot Sidhu on the other end.
Soon, a Waqar bouncer whizzed off the pitch and hit Tendulkar on his nose. A deep cut not only oozed out blood but also left the batsman dazed. A concerned 12th Man, Salil Ankola ran out to check on Tendulkar, wondering if he would be willing to bat on or not.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Tendulkar took a towel, splashed water on his face – wiped the blood off and said something to the tune of ‘I’ll play!’ and took guard again. Much cajoling and reasoning from the rest of his teammates bore no fruits, the youngster would play on.
The Mumbaikar might have been playing his first Test series, but one could see that he had the makings of a champion.
2) A hundred on the world’s fastest pitch
For years, there were pitches that batsmen bred on the flat subcontinental tracks dreaded playing on. Barbados and Perth were on the top of that list.
Sachin Tendulkar had earned his stripes with some bright performances in England and followed it up with a century in Australia at Sydney. But his baptism by fire happened at the WACA Ground in Perth.
The Indians came into the Test battered and bruised, trailing 0-3 in the series, facing the daunting task of batting against four of Australia’s mighty pacers on a track that was known for its bounce. Tendulkar came out to bat at 69/2 and batted as though he was a veteran of over a hundred Tests.
Deliveries buzzed around the youngster’s head, and every near escape made fans across the globe flinch. The end was imminent. But that end never came.
A batting session ensued that taught senior pros in the Indian line-up how to deal with bounce. Short deliveries were left alone, wide ones were ferociously cut while ones pitched up were dispatched via flowing drives on the up.
Tendulkar remained the lone crusader in that innings, sparkling while everyone around him perished. When he brought up his hundred off a straight drive against Craig McDermott, the usually partisan and raucous Australian crowd stood up to applaud. A genius was born.
3) Winning it for Mumbai
When gunmen launched a fidayeen attack on Tendulkar’s home city on the night of 26 November 2008, the Indian team was en route to yet another win in the ongoing India – England one-day series. No sooner had the ODI at Cuttack ended, the news broke that Mumbai had fallen prey to a terror attack.
For nearly 70 hours, drama unfolded in India’s commercial capital, as key instalments were taken hostage. The remaining one-dayers were called off, the inaugural edition of the Champions League T20 was in doubt and the English players were returning home with a cloud hanging over the future of the scheduled Test series between the two sides.
A few weeks later, under a solemn setting, the first Test in Chennai got underway much due to the magnanimity of the English players.
An authoritative hundred from Andrew Strauss in the first innings and incisive spells from Andrew Flintoff and Monty Panesar in India’s first innings saw the home team concede a lead of over 60 runs to the opposition. When England came out to bat in the third innings of the match – Strauss hit his second ton of the match and Paul Collingwood made an identical score, taking India’s target to an improbable 387 with a little more than a day left in the game.
Virender Sehwag’s 68-ball 83 and a strong foundation of 117 runs for the first wicket in just 22 overs set the launch pad for India’s historic win. Coming in to bat at 141/2 with 246 runs still to go, the Master put on 42 and 41 run partnerships with Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman respectively before sealing the game with a 163-run partnership with Yuvraj Singh.
The most iconic moment in the match came when India was still four runs away from the target and Tendulkar was batting on 99.
Off the third delivery of the 99th over of the game, Tendulkar paddled Graeme Swann around the corner as the ball raced away to the fine leg boundary for a four. Tendulkar raised his hands up in the air only to be embraced by Yuvraj Singh – India had sealed a historic win. Later on, Tendulkar admitted that he wasn’t aware that he had also brought up his 41st Test century; such was the joy of winning the game.
That game, however, will always be remembered for the backdrop it was played under, and for Tendulkar’s gesture of dedicating his century to Mumbai.
4) Near century at Centurion
The game was on his mind for over a year before it actually happened. India versus Pakistan in cricket’s showpiece event – it couldn’t get any bigger.
On the day of the game, Pakistan batting first put up an impressive target of 274 runs, led by Saeed Anwar’s 126-ball 101.
In reply, Tendulkar put on display one of his career’s finest knocks, treating the Pakistani bowling line-up (that boasted of names such as Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, and Shoaib Akhtar) with an irreverence that is only seen in age-group cricket.
A wide array of shots – square cuts, drives, flicks, upper-cuts and pulls took the batsman to 98 off just 75 deliveries before he fell to Shoaib Akhtar. But not before he had played the most epic shot of the tournament, upper-cutting a wide, outside off delivery of Akhtar over the third-man boundary for a six.
India went on to win the game and added to their tally of wins against Pakistan in World Cup cricket.
5) The Sydney surprise
In the 2003/04 Border-Gavaskar Test series in Australia, India entered the 4th Test in Sydney level with Australia on 1-1, having lost the series lead that they had gained in Adelaide. In an extremely rare scenario, Tendulkar arrived at the venue having scored just 82 runs from five innings.
There was an obvious slump, but Tendulkar had to spoil Steve Waugh’s farewell party and chose to come out of it at Sydney in zen-like fashion.
Tendulkar came in to bat in the first session of Day One and remained unconquered for over ten hours, negotiating over four hundred deliveries for an unbeaten 241.
The magic of that innings was the discipline he showed in dealing with his shortcomings in that tour – the outside off delivery that got him out driving. A self-imposed restriction on stroke play saw the genius not play a single off-side stroke for the entirety of his innings, scoring only when the ball was on the stumps or on his pads.
It was yet another lesson from the Sachin textbook of cricket that showed how to deal difficulties with discipline and patience.
“I had got out a couple of times to balls bowled outside the off stump. So I decided not to play the cover-drive. They were bowling consistently outside the off stump, and I decided to leave all those balls. Then they had to bowl to me and I used the pace of the ball. I would put this innings right at the top of my hundreds. I had a plan and I am happy I could execute it well. I am happy that I was able to maintain the discipline throughout the innings. Things had gone wrong a couple of times with my shot selection, and I knew I had to cut out a few strokes,” Tendulkar recalled later.
Not before having reaffirmed to the world his title of ‘modern day Bradman’.
6) 200* vs. South Africa
The city of Gwalior witnessed history being made when South Africa visited India in February 2010. In the second ODI, the Master Blaster played an innings of a lifetime by ending the innings not out on 200!
A double century is rarely achieved in Test matches where the batsmen have the time to build up their innings and to do it in limited overs cricket is a monumental effort. Taking only 147 balls, Sachin did what he does best – push the boundaries of cricket to never seen before levels.
He smashed 25 fours and hit 3 maximums to set the world record for the most runs scored in one-day internationals. What is astonishing about this feat is that it came against the mighty South Africa who had the likes of Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell, Jacques Kallis, Charl Langeveldt and Roelof van der Merwe. India ended the innings on 401, winning the match comfortably by 153 runs.
Saeed Anwar's long-standing record of 194 scored against India in 1997 was matched by Charles Coventry in 2009, but just a year later, the god of cricket had the record in his name. Rohit Sharma would later go on to break that record, but it was Sachin Tendulkar who made everyone think that a 200 in limited overs cricket is indeed possible.
7) Sachin storm amidst the desert storm
One of the best knocks in ODI history came at a neutral venue, Sharjah. 2 days before his birthday, Sachin Tendulkar gave the world the perfect gift with his knock of 143, his highest at the time, and helping India qualify for the final of the tri-series.
Aged just 24, Sachin carried the heavy weight of the expectations of a billion people on his shoulders and he did it with aplomb. The innings, nicknamed the desert storm due to a storm causing a break in the match, will forever live in the memories of the fans.
Australia had posted 284 in the first innings but the storm interrupted match saw the target revised to 276 in 44 overs! India needed at least 237 to get a better run rate than New Zealand and qualify for the final, but young Tendulkar was in no mood to just settle.
After having bowled 5 overs and taken a wicket while conceding 27 runs, Sachin shifted his focus to the Australian bowling attack comprising of Shane Warne, Michael Kasprowicz, Tom Moody, Steve Waugh and Damien Fleming. With 9 fours and 5 sixes, Sachin helped India qualify for the final with ease, but his focus was on defeating the men from Down Under.
The master blaster fell to Damien Fleming in the penultimate over and India fell short of the target. Despite not getting any support, Sachin ensured India reached the final courtesy his 14th ODI hundred and in the final, he scored yet another century to beat Australia and lift the Coca-Cola Cup.
18 years on and the knock by Sachin in Sharjah is still fresh in the fans' minds. Truly, an innings worth every penny.
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