Sachin Tendulkar's 5 greatest bowling performances

Sachin Tendulkar has been given titles like the ‘Master Blaster’ and the ‘Little Master’ looking at his batting, but in all the years he has played, he has managed more than once to prove useful with the ball, specially since he has the knack of breaking crucial partnerships with his well-disguised googlies and subtle variations.

Here is a compilation of 5 of his outstanding bowling performances.

5. 3/31 vs Australia (Border-Gavaskar trophy, Kolkata, 2001)

This was a famous Test match that nobody needs reminding of. It is as if this game is etched in every Indian cricket fan’s heart. The one in which Laxman scored 281 to get India out of trouble in front of a full house at the Eden Gardens. Yes, that one.

Tendulkar hadn’t had a good time with the bat. In fact, nobody except Laxman and Dravid played any significant part with the bat in this particular game. It was already lunch on Day 5 and Australia still needed a good 360 runs to win. All wickets in hand, the match seemed to be heading for a draw. But the Indian bowlers sniffed a win.

It was after tea that the real rampage started. Harbhajan removed Steve Waugh and Ponting, and before Sachin joined the party, Australia were 5 down for 166 with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden at the crease, hoping to steal a draw. But the Little Master ensured that did not happen, trapping Gilly leg before on the first delivery he faced, continuing the fall of wickets that Bhajji started.

In his next over, he claimed the dangerous Hayden in similar fashion, and Shane Warne in the over after that, also leg before. Kasprowicz, Gillespie and McGrath did try and stick around, but Bhajji took the 2 remaining wickets to hand India a 171-run win that wasn’t even on the cards till morning.

4. 4/54 vs Bangladesh (India in Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2004)

India had put up a huge total of 348 against a struggling Bangladesh attack, and if that wasn’t enough, Sachin decided to take wickets while bowling. The Indian fast bowlers did a good job, giving away just 150 in about 30 overs and got half the opposition out. Rajin Saleh was still going strong with 82 under his belt, and was the last glimmer of hope for the home team. That is when Sachin was given the ball, and claimed Saleh as his first victim as Dhoni quickly removed his bails when he ventured out of the crease.

Tendulkar had broken the last recognised batting pair, and removed Khaled Mashud in his very next over trapping him leg before. Mahmud and Mushfiqur Rahman did show some resistance in the following 10 overs, but scored only about 30 runs before Mahmud gave a catch to Joginder Sharma, Sachin once again the bowler. Mortaza, next man in did provide some fireworks, but it proved to be too little too late, and he also fell to the maestro’s bowling in the final over of the innings, and the 50 overs ended with Bangladesh still 90 runs short. This was Sachin’s second 4-wicket haul at Dhaka.

3. 4/38 vs Australia (Wills International Cup, Dhaka, 1998)

Australia were mutilated not by India, but by Tendulkar in this game. First he scored a blazing 141 off just 128 balls (13×4, 3×6) and then took 4/38 with the ball- Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan and Damien Martyn being in the list of his victims. Australia were going good at one stage with over 170 being scored at around the 30-over mark, chasing India’s 307.

Sachin continued his good form while bowling as well. He first removed the Aussie skipper with a brilliant caught and bowled, and Bevan in the 39th over of the game, both of whom scored less than double digits. The dangerous Damien Martyn who had raced to 24 off just 17 was the next to fall off his bowling, at a time when Australia needed 61 off 37 and could have snatched a win with his help.

Tendulkar was too much for the Aussies, who ran in with his off-spinners and leg-spinners to trouble them. He was awarded Man of the Match in this game that he ended by taking the wicket of Brad Young in the penultimate over of the game.

2. 5/50 vs Pakistan (Pakistan in India, Kochi, 2005)

Sachin scored only 4 runs with the bat in this game, and to make up for it, took a fiver when he was given the ball. This was his second 5-wicket haul in ODIs, the previous one having come on the same ground 7 years ago against Australia.

India put 281 on the board (Sehwag and Dravid got centuries) and Pakistan did not get the greatest of starts chasing, having lost 4 for just 64. Inzamam and Hafeez tried to steady things and built a 48 run-stand, which was broken by the Master Blaster’s bowling when he struck Inzy’s stumps. The next three wickets that fell were those of Razzaq, Afridi and Sami who went without contributing much. Tendulkar was probably in his best bowling form, as he used the angle round the wicket to his advantage. Hafeez, the top scorer, was removed soon after, Nehra taking a simple catch to complete Sachin’s five-wicket haul.

The last pair did try and stick around but the inevitable happened when Zaheer Khan removed Naved-ul-Hasan’s stumps to give India an 87-run win.

1. 5/32 vs Australia (Pepsi triangular Series, Kochi, 1998)

These were Tendulkar’s best ODI bowling figures ever and they remained so when his career ended 14 years later. India had put up a brilliant batting display to get 309 on the board. Sachin had failed to deliver with the bat, and that could have precisely been the reason why he chose to rip apart the Australian batting that at one stage looked like taking the game away from the Indians. It was a match-winning performance by him, and even though Jadeja had got a century in the game, Sachin claimed the Man of the Match award. That was how crucial his effort was.

Australia had raced to a 100 runs with only around 11 overs bowled, and had not even lost a single wicket. At 203/3 in the 32nd over with well settled Bevan and Steve Waugh at the crease and only 106 needed to win, Australia would have surely fancied their chances. But Sachin ruined their fancies and almost magically revived hopes of an Indian win with Waugh’s wicket, whom he got out by taking a catch off his own bowling. Lehmann was his next scalp, who was dismissed cheaply for 8. Bevan then went, following a swift piece of wicket-keeping by Mongia, and Sachin got his third wicket of the match, but victory was still far off with almost a run a ball needed by the Aussies and Tom Moody and Damien Martyn were still left to bat.

In his next over itself, he got rid of Moody who was again stumped by Mongia on a leg-cutter that turned sharply, and Martyn fell in his next over, giving a simple catch to Srinath at mid-off. Thus, Australia went from being 203/3 at one stage (32 overs) to 259/9 some 12 overs later. The game was over in the 46th over of the game, India winning by 41 runs.

Have a look at Sachin’s bowling performance here: