Four interesting stories/facts about Sachin Tendulkar

#2 The match-winning final over

Tendulkar with the Hero Cup

We are no stranger to the ingenious batting prowess of Sachin Tendulkar. But we have heard very little about the bowling heroics of the man. Cricket fans would immediately recollect his five-wicket haul against Australia and Pakistan when we consider some of his brilliant bowling performances. But many of the cricketing fans are aloof of his bowling heroics against South Africa in the semi-finals of the Hero Cup.

On 24th of November 1993, when India faced South Africa in the semi-finals, the Indian team could only manage 195 runs. Thus, it was clear, if they had to win the match their bowlers needed to get the act together. The fielders needed to save every single run possible and convert those half chances.

The match turned out to be a thrilling contest, courtesy of the superb bowling performance led by Anil Kumble. As the match entered the final over, South Africa needed six runs off six balls. The Indian team had to decide who will be bowling the last six deliveries left in the innings. Tendulkar volunteered to take up the responsibility of bowling the final over.

When he began the over, Brain McMillan was on strike. The first ball was a length ball, and McMillan could only manage a single. In an attempt to take the second run, Fanie de Villiers was run out. The next batsmen to take strike was Allan Donald and what followed was a string of dot balls. However, on the fifth ball, Donald did take a single.

Now, the South African team required four runs to win in the last ball. Before delivering the final ball, he told the wicket Keeper Vijay Yadav to stand back as is usually done for fast bowlers. Now, all those who follow the game must have seen how frequently the inside edges result in a boundary and sometimes that single boundary can change the game.

The same happened on that day, Brian McMillan got an inside edge, But since the wicket-keeper was standing back, the inside edge costed India just the one run and resulted in India winning the match. A lot of credit for that win goes to last ball genius move of the man himself. It was not the just the display of brilliant bowling, but a display of a genius cricketing mind at work.