The 5 best bowling performances by Sachin Tendulkar

#4 Last over of the Hero Cup Semi-Final (1993)

The day was 24th November 1993, and the occasion was the high-octane semi-final of the Hero Cup against South Africa. India managed an under-par looking total of 195 and that too largely because of the efforts of Azharuddin who starred with the bat to score 90 runs. Eight of the Indian batting stalwarts registered a single digit score. An inspired bowling performance by the Indian bowlers reduced South Africa to 145 for 7 and India looked clear favorites to win the game, but a spirited resistance from Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson threatened to take the game away as they added 44 valuable runs for the eighth wicket.

With the score reading 190 for eight, Azhar shocked the Eden Gardens when he asked Tendulkar to bowl the last over. Tendulkar had only 5 runs to defend and the odds were stacked heavily against him. McMillan scored a single on the first ball but Fannie de Villiers, in his attempt to bring McMillan back on strike, was run-out as he tried to go for a second run. Both the batsmen were left facing each other at the bowling end as an aftermath of that terrible mix-up. Allan Donald walked into bat with the score at 191 for 9.

Two dot balls followed as Donald failed to get his willow on the ball. The fourth ball was very close to being called a wide, but Umpire Steve Bucknor ruled in Tendulkar’s favor, and Donald had to be content without scoring. A single accrued on the fifth ball as the hoick from Donald only reached as far as Kumble on long-on. South Africa needed four runs to win off the last ball and Tendulkar pushed wicket-keeper Vijay Yadav on the edge of the 30-yard circle in anticipation of stopping an edge from the bat that might run to the boundary. The very same thing happened on the last ball as an inner edge from McMillan’s bat was intercepted by Yadav and India completed one of the sensational wins of their ODI history as South Africa were left two runs short of the target.