My List of Great Moments from Sachin's Career
I have somewhat been more of a critic of Sachin than a fan. I have been a fan, but I have often felt that he has come short of pulling through a few major achievements. Most of them have been the emotional responses of a fan wronged by an Indian defeat and nothing much more. Over time, Sachin has pretty much rubbished most of the criticism that I, or anybody else, could have inflicted upon him. Now that he is retiring from the ODI world, about time I wrote my version of memorable moments from his career. The ordering is chronological:
(prescript: This is my version, so it *will* differ from your version, so don't get too emotional or upset about it.)
(prescript: This is my version, so it *will* differ from your version, so don't get too emotional or upset about it.)
(Image Courtesy: http://www.justsachin.com/sachin-tendulkar-pictures/natwest-series-sachin-against-sri-lanka/) |
- Bowling the last over versus South Africa, 1993, to get us into the Finals of Hero Cup.
- 112* versus Sri Lanka, Asia Cup, 1995
- 137 versus Sri Lanka, World Cup 1996, where he almost carried his bat through.
- 65 versus Sri Lanka, World Cup SFs 1996, where he seemed to be the only batsmen who could bat in the second half when the pitch started to turn.
- 118 versus Pakistan, 1996 helping India reach 300 for the first ever time in ODI history.
- 88 versus Australia, Titan Cup, 1996, made famous for the 8th wicket partnership between Anil Kumble and Srinath, but the win was set up by SRT.
- 104 versus Zimbabwe, Benoni, 1997, when trying to qualify for the finals, SRT hit a solid century in less than 100 balls, which was followed up by quickfire hitting by Robin Singh and Ajay Jadeja to take us through. (The Zimbabwe of that time was a respected lot and were going to upset us by getting into finals if we didn't pull off the qualification at Benoni)
- 5-32 versus Australia, 1998, to win us the match with the ball.
- Twin Centuries of 143 and 134, versus Australia, Sharjah 1998, to first qualify us and then win us that cup.
- 140* versus Kenya, World Cup 1999, coming straight off his father's funeral, he smashed the Kenyas around and paid a tribute to his father.
- 186* versus New Zealand, 1999, carried his bat and made a fantastic 174 run win possible. This remained his best score for a while before he broke it later on in his career.
- 98 versus Pakistan, World Cup 2003, to help us pull off a tough chase.
- 141 versus Pakistan, 2004, a solid century in a losing cause. India went on to win the series, but this century is worth a mention.
- 5-50 versus Pakistan, 2005 to win India the game with the ball.
- 163* versus New Zealand, 2009, helped us amass 392 and he played only till the 45th over for those 163 before retiring hurt. I think if he faced the 20 or so balls in the remaining 5 overs, he could have got to 200 then. Well, a superlative effort, nevertheless.
- 117 & 91 versus Australia in the CB series best of 3 finals, to win us that trophy.
- 175 versus Australia, as he chased 350 and almost pulled it off. Scoring 175 runs in the second innings is a lot superlative than first innings, simply because of the stamina involved.
- 200 versus RSA, as he finally became the first batsman to score 200 in an ODI.
Did I miss any other memorable performance?
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