Sachin Tendulkar Birthday Special:
Indian cricket has produced many legends over the years the prominent ones include Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly. However, one would be surprised to know, that Sachin has more fan following compared to the above mentioned other gems of Indian cricket.
While Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired almost seven years ago, he is still the best Indian batsman ever to play the game with a record of 29437 runs in 200 Test matches and 21367 runs in 463 ODIs, with 86.2 strike rate.
Sachin Tendulkar who is considered as the father of Indian Cricket birthday would have special salutations from Star Sports. The channel is all set to telecast some of his greatest matches at a specially curated show “Sachin Birthday Special” from 19th to 24 April. Many of the matches that Sachin fans may hope to play again are:
World Cup 2011: India v England:
India found that their first ICC ODI World Cup was overwhelmingly supported by citizens from home. India won the toss and had opted for batting. After that, the Indian top-order led by Sachin took on England on their soil. Sachin went on to score 120 out of 115 balls, and had put on a mammoth of 338 runs as target for England.
Andrew Strauss had given a befitting reply to the total put up by the Indian team. He had scored went on to 158 out of 145 balls.
Notwithstanding his penalty for a few boundaries, though, Munaf Patel had kept his composure and only allowed a single from the final match as England needed to take two to ensure that the two sides were willing to share their spoil of the day.
World Cup 2011: India vs South Africa
Another thrilling head-to-head battle was India’s face off against South Africa. India won the toss and had elected to bat. Sehwag and Tendulkar opening pair put 142 runs in just 17 overs.
Another fine innings was played by Gautam Gambhir. He joined Sachin at the creaseSachin and had scored 109 in that ODI. There were no issues with the majority of the Indian team and they brought the number to 296 runs in their 50 overs.
However, there was no joint efforts displayed by the team. As a result South Africa eventually won the match easily with a few extra balls.
World Cup 1999, India v Kenya:
During 1999 world cup, Sachin Tendulkar had lost his father in the second game of the league of Zimbabwe. While Tendulkar went home for the funeral of his father, India slipped into an inconvenience against Zimbabwe’s cricketing minnow.
India’s talisman flew back to England to infuse a shot of confidence and trust into the team, as it had to win their last three games to qualify for the Super Sixes. Kenya has won the toss and selected bowling. India After losing the two early wickets, the traditional chants of “Sachin .. Sachin” greeted Sachin as he entered the 4th number.
It was soon evident that Sachin was in ominous form when he left behind a wreckage of Kenyan bowlers on his way to an unstoppable 140 in just 101 deliveries. Following a heroic attempt from a few Kenyan batsmen, the Indian team won the match easily by 94 runs.
World Cup, 1996, India v West Indies
West Indians won the toss, preferring to bat against a powerful and equilibrated bowling assault by Indians. Aside from the 47-year old Richie Richardson and 38-year-old Shivnarine Chanderpaul, none of the other West Indian batsmen contributed too much to leave West India in their 50 overs performance in a total of 173.
Ajay Jadeja had a bowled with the beauty from Curtley Ambrose, which rendered the Indian entrances a rocky start. Recognizing this circumstance and admiration for the formidable western Indian bowling team, Sachin played a well-balanced game at 70 until he stopped leaving with run out the victory with over 60 balls remaining to Azharuddin, Vinod Kambli and Nayan Mongia’s likes.
World Cup 2003, India v England
In a match between common rivals, India won the toss and played to its strengths by choosing to bat first. India scored an outstanding 250 runs in its 50 overs led by Rahul Dravid who scored 62 and Sachin who made a steady start for India and also scored a half-century.
Ashish Nehra, the 23-year-old quick bowler who practically won a match for India with an excellent spell of swing bowling to finish off in his 10-over session with match figures of 6 wickets for just 23 runs.
World Cup 2003, India v Pakistan
Pakistan, winning the toss, opted to bat and ended their series making 273 runs to lose 7 wickets. After the resumption of the proceedings, the Indian opening duo, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar initiated a surprise attack towards the Pakistani attack, as they did 50 runs in 32 balls inside the first 25 minutes.
Following the dismissal of Sehwag, the Pakistani bowlers attempted all in their capacity to reject Sachin, who fell agonizingly shy of a historic ton at his sublime peak. Led by the 98 runs of Sachin, India went on to achieve yet another win by six wickets over a deflated side of Pakistan.
