Nineteen years ago, it was on this day that the legendary Sachin Tendulkar played one of his most memorable knocks and led India to a brilliant win over Pakistan.
Tendulkar’s scintillating 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan during the 36th match of the 2003 ICC World Cup in South Africa helped India chase down the 274-run target and win the match by 6 wickets.
In the 50-overs match held at Centurion, Pakistan had won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Saeed Anwar provided Pakistan a good start and went on to hit a brilliant century (101) while Younis Khan added a valuable 32 as Pakistan put up a competitive 273/7 in a high-pressure match.
It was India’s turn to bat now and the team opened the innings with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Tendulkar took first strike and on his third ball, he flicked Wasim Akram for the first boundary of the innings. India scored 9 runs in the first over, with Sehwag also hitting a boundary. The next over really set up the chase as one of Pakistan’s finest, Shoaib Akhtar came on to bowl. Tendulkar upper cut Akhtar’s fourth ball 10 rows back over third-man fielder for a six.
The Master Blaster continued his majestic batting and flicked the next ball through square leg for a four. The ball after that was even quicker and Tendulkar presented the full face of the bat to just drive it past mid-on for yet another glorious boundary.
Sachin Tendulkar had now made 20 off 9 balls, which included 3 fours and a six. Tendulkar and Sehwag added 53 on the scoreboard before Sehwag was dismissed by Pakistan’s Waqar Younis at 21. Captain Sourav Ganguly joined Tendulkar but was LBW for 0. Mohammad Kaif then walked in and eased the nerves, blunting out the Pakistani pace attack. Meanwhile, Tendulkar continued his masterclass and brought up his fifty off 37 balls.
After the 10th over, the Master Blaster pushed the accelerator button and raced to 73 off 47 balls and by the end of the 16th over, he notched up his 12,000th ODI run.
Tendulkar edged closer to his century but in the 28th over, on 98, he was dismissed by a short delivery from Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar. Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh did not let Tendulkar’s wonderful innings go in vain as they both remained unbeaten to complete the chase by adding a collective 94 on the scoreboard, leading India to the target in 45 overs.
India had earlier, never chased more than 222 in a World Cup, but Sachin Tendulkar’s knock against Pakistan was simply surreal and helped India to win the match by 6 wickets and with 26 balls remaining.
The Master Blaster was declared the Player of the Match. Tendulkar dominated Pakistan’s pace trio Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis and helped India pull off a stunning win against Pakistan for the fourth time in as many World Cup clashes. Sachin Tendulkar’s 98 off 75 balls will forever be remembered as one of the greatest World Cup innings of all time.
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