My top 101 memories of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - #5

January 1998, Dhaka – Silver Jubilee Independence Cup, India v/s Pakistan (1st final)

Sachin 7-0-45-3  &  95 (78b, 6*4s, 5*6s)

The year 1997 was a disappointing one for Indian cricket. We fared badly in Tests and in ODIs we ended up just above Kenya and Zimbabwe in the ICC ranking list. Sachin was the captain of the team and the pressure of captaincy was affecting his individual performance adversely. Azharuddin was even quoted in some newspapers saying “Nahin jeetega! Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai”. So with the mutual consent of the selectors and Sachin, the little champion stepped down as the captain of Indian cricket team. Azhar took over the responsibility of captaincy and the Indian team was ready to make a fresh start.

In 1998, the first assignment for Indian cricket team was the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup. The BCB had organized this triangular tournament between Bangladesh, India & Pakistan in Dhaka to celebrate the 25 years of Independence of Bangladesh. The tournament was a real short one as it had just 3 league matches & 'best-of-3-finals'. All the six matches were spanned across 9 days. As expected before the tournament, India and Pakistan qualified for the finals. Sachin played freely and scored half centuries in both the league matches. The burden of captaincy was not allowing him to play his natural game; but with that responsibility gone, he was re-discovering his touch.

In the 1^st final, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat. It was a dry looking wicket and it was expected to slow down as the game progressed. All the top order batsmen got the starts but none of them went on to make a big one. After the fall of the 3^rd wicket, Izaj Ahmed and Inzamam-Ul-Haq came together and started to build a steady partnership. Azhar was well aware of the hitting prowess that the two set batsman possessed. Hence, he tried everything to break the partnership. In the 36^th over, Azhar turned to Sachin. Sachin carried this reputation of being a partnership breaker and more often than not, he lived up to the hype. Izaj Ahmed underestimated a flighted delivery from Sachin. He stepped out of the crease to heave it out of the ground but made no connection with the ball. Nayan Mongia disturbed the furniture in a flash to get India the vital break through. From there on there was no stopping. In the very next over Sachin accounted for Inzamam, when he played a silly shot directly into the waiting hands of Harvinder Singh. Sachin completed a 3 wicket haul when he scalped Manzoor Akhtar. With this disciplined bowling effort, India was able to restrict the opposition for 212 runs. Sachin played a handy role and was the highest wicket taker for the team. But he was not done yet.

Sourav Ganguly and Sachin walked out to open the innings for India. In the second over, Sachin went on to the back foot to square cut a short ball. The pace and bounce of the pitch beat Sachin and the ball took an inside edge to the fine-leg fielder. He realized that the pitch was sluggish in nature and would slow down further as the game goes on. So Sachin decided to go after the bowlers and chase down the target before the bounce of the wicket dies down completely. He played a few aggressive shorts of the pacers but the most notable one came off the bowling of Azhar Mehmood. The bowler pitched it short to push Sachin on the back-foot but the lack of pace and bounce made it a dolly. Sachin adjusted his stance and pulled it through the empty mid-wicket region for a four. The experienced Aqib Javed failed to stop the carnage too. Sachin stepped out to him and slapped a six over the mid-wicket fence with ridiculous ease. A worried Pakistani captain, Rashid Latif bought his premium spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq to get some respite. But Sachin made a mess of his bowling figures. In the 11^th over, he lofted Saqlain straight over his head for a huge six. The very next ball was launched into the stands through the long-on region for the same result. He was fierce and fearless in his approach. He completed his half-century off just 43 balls with three boundaries and 3 sixes. He also complete 6000 runs in ODIs when he reached the score of 45. Till date Sachin remains the youngest player to reach that milestone.

With Saqlain failing to keep a check on the run-flow, Mushtaq Ahmed was given the ball. The move backfired. Sachin hammered two huge sixes of the leg-spinner over the mid-wicket region. This persistent battering demoralized the bowling team and everyone in a green kit looked helpless against this onslaught. The skipper tried different bowlers but nothing worked. The scorecard sailed beyond 150 without any casualty and the runs came with a run-rate greater than 6. Sachin scored 95 off 78 balls before he was bowled off a delivery by Shahid Afridi. There was not much of celebration by the Pakistani team because they knew that the little man had taken the game out of their hands. India went on to win the match by 8 wickets and with nearly 13 overs to spare.

Sachin was declared Man of the Match for his superb all-round performance. With this knock, he completed three back to back half centuries in the tournament.