My top 101 memories of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - #4

May 1999, Bristol – ICC World Cup, Group A, India v/s Kenya

Sachin 140 (101b, 16*4s, 3*6s)

Sachin Tendulkar has been a part of last 6 ICC World Cups. In 1996 and 2003 he ended up as the highest scorer of the tournament and in 2011 he ended up second on the scoring charts with Tilakratne Dilshan just piping him to the helm. The impact was evident on the performance of India. In 1996, we ended up in the semi-finals. In 2003, we were the runner-up and the World Cup was painted blue in 2011. On the contrary in the 1992, 1999 & 2007 editions of the World Cup, Sachin failed to live up to the benchmark he sets for himself and India fared miserably in them. India’s fate in the quadrennial showcase event has been closely tied to the performance of the premier batsman of the team. The little man carried the expectations of the whole nation on his shoulders and he did it with a smile.

In 1999, when the Indian team took the field against Zimbabwe, I was stunned to see the team without Sachin. After some frantic enquiries, I found out the reason behind his absence. Mr. Ramesh Tendulkar, father of Sachin had passed away and Sachin was on his way back to attend his funeral. India lost the match and in the end of it I was sad because of more than one reason. We lost to a lowly team like Zimbabwe and that too in the flagship event of cricket. We lost two games in a row and qualification to Super-Sixes was in doubt. And there was an air of uncertainty around Sachin’s further participation in the tournament. Yes, we fans have been that selfish all our life. We just wanted Sachin to play for us all the time without any break. Injuries, personal tragedies, family commitments; we never understood that even Sachin can have such trivial things to deal with in his life. But the legend has never complained and neither have his family. Sachin’s mother persuaded him to rejoin the squad by saying “Your father would have wanted you to play”. And Sachin took the flight to London the next morning.

India was playing Kenya at Bristol in the next round robin match. Sachin landed from the flight and directly walked into the team sheets. Jet lagged and emotionally drenched; but he knew that his team needed him; the nation wanted him and the man obliged in some style. On a flat pitch, India opted to bat after winning the toss. The opponents didn’t have a bowling attack to trouble the star studded batting line-up but the conditions were damp. Sourabh Ganguly walked out to open with Sadagopan Ramesh and made a cautious start. We reached 50 without any casualty but the run rate was quite slow. Dada was the first one to fall and then Rahul Dravid walked out to join Ramesh in the center. They kept on negating the Kenyan attack with ease but the scoring rate took a beating. In the 21^st over, a mix up between the two batsmen let to the dismissal of Ramesh. With the fall of the 2^nd wicket, Sachin came out to bat at number 4 amidst huge cheers. As India had lost two of the matches, so keeping a health net run-rate was important. Sachin knew what was needed. He didn’t take long to get off the blocks and executed a perfect on-drive of Thomas Odoyo for four runs. A little later a sublime square-cut followed off the same bowler. He looked in great nick as he negotiated the Kenyan pacers with ease. Asif Karim, the Kenyan skipper relived the pacers off the duty and went for an all spin attack. Sachin was equal to the task again. He swept Maurice Odumbe for a boundary and deposited Karim over the long-on fence for a huge six. Sachin raced to his 50 of just 54 balls in the 35^th over and in the process he managed four boundaries and a six.

The scorecard read 178/2 in 35 overs with the run-rate now touching the five run per over mark. Sachin decided that it was the time to cut loose and carnage followed. The slow bowler of Kenya hardly provided the batsmen with any pace to work around with, so Sachin fell back on back-foot and started hitting the balls toward the on-side. He pulled Steve Tikolo to the midwicket fence for a four and then lofted Odoyo out of the ground for a six through the same region. Tikolo was chosen for some more punishment when Sachin slammed four boundaries off his bowling in nine balls. Sachin completed his century of 84 balls; he zoomed away from 50 to 100 in just 30 balls. His second fifty comprised of seven fours and a six which accounted for 34 of the runs scored. This was the first century scored in the 1999 edition of the World Cup. On completing the century, the little master opened his helmet, looked towards the heaven, dedicated the knock to his late father, wiped his tears and got back to the game. With just 6 more overs to go, Sachin went for the leather hunt. Odumbe was treated with similar disdain when he was slammed for three back to back boundaries. The first one was full toss which got driven through the covers, the second one was swept through the fine-leg region and the third one was artistically turned to the third-man fence. To cap it off, Sachin pulled the last ball of the innings from Joseph Angara for a six over the deep mid-wicket.  In the last 17 balls that Sachin faced, he hammered a six and five shots along the ground to the fence to accumulate 40 runs. He ended up with an unbeaten 140 off just 101 balls.

Sachin and Dravid shared a then world record partnership of 237 runs for the 3rd wicket. Sachin was adjudged the Man of the Match for a scintillating century.