With Sachin Tendulkar completing 20 years in international cricket on November 15, Gulu Ezekiel looks back at 20 of the master’s greatest knocks.

1. It was in the Harris Shield semifinals for Shardashram Vidyamandir (English) against St. Xavier’s (Fort) at the Azad Maidan in February 1988 that Tendulkar’s name first entered the record books. The score was 84 for 2 when the 14-year-old Sachin joined Vinod Kambli at the crease. They were not separated till the lunch break on the second day when the declaration finally came at 748 for 2—Sachin not out on 326 and Vinod on 349. Their unbroken partnership of 664 runs in 120 overs was a world record for any wicket in any game of organized cricket. The Sachin saga had begun.

2. Having made his mark with a century on first-class debut in the Ranji Trophy against Gujarat in 1988, Tendulkar then went one better on his Irani Trophy debut. Playing for the Rest of India against Delhi in November, 1989 he celebrated his selection for the Indian team to tour Pakistan with a brilliant unbeaten 103 against a powerful Delhi bowling attack.

3. The teenage Sachin made an immediate impact on his maiden tour. The opening One-day International at Peshawar on 16 December, 1989 was reduced to a 20-over exhibition match due to rain. Now it rained sixes as Sachin took on master leg spinner Abdul Qadir. He smashed him for 27 runs in one over and raced to 53 not out from just 17 balls.

4. This was the moment the boy turned into a man. Still only 17, Tendulkar saved India’s bacon at Old Trafford in 1990. His unbeaten 119 against a rampaging England attack made him the youngest Test centurion on English soil. It would be the first of many, many more.

5. The wicked WACA track posed no problems for the teen titan in 1992 even as all other Indian batsmen crumbled around him. His superb 114 made him the youngest batsman to score a Test century in Australia. Yet India lost the match by 300 runs!

6. The innings that changed the face of Indian cricket. Pressed to open at Auckland in 1994 in the absence of the injured Navjot Singh Sidhu, Tendulkar tore the Kiwi attack to shreds, smashing 82 from 49 balls. The opening slot was now his for keeps. Read more…

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It is not too easy to remember the last occasion when an Indian had last played such a sublime innings on a pitch which was anything but that. No wonder then, Sachin Tendulkar himself has termed it as one of the best knocks in his career, but to me, it was one that was probably the best in his fifty-overs career. Agreed that it is a bold statement to make, given the ‘big’ man’s 400 plus game career, but not often does one have a potent enough concoction of a pressure finals, a tired track, a cramping batsman and opposing bowlers who have exhibited enough prowess to get the better of most on these conditions.

In a way, it was a sheer delight watching those cover drives through the short extra cover region. Again, on a wicket where the ball exhibits the tendency of doing funny things before coming onto the bat, or even if does not, has filled enough pieces of doubts within the batsman’s minds, the most difficult shot to play is the stand-up-tall-and-punch. Even more so is the ability to pierce the gap with a barrage of fielders on the off-side; the first and the second slip is slightly uncommon in the ODIs, but what is definitely a huge rarity is the first and the second short extra cover! Yes, two fielders up close on the off-side along with the usual ring of field that included the point, covers and the mid-off!

Oh and yes, it was a pressure finals. That thing which is – was, after this and the CB series, 2008 effort – christened as one of Tendulkar’s rare Achilles Heels. Evidently, there was a sense of expectation from the side to do well, after having floundered in the previous final they had played in the country, again, against the same side – Sri Lanka.

Sharjah ’98 and the CB series ten years later were equally pressurising finals as well, undoubtedly. What was different was that the pitches in both the instances were more to Tendulkar’s liking; a ball bouncing in the bowler’s half would invariably go over the Read more…

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A vital part of the game is the ability to handle the plaudits and brickbats that fame and fortune throw

Rahul Dravid and Vinod Kambli played 27 one-day matches together over a four-year period. One made his debut at the age of 19, the half of the high-school duo that had “taken the stairs” while Sachin Tendulkar “took the elevator”. The other had played more than 50 first-class matches before getting the India cap. One’s stolid style was considered unsuitable for the slam-bang version of the game. The other, all flair and Caribbean-style flamboyance, seemed perfect for it. The natural finished with 2,477 runs at a modest average of 32.59, while the misfit has been recalled at the age of 36, having scored 8,000 runs more.

Their career graphs are best illustrated by a comparison of performances in the games played together. Dravid scored 1,181 runs at 59, with three centuries and eight 50s, while Kambli’s aggregate was a measly 339 at 16. In October 2000 he was dropped after a poor outing in Sharjah. He never played for India again. Last weekend he announced his retirement from international cricket. For whatever reason, it made the news and made people remember him, if only because chances of a recall had been as likely as Tendulkar making an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing.

In the years to come Kambli will be both cautionary tale and trivia question. After all, how many play their last Test at the age of 23 and finish with an average of 54? On the Waterfront’s “I could have been a contender” line will always shadow his every step but one man who Read more…

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