Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
Venue- Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi [March 16, 2004].
It was the Summer of 2004. Indian Cricket Team toured Pakistan to play 5 ODIs and 3 Tests. The Indians won the first ODI by the barest of margins and the action now shifted to Rawalpindi. Pakistani Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked like a batting paradise. The Hosts got off to an explosive start as Shahid Afridi and Yasir Hameed shared an opening partnership of 138 runs in just 18 overs. The decision of batting first turned out to be right.
Eventually Yuvraj Singh made the important breakthrough in the 19th over of the innings as he bowled Afridi out for 80. However, the Pakistanis continued with their attacking style of cricket and ended up scoring 329 in their 50 overs. Yasir Hameed scored the highest 86, whereas Nehra and Yuvraj picked up 3 and 2 wickets respectively.
Indians now needed 330 runs in 50 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the series. It was not going to be an easy task. Pakistanis had some of the lethal bowlers, game of cricket has ever seen. However, Indians too had an explosive batting line-up. So it was rightly the clash of the titans. And Boy! What a display of cricket we saw that evening. Sachin Tendulkar who was on the peak of his powers scored a scintillating 141 of just 135 deliveries. His innings comprised of 17 boundaries and 1 six. It was just a treat to watch as he played proper cricketing shots against the best bowling attack. It was truly a classic knock played under extreme pressure.
Shoaib Akhtar who was playing on his home ground was bowling at a lightning pace. In a spell of 9 overs he conceded 49 runs and picked up 3 crucial wickets including the wicket of Virender Sehwag. However, he failed to get past the Little Master. Unfortunately no other Indian Batsman managed to get past 50 as we were bowled out for 317 runs. The Hosts won the match by 12 runs and levelled series 1-1.
However despite ending in the losing cause, this knock of Sachin Tendulkar will forever be remembered by Cricket Fans across the globe.
To watch the knock of Sachin Tendulkar, Click Here.
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