1998 was the year of Sachin Tendulkar, a period when he scored 9 centuries in ODIs and topped the batting charts giving his fans some memorable innings to cherish as well.
The best of those innings came against Australia that year and more specifically in Sharjah during the Coca Cola Trophy tri-series, when his back-to-back centuries helped India win the title, defeating Australia both times.
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Recently, his former teammate Suresh Raina recalled how he used to bunk classes to watch Tendulkar bat during those days.
“We had TV at home, an Uptron, but with only Doordarshan on it. We used to bunk the last two periods of school because the tournament in Sharjah was going on. Sachin paaji used to open in that era. We used to watch only Sachin paaji’s batting or Dravid bhai’s. But once Sachin got out, we would leave,” Raina told Times of India.
The tournament saw Tendulkar bludgeoning 143 against Australia in a must-win match, an innings now immortalized as “the Desert Storm innings.” India made it into the final, which was played on Tendulkar’s 25th birthday and he celebrated it with a 134-run knock which gave India the victory and the trophy.
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“We were just kids. I was just 12 at that time, used to study in the seventh standard. Sachin Tendulkar was a big name,” said Raina, who won the 2011 World Cup with Tendulkar for the Indian team.
“Paaji (Tendulkar) made two consecutive hundreds, hit Michael Kasprowicz for huge sixes. On top of that, the commentary of Tony Greig, who was also a big name. The form that Paaji was in and the kind of commentary, though our English wasn’t that good at the time, the excitement his voice generated added another flavor,” Raina signed off.
