1998 Desert Storm
Who can forget Sachin Tendulkar’s single-handed demolition job against Australians in the 1998 Coca Cola Cup in Sharjah. The tri-series featured India, Australia, and New Zealand and we saw some amazing encounters between the three sides who played 4 games each.
The last round-robin match between India and Australia was a crucial one as the Men in Blue needed to reach the target in a certain number of overs to make it into the finals on a better net run rate over New Zealand.
Australia batted first and thanks to 101* from Michael Bevan and 81 from Mark Waugh, put on 284/7 in 50 overs, something that was considered to be a winning one in those days.
This meant India needed to make 254 atleast to qualify for the finals and Sachin Tendulkar took it upon himself to do the job. He responded with a phenomenal 143, his highest ODI score at the time and took apart the likes of Shane Warne, Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
A sandstorm halted the play for 25 minutes and the qualification target was reduced to 236 from 46 overs and Tendulkar upped the tempo by thumping Moody and Warne into stands and hit 9 fours and 5 sixes in 131 balls. He received help from Nayan Mongia (35) and VVS Laxman (23).
India finished on 250/5 in 46 overs, falling short by 26 runs of the revised target of 276. However, Tendulkar’s innings enabled India to reach the finals and his inning of 143 was immortalized as the Desert Storm.
Two days later, on April 24, which was Sachin’s 25th birthday, India met Australia in the finals of the tournament and Tendulkar celebrated his special day with a brilliant 134 in 131 balls with 12 fours and 3 sixes and with captain Azharuddin’s 58, helped India chase down the 273-run target with more than 9 balls to spare.
