How Sachin belted out those World Cup hits

India’s batting maestro has come a long way to play his sixth World Cup. DILEEP PREMACHANDRAN traces his journey on the biggest stage of all

By the time Oceania’s first World Cup began in February 1992, the whole world knew what a special talent Sachin Tendulkar possessed. As a 17-year-old, he had scored a match-saving century on his first Test tour of England. Earlier in the Australian summer that included the World Cup, now aged 18, he had given further evidence of genius with magnificent hundreds at Sydney and Perth.

Sachin Tendulkar goes over the top against Australia’s Shane Warne in the 1996 World Cup game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. PIC/IMAGES

That the subsequent World Cup didn’t turn out to be his oyster can be attributed to two reasons. After being hammered 4-0 over five Tests, the Indians then lost the finals of an interminably long tri-series also featuring the West Indies. They entered the tournament mentally shot and physically spent and, like the hosts and West Indies, missed out on a semifinal place. The only game where they roused themselves was against Pakistan, with Tendulkar’s 54 pivotal to a convincing win.

The second cause had to do with the team being unaware of how to best utilise his special skills. They stumbled across a solution only in 1994, when he was asked to open the batting at Eden Park in New Zealand. By the time the World Cup returned to the subcontinent in 1996, his place at the top of the order was set in stone?

Sachin Tendulkar blasts away against Kenya at Bristol during the 1999 World Cup. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

He started with a superb 90 against Australia in Mumbai, a game that India narrowly lost, and that frustrating pattern would repeat itself throughout the campaign. A brilliant 137 against Sri Lanka in Delhi was eclipsed by Sanath Jayasuriya’s blitz and though he matched Aravinda de Silva’s magic with a glorious innings in the semi-final, the rest of the team fell apart much like the underprepared Eden Gardens pitch.

When the competition returned to England – scene of the 1983 triumph that inspired a million dreams, including Tendulkar’s – an underwhelming team display went hand-in-hand with personal loss. Days after he had flown home to cremate his father, Tendulkar returned to score a century against Kenya. But victory against Pakistan aside, there was little to celebrate as an unbalanced team exited at the Super-Six stage.

By 2003, he was the senior statesman in a formidable side, and he reprised the heroics of 1996, finishing as top scorer with 673 runs. Few will forget that dismissive six off the bigmouthed Andrew Caddick in Durban, and India won eight in a row on their way to the final.

As in 1992, he saved his best for the crunch game against Pakistan. Having struggled to sleep for nearly a fortnight before the game at Centurion, there was no sign of lethargy once he strode out to mastermind a stiff run chase. A gorgeous punch through the covers off Wasim Akram set the tone, and he followed that with 18 runs off a Shoaib Akhtar over.

African safari followed by disaster in the Caribbean

India captain Sourav Ganguly pats teammate Sachin Tendulkar on his back after he was dismissed for 83  during the 2003 World Cup semi-final against Kenya at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

The slashed six over third man is now part of every highlights package, and the 75-ball 98 shares pride of place with Collis King’s 66-ball 86 (1979 final) as the most celebrated World Cup innings that didn’t result in a century.

Unfortunately, India ran into an all-time-great Australian side in the Wanderers final, and Tendulkar’s first-over exit in pursuit of a Himalayan 360 meant that the wait to emulate Kapil Dev and company would go beyond two decades.

Four years later, Indian cricket’s golden generation gathered for one last crack at World Cup glory. It was a dismal goodbye, with an unpopular coach (Greg Chappell), insecure players and inspired opposition (Bangladesh) combining to send the team home before the business end of the tournament.

With Chappell set on having him bat in the middle order, rather than at the position where he had scored more than 30 centuries, the buildup to the competition had been coloured by rancour and self-doubt. When the team returned with jeers ringing in their ears, Tendulkar broke his silence, hurt by insinuations that he hadn’t put the team first.

Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble have all gone, but the boy-man who was there to welcome each of them into the side, remains, both Luke Skywalker and Yoda in the one body. There are few batting records that he doesn’t own, but you just sense that the prize that he craves above all else will be handed over in his home city on April 2.

Quote Hangar

People say it is his last World Cup, but I don’t believe in this. We might see him play the next World Cup also. I feel until and unless he wins the trophy, he won’t go.
Kapil Dev

I sincerely wish that this would not be Sachin’s last World Cup and he would play one more. All members of the Indian side would like to win it for him.
Gautam Gambhir

This is a good team and they must win the trophy for Tendulkar. This will be his sixth World Cup and he has not figured in a winning team. Australia have won three on the trot and many of their players are not fit to tie Tendulkar’s bootlaces.
Bishan Singh Bedi

When you talk of Sachin, he has done all that was expected of him
Sir Garfield Sobers