[Watch] Flashback to when an 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar bowled India to a tie against the West Indies in 1991
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has won innumerable games for India with the bat. But his heroics with the ball often went unnoticed during his stellar career.
One such instance took place 22 years back on this day, against the West Indies in the 1991-92 Benson and Hedges World Series. Tendulkar was 18 then, having debuted for India only two years back.
The first innings saw the Men in Blue collapse for a paltry 126 in the 48th over. Tendulkar scored just one run.
Bowling out the West Indies being India's only realistic option to pull off a miraculous win, they used up all their frontline seam bowlers and to good effect. Subroto Banerjee's three wickets and Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath's two scalps reduced the Caribbean side to 121/9 in 40 overs.
With the bowling quota of all the pacers finished, skipper Mohammad Azharuddin turned to Sachin Tendulkar despite having the spin-bowling option of Ravi Shastri.
The then-teenager delivered the goods. He conceded just five runs and picked up the wicket off the final ball of his over, to spark the celebratory run as India pulled off the tie. It was a good length delivery outside off-stump, which a well-set Anderson Cummins (24) nicked to second slip for Azharuddin to complete a superb catch.
Here is a video of the final over by Tendulkar:
It was only the fourth instance of a tied ODI game, and the first one with both teams dismissed.
The tie had a massive impact on the tri-series that involved hosts Australia, as India edged the West Indies by one point to qualify for the final. However, the Aussies swept India 2-0 in the best-of-three finals to walk away as winners of the Benson and Hedges World Series trophy.
How did Sachin Tendulkar fare with the ball in his career?
Being the leading run-scorer in Tests and ODIs, with over 34,000 runs to his name, has somewhat overshadowed Sachin Tendulkar's bowling skills.
With an ability to bowl medium-pace, leg-spin and off-spin, the now-50-year-old was the definition of the term "jack of all trades." While his 46 Test wickets include some timely scalps like Moin Khan in the first Test of the 2004 series against Pakistan, it is his bowling record in ODIs that is particularly impressive.
Tendulkar picked up 154 wickets, including four four-wicket and two five-wicket hauls in his 463 ODIs. Both his fifers came against strong opposition - Australia and Pakistan, in match-winning causes in 1998 and 2005 respectively.
He is also famous for his three-run final over against South Africa in the 1993 Hero Cup semi-final which helped India pull off a two-run victory at the Eden Gardens.
Sachin Tendulkar also picked up a wicket in his lone T20I, and finished his career with 201 scalps across formats.