The 5 best bowling performances by Sachin Tendulkar
The very sight of Sachin Tendulkar entices the cricketing fans with nostalgia. His batting, bowling and fielding were all lethal in equal measures. There had been occasions when he failed with the bat but made roaring comebacks with some brilliant bowling displays. He had a golden arm that was adept at bowling all kinds of deliveries.
Be it off spin, leg spin, googly or the slider – you name it and the Master will deceive you with his uncanny accuracy and expertise to leave you in awe of his supernatural abilities. On the eve of his 45th birthday, we wish him a very satisfying, healthy and successful year ahead while taking a look at his five best ODI bowling performances.
#1 5/32 Against Australia in Kochi (1998)
India hosted Australia and Zimbabwe for the Pepsi Triangular Series in 1998. The first match of the series between India and Australia is remembered for the bowling heroics of Sachin Tendulkar. India won the toss and chose to bat first with Navjot Singh Sidhu and Tendulkar opening the Indian batting. Tendulkar couldn’t trouble the scorers much as he was caught by Ricky Ponting for a paltry score of eight off the bowling of Michael Kasprowicz.
But, Ajay Jadeja put on a brilliant 104-run partnership with the skipper, Mohammad Azharuddin to propel India to a total of 309 runs. Jadeja remained unbeaten on 105 runs. Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist started a counter-attacking chase as they put on 102 runs for the opening wicket. Gilchrist was especially dangerous as he thrashed the Indian bowlers all around the park. Javagal Srinath brought India back into the game with the wicket of Waugh and soon Australia found themselves in a spot of bother as they lost Ponting at the score of 143.
The return of Ponting marked the onset of a special bowling effort by the Little Master. Tendulkar deceived Steve Waugh to have him caught and bowled for a score of 26 while Darren Lehman followed soon, after being given LBW off Tendulkar's bowling. Michael Bevan (65) threatened to take the match away but the Mumbaikar pulled one out from his bag of tricks to have him stumped by Nayan Mongia with the score reading 239. Tendulkar capped off his brilliant bowling display by picking up two more wickets, that of Tom Moody and Damien Martyn and helped his team to a 41-run victory.