On This Day 2012 | Sachin Tendulkar played his last ODI; Virat Kohli scored his highest ODI score
Eight years ago on this day, former India captain and batting great, Sachin Tendulkar dawned the blue national jersey for the 463rd and the final time, bringing an unparalleled ODI career to a fitting end. The Indian team didn't disappoint as the fifth match of the Asia Cup played at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur in Dhaka between India and Pakistan turned out to be a high-scoring thriller and was eventually won by India by six wickets.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq decided to bat first on a flat batting deck and was soon proved right by openers Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed, who piled up their respective centuries. Pakistan posted a mammoth score of 329 for six in 50 overs thanks to a quick-fire knock of 52 runs by the experienced Younis Khan.
In reply, India got off to a disastrous start as opener Gautam Gambhir returned for a duck. However, what was to follow was regarded as extremely surreal as the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma helped India go past the colossal target of 330 with 13 balls to spare.
Not only did Sachin score his 96th ODI fifty (52 runs off 48 balls) in his last one-day international, current Indian captain Virat Kohli also amassed his highest ODI score of 183 runs in only 148 balls to frustrate the Pakistan bowlers. Sharma also joined the party, scoring a well-calculated knock of 68 runs in 83 balls.
The match brought an end to a hearth robbing ODI career, that saw Tendulkar 18426 runs in 452 innings at an average of 44.83, scoring 49 hundreds in the process. He went to complete 100 international centuries before retiring from all formats of the game in 2013.
SCORECARD
PAKISTAN 329/6 in 50 overs (Jamshed 112, Hafeez 105)
INDIA 330/4 in 47.5 overs (Kohli 183, Sharma 68)
[India won by six wickets and 13 balls to spare]