The year 1998 can be remembered as a year only for Sachin. That is because Sachin became brand Sachin! But more than that, the year can be remembered as a start of a rivalry between two greatest sportsmen of the decade....Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. A lot was talked about them, when the Aussies toured India. And turned out to be the same....but the ultimate result was that it was a nightmare for the latter. The tour began with Mumbai playing the Australians. Thanks to Sachin's magnificent double century, can you believe it....Mumbai defeated the Australins! The Aussies could never have dreamed that an Indian city would defeat them...but only because Mumbai had Sachin with her! The first test began at Chennai, and in the First innings, Sachin was cheaply dismissed by Warne on 4. Immediately the newspapers started barking...experts started croaking..."Warne dominates Sachin." Even Sachin was asked about it...but he coolly replied" It was a nice delivery by him". But then, as we know...sachin's bat does the talking! Quick was he to reply by a classy 155 in the second innings and remained unbeaten to take India to victory. The ultimate result of the test series was India winning it 2-1....but if you see Sachin's performance in the next innings, it was.....79, 177 and 31. It was a complete dominance over Warne....and Warne could not take his wicket in that series! But the most memorable tour of that year was India playing a triangular series in Sharjah...which had Australia and New-Zealand! This series will be remembered as a complete annihilation of Shane Warne by Sachin! In the triangular series....India had to qualify to the finals, and they were to qualify if they would score a particular number of runs at a specific run-rate. This match was like a semi-final for us.
But Sachin had something else in his mind. Before this innings of his, Sanath jayasuriya was the only player who was thought to be the most aggressive! But in this series, Sachin stamped a fresh authority of his domination in One Day internationals. Those who did not see this innings live on television, will be surely cursing their fate now! Sachin's batting had such a plethora of batting shots. He made 143 in that match....Fleming, Kasparovicz, Warne, Mark Waugh....no one was spared. At this score, Sachin was dismissed, however, only to ensure an Indian entry into the finals. The final was two days later...on the 24th of april...which incidentally was Sachin's 25th birthday. A lot was expected from him that day. And he did deliver!!! Sachin was prepared from the word go! His start to the innings with a magnificent cover-drive prompted Tony Greg in the commentary to say that today's innings has to be special! And indeed it was something special. The huge sixes, the magnificent fours.....all was a spectacle worth watching...! One of the best moments of that innings was that Sachin coming dancing down the track against Kasparowicz and hitting a long six....and Tony Grieg in the commentary box shouting, "What a six!" almost 3 times in a row....and finally saying that this man is the next best thing to Bradman! After the series Shane Warne was the one who admitted that he had nightmares of Sachin coming down the track and hitting him for a six! That was his aura.....that perhaps the best leg spinner of all time had to say this! At the end of the series....it was Sachin, who was the man of the match, man of the series...and everything! This innings is best remembered as the sandstorm innings! Mark Taylor, the captain of the Australian team, is remembered saying..." we lost to a man called Sachin Tendulkar."
Came July and there was a tri-series in Sri-Lanka. It was the Singer-Akai-Nidahas trophy, featuring India, Sri-Lanka and New Zealand. In this series, India struggled in the league matches....or rather I would say, were not fluent enough. But the best moment came in the finals of the series. It was between India and SriLanka. Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly, smashed a world record of maximum runs scored by an opening pair in one day internationals. They scored a whooping 256 runs, until Sachin was dismissed for 126 and Saurav for 108. I still remember that afternoon, when I was in my tuition classes, with the tuition teacher switching on the television in intervals, just to watch Sachin get to his century. The television was switched on, when Sachin was in his 90s, and we kids watched in delight....and shouted in joy, as he reached the three-figure mark. Such is the influence of the man, on each and every person in this country. But the Sri Lankans also gave a tough fight to us, during their innings. The tensed moment was the lengthy partnership between De-Silva and Ranatunga. Ranatunga was removed by Agarkar, who took 4 crucial wickets in that match. De-Silva managed to make a century, but was removed late in the innings. The match went up to the last over, and with some tight bowling by the Indians, resulted in an Indian victory by a matter of runs! Sachin was again the man-of-the-match....needless to say...!
Another important cricket series that comes in my mind when I think of the year 1998 is...the champions trophy at Dhaka. There were league matches, followed by semi-finals and the finals! However the only difference was that the league matches were knock-out. India had to face the mighty Australians And hence, it was the time of Sachin to face his favorite opponents. And he did! It was also Azhar's 300th match, but for him nothing came other than a duck. Sachin however, hit an awesome 141, with 13 fours and 3 huge sixes. He was unstoppable....only evident from the fact that he was finally dismissed as run-out! Thanks to Jadeja's unbeaten 71, India could pose 305 as their score. The Aussies innings started with fireworks from Mark Waugh. But the Indian bowling was also Sachin-special! Sachin took crucial 4 wickets at the end....including the one of the dangerous Steve Waugh....to steer India to victory! I still remember, how difficult it was for Steve to face Sachin's spins! Finally, he was dismissed caught and bowled by Sachin. A normally calm Sachin....let out a strong sarcastic laugh, which was caught by the stump microphones...when he dismissed Waugh! A surprised, dejected Waugh, looking helplessly at Sachin, with his trademark chewing-gum...is still remembered! Sachin, in the semi-finals against the Windies, scored a mere 8...but thanks to the loose effort by the rest...India could manage a small total. A magnificent bowling performance by Sachin, could not prevent the West-Indies from defeating India.
Many bowlers have challenged Sachin....to get noticed! But sadly, it has always resulted in the termination of their careers, from the man who they challenged! Henry Olonga was one of them. In the tri-series at Sharjah, featuring India, Sri-lanka and Zimbabve....he dismissed Sachin with a bouncer in one of the league matches. Immediately he was seen talking to the press that he would do the same in the finals....and he knows how to dismiss Sachin. Sachin did not utter a word....but smashed an unbeaten 124, in the finals.....and not sparing Olonga...and any other Zimbabwean bowler!!! The intensity with which sachin was smashing everybody was just superb. Again, he made a point....but with his bat! I remember,myself eating mom-made home-made pizza and watching that innings!
But one of the striking feature of this year for Sachin was that, there was one match that made him superior to all his batting competitors. That match was held at Lord's and was between the MCC 11 and the Rest of the world 11. It was a Diana memorial benefit match. In this match, Sachin played for the Rest of the world. The MCC had the likes of bowlers like McGrath, Donald, Kumble on its side. This meant that Sachin had to face almost all of the world's quality bowlers. But with the best batsman-ship, he did not spare any of them, and made a fine 125. He was finally dismissed bowled by Anil Kumble. The video of him destroying Aamir Sohail's bowling is available on youtube. Mike Atherton, the skipper of the MCC-11 had to speak that Sachin Tendulkar was a better batsman than the legendary Englishman W.G Grace. In this way, Sachin showed the world, that he stood tall among his peers and 'graced' the occasion! He completed his century in just 94 balls, with 15 boundaries and 4 sixes.
Another series comes into mind, when we think of the year 1998. It was the India-Pakistan-Bangladesh tri-series at Dhaka! And what a series that was! Sachin was in a terrific form in the league matches...scoring a quickfire 65 in the match against Pakistan, and also taking the crucial wicket of Inzamam-ul-Haq and bagging the man-of-the-match award. The finals were a best of three, and Sachin scored a brilliant 95 in the first final. The men demolished in this series were the Pakistani spinners.....Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed. However, the most interesting match in the series was the last finals. Pakistan chose to bat first and scored 314 in the first innings. Chasing 300 in those days was a daunting task...and was considered impossible. 300 was a rare target in those days, as the bowlers had an equal amount of respect in the game. Sachin and Saurav....one of the finest opening pairs in ODI-history went on a flying start...especially Sachin. However, Sachin was dismissed only for 31, but had done the crucial role of increasing the run-rate. Saurav played a magnificent innings of 124. But the real tensed moment was in the last over of the match. India needed 3 runs in the last 2 balls. Hrishikesh kanitkar....a new player on the International circuit, surprised and delighted all, by hitting a boundary of Saqlain Mushtaq...and the series was clinched by the Indians!
But this year also had a frustrating side to it. Cricket was for the first time introduced in the commonwealth games, which were held at Kuala Lumpur. And at the same time, there also was the Sahara cup tournament at Toronto, Canada, between India and Pakistan. Hence, the Indian team was split into two...and Sachin was in the team which went for the commonwealth games. As a result, Sahara cup matches became boring and the Indian team started to put a lame fight against the Pakistanis. We lost all the first four matches, out of the series of five. Unfortunately at the commonwealth games the Indian team did not perform and lost the hopes of a medal. Hence, a lot of criticism was directed against the management, and the players too. But, in order to avoid a whitewash at Toronto, Sachin was sent for the last match! Such has been a value of Sachin Tendulkar. And he scored a fine 74-odd runs in the last match. India won that match, and hence avoided a complete whitewash from the traditional rivals!
Such was 1998, a successful year for both Sachin and India.
