‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar took his batting masterclass one notch higher with his iconic ‘Desert Storm’ knock against Australia.
India had to lose by a margin of less than 40 runs against an already qualified Australian side, in order to qualify for the finals of Coca-Cola Trophy in Sharjah. The likes of Michael Bevan and Mark Waugh made India’s job stiffer with their knocks of 101 and 81, respectively.
Chasing 285, Sachin single-handedly took India to the finals of the tournament, with his 134-ball 143 runs, even though India lost the match by 26 runs. In the finals, Sachin ripped apart the Australian bowling attack with yet another century.
As a result, India won the tournament on the back of the batting maestro from Mumbai
With that knock, Tendulkar, not only saved the Indian team from perilous situations but also gave inspiration to the next generation of cricketers, namely Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, with whom he lifted the 2011 World Cup.
Out of favour batsman, Suresh Raina had recently opened up to the story where he bunked school to watch the ‘Mozart of batting’ play.
“We had TV at home, an Uptron, but with only Doordarshan on it. We used to bunk the last two periods of school because the tournament in Sharjah was going on. Sachin paaji used to open in that era,” Raina told TOI.
“We used to watch only Sachin paaji’s batting or Dravid bhai’s. But once Sachin got out, we would leave. We were just kids. I was just 12 at that time, used to study in seventh standard. Sachin Tendulkar was a big name,” added Raina.
To which, his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) teammate responded with a tongue in cheek comment for the inaccuracy in Raina’s story.
“School bunk how? That game started at 4 pm indian time I was part of the series,” tweeted Bhajji. Raina’s response to Bhajji’s jibe remains awaited.
School bunk 🙄😄 how ? That game started at 4 pm indian time 😜I was part of the series https://t.co/JWnZqa2Zl8
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) June 1, 2020
