1994
The First ODI Century
Five years into a career that promised to be a very long one, the legend of Sachin Tendulkar was growing everyday. Each time he went out to bat, he looked better than before. This was the year that produced five centuries, two in Tests and three in ODIs, so far the most in one year for Tendulkar.
In between his seventh and eighth Test centuries, over a span of about 10 months, Tendulkar also set right what seemed an aberration – he got his maiden century in a one-day international.
At 18, he had plundered Australia for two Test centuries in Australia. Now, at 20, his first ODI century was also against Australia; he went on to hammer them for no less than 20 hundreds, the most against any country. The first ODI ton came at Colombo, where he now has 10 centuries, the most in any city, but over two grounds – the R. Premadasa Stadium and the Sinhalese Cricket Ground.
1994 also saw Tendulkar become India’s regular opener in the shorter format. This was the result of his amazing success at the top of the batting order in the one-dayer in Auckland in March 1994. In September, though, after his first ODI century at the Singer Cup in Sri Lanka, Tendulkar recorded a shocking sequence of three ducks followed by 8, resulting in him being pushed lower down. But Navjot Singh Sidhu, who replaced him, also failed. So Tendulkar was back at the top against New Zealand in Vadodara in October. He ended the rough patch with his second ODI century and was then on a roll.
Tendulkar Leaves His Stamp on Lucknow’s Only Test Match
‘His mind is like a computer. He stores data on bowlers and knows where they are going to pitch the ball’ - Navjot Singh Sidhu, ndtv.com, April 2011
THE SITUATION
The Indians were still ill-at-ease when it come to playing abroad. At home, they were content to put up big totals and then bowl out the opposition on turning tracks. The 1994 three-Test series was one such series. India won 3-0, all by an innings and more.
K.D. Singh Babu Stadium in Lucknow, a city with an old world charm, had hosted an international match only once, in 1989: the MRF Nehru Cup tournament, where Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six runs.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and elected to bat. For two full days the hosts were content to pummel the opposition. Navjot Sidhu hit eight sixes, the second highest after Walter Hammonds 10 in 1932-33 against New Zealand. Sidhu also had nine fours in his 124, 60 in ones, twos and threes of 207 deliveries. His innings lasted 280 minutes and 223 balls.
Tendulkar took 20 minutes less but one delivery more for his 142 and his innings was an exhibition in controlled aggression. At the end of the first day he was 88 not out and India were 269 for three. Seventy-five minutes of play were lost on the second day due to foggy conditions. When play resumed, Tendulkar hit G.P. Wickremasinghe for four fours in the first over. That gave him his seventh Test century before he was finally out at 142. India were bowled out for 511 with one ball left on the second day.
Over the next two days, interspersed by a rest day, Lanka were bowled out twice, first for 218 and then for 174, leaving the Indians winners by an innings and 119 runs with more than a day to spare.
Anil Kumble had four wickets in the first innings and added seven for 59 in the second to achieve his first haul of ten or more in a Test. His 11 for 128 was achieved despite an injured spinning finger, hurt while batting in an earlier game, and damaged webbing on his bowling hand, caused while he was fielding.
Did you know…
» K.D. Singh Babu Stadium in Lucknow became the world’s seventy-second Test ground. This was the only Test it ever hosted. Navjot Sidhu and Sachin Tendulkar got a hundred each in it.
» Nayan Mongia, who replaced another Baroda wicketkeeper, Kiran More, made his Test debut here and he was to play virtually all his Tests alongside Tendulkar.
A Century at Last in the One-dayers
‘I enjoyed some beginner’s luck against the little man when I first bowled against him. It was at Sharjah, in 1994, when I first claimed Tendulkar, who chased a short ball and pulled it straight to mid-wicket, where Mark Taylor took the catch. It was not a brilliant ball but the jubilation among my team mates made me realise it did not matter. When Tendulkar is out, you don’t quibble about the means; you just celebrate the end result’ - Glenn McGrath in the Tribune, 6 September 2002
THE SITUATION
With rains lashing Sri Lanka, India’s opening league match in the Singer World Series was abandoned after just four overs. The next day, the match was reduced to 25 overs and India lost. Then Tendulkar with his maiden ODI century won India its only league match against Australia.
Rains forced India’s game against Pakistan to be abandoned. Sri Lanka won all three league games, Australia won one and lost two, and Pakistan lost two while one match was rained off India won one, lost one, and with their match being rained of, they qualified to meet the hosts in the final. In the final, which was reduced to 25 overs, India won by six wickets despite Tendulkar’s two-ball duck.
Six months earlier, in March 1994, when India had gone to New Zealand, a strain in the neck had not allowed Navjot Sidhu to play and skipper Azharuddin had been forced to turn to Sachin Tendulkar to open the innings, something he had never done before in an ODI. Tendulkar had played an amazing innings - 82 of 49 balls, with 15 fours and two sixes. India had raced to victory in less than half their 50 overs, Tendulkar was Man of the Match, and in the remaining two games of the ODI series, he had made 63 of 75 balls and 40 of 26 balls.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Batting first after Azharuddin won the toss, Tendulkar opened with Manoj Prabhakar and they put on 87 runs, of which Prabhakar contributed a mere 20.
Tendulkar mauled pacemen Glenn McGrath and Craig McDermott in the first hour as he got to his first fifty of 43 balls. Then came Warne, whom he knocked out of the attack with two sixes in an over. Warne, still smarting under the reception he had got on his debut two years earlier at Sydney, bowled 10 overs for 53 runs and took the wickets of Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia.
It was only the second time that both Warne and McGrath were going up against Tendulkar in an ODI – the first occasion had been five months earlier, at Sharjah, and Tendulkar had scored only six runs before being dismissed by McGrath.
India reached their first hundred in 18 overs. Tendulkar continued his assault, and when he left at 110 of 130 balls – playing over a yorker from McDermott – the Indian total was 211 for four. After his departure, the Indians were unable to maintain the tempo and managed only 246 for eight in 50 overs.
But that proved sufficient as the Indian bowlers kept Australia down to 215. Prabhakar bagged three wickets, scored 20 runs, took two catches and effected a run out. The Man of the Match award went to Tendulkar.
Did you know…
» It had taken Sachin Tendulkar only nine matches to register his first Test century but it took as many as 79 one-day internationals for him to get to three figures.
Ending a Miserable Run witk a Superb Win
‘They always say it is always best to play straight, but I am sure Tendulkar would have preferred Azharuddin to hit that somewhere else than straight’ - Michael Holding in the commentary box.
THE SITUATION
After Tendulkar failed to score runs as an opener, he was replaced by Sidhu. Since Sidhu did not succeed either, Tendulkar was brought back as an opener for the match against New Zealand at Vadodara in the Wills World Series. New Zealand was the third team. This tri-series was sandwiched amidst a five-match India-West Indies ODI series, two matches of which were played before the Wills tournament and three after it. India won the Wills World Series, beating West Indies in the final They also went on to beat them 4-1 in the ODI series.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
Batting first, New Zealand built its innings on Adam Parore’s 96 and Ken Rutherford’s first one-day hundred in 103 appearances, to reach 269 for four in 50 overs.
Then Tendulkar, who had gone through a run-drought, treated the crowd to a match-winning 115. After making the most of a reprieve at eight, he hit nine fours and three sixes in his 136-ball 115.
He put on 144 with Manoj Prabhakar (74) as India got of to a great start. With Tendulkar in full flow, India was in command of the chase despite the dismissal of Prabhakar and then Sidhu in quick succession. Tendulkar was joined by Azharuddin (47 not out of 39 balls) and they put on 85 in next to no time. Finally Tendulkar was run out as Azharuddin’s straight drive hit the stumps after the ball ricocheted of Dion Nash’s hands - perhaps the only way he could have been dismissed at that stage.
When he departed, India needed 23 runs and that was duly achieved. Tendulkar, as expected, was adjudged Man of the Match.
Did you know…
Beginning with 115 against New Zealand in the second match of the Wills World Series, Tendulkar in subsequent innings made scores of 34, 62, 66, 54, 88 and 105.
Man of the Series Completes India’s Comprehensive Series Win
‘Sachin is a genius. I am a mere mortal’ - Brian Lara in the Observer Sport Monthly, 4 August 2002
THE SITUATION
It took Sachin Tendulkar 79 matches and a little less than five years to score his first ODI century. But once he got to the first one, things moved rapidly. In about two months he suddenly had three centuries. That meant three centuries in 12 matches. He also had four fifties.
After losing the first ODI at Faridabad, which also saw Kapil Dev’s last appearance for the national side, India won the next four ODIs and the series. Tendulkar top-scored for India in the Test (402 runs) and one-day series (246). He had a century in the fifth and final ODI at Jaipur and got his eighth Test century in the second Test at Nagpur.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
By the time the fifth and final ODI was played in Jaipur, India had wrapped up the series with wins in three previous matches. Here, India won the toss and Tendulkar, riding on a fantastic series of scores since his last ODI century at Vadodara, got the team of to another fine start with a 95-run stand with Ajay Jadeja (31). He followed this up with a century stand with Vinod Kambli.
With Tendulkar in full flow, Jadeja was content to play second fiddle.
Despite these aggressive innings, India managed only 259 for five. But that was to prove enough for a win.
In reply, Carl Hooper, who had 291 runs in the series, 84 of them in this match, was once again the West Indian star. But his team fell short by five runs as Venkatapathy Raju (4 for 46) and Anil Kumble (2 for 44) had the West Indies in a twist.
The past two ODI centuries had fetched Tendulkar the Man of the Match award, but this time it went to Carl Hooper. The Indian did become Man of the Series for his 246 runs, despite two ducks.
Did you know…
» The ODI century at Jaipur would be the only one Sachin Tendulkar would have at the venue in any format in international cricket.
» It was three out of three for Sachin Tendulkar: each time he got an ODI ton, India won the match.
A Flawless Machine
‘You look for weaknesses in top players. They can’t be as good as they seem. You look at Sachin and say, where is it? It’s diffcult to identify a weakness’ - Tony Cozier in the Doordarshan documentary Tendulkar at 25, August 1998
THE SITUATION
India had won the first Test at Mumbai and could have made it 2-0 in the second at Nagpur. But after leading by 118 in the first innings, they played slowly in the second innings and West Indies hung in for a draw on the final day.
In the third and final Test at Mohali, West Indies pacers Courtney Walsh, Winston Benjamin and Cameron Cuffy bounced India out with 17 wickets between them as the first-innings centurion Manoj Prabhakar retired hurt in the first over of the second innings, when a Walsh delivery forced its way through the helmet grill and left him with a bloodied nose. It was the first Test India had lost at home to any team since 1988.
RELIVING THE CENTURY
The abiding memory of Century No. 11 in Tendulkar’s international career has to be the hook for six against Courtney Walsh that took him to three figures.
Tendulkar would maintain later in his career that it was Test matches that he enjoyed most. He certainly looked like he enjoyed getting to his eighth Test hundred against West Indies, whom he had plundered for an ODI century less than three weeks earlier in Jaipur.
He did not let the interruptions - twice due to crowd disturbance -or Walsh’s hurricane bowling bother him. On the first day, Walsh had pulled his team of the field to protest against missiles, including empty plastic bottles and fruits, being thrown onto the field. An hour was lost before play began again with policemen stationed at 10-yard intervals around the boundary. But Tendulkar maintained his composure and kept his wicket intact at 81 when stumps were called.
The next morning, he hooked Walsh for a six - it was the first time he had smashed a six to reach a century. Even after getting to his hundred, he continued to batter the West Indian attack He had a 177-run stand with Sidhu (107) for the third wicket and added 202 with Azharuddin (97) for the fifth wicket. By the time he was dismissed - caught Lara, bowled Walsh - he had played for nearly seven hours and hit 24 fours and one six.
India made 546, but West Indies recovered from 155 for four to 428, thanks to Jimmy Adams’ 125 not out, Man of the Match Carl Hooper’s 81, and their 133-run stand for the fifth wicket. India declared at 208 for seven in the second innings after Sidhu made 76 of 165 balls over almost four hours and Tendulkar got 54 in 138 balls and three hours. That set the West Indies a target of 327.
But the slow pace of the second innings and the late declaration may well have cost India a win. The visitors, tottering at 132 for five, probably felt let off For India, the winning streak at home was broken. In its four previous Tests at home, India had won three matches against Sri Lanka by an innings each, and the first Test against West Indies by 96 runs.
Did you know…
» Sachin Tendulkar and Navjot Sidhu got a century each in the first innings and a fifty each in the second. Together they put on 177 in the first innings and 128 in the second for their third-wicket partnership.
» West Indies was the fifth country against which Sachin Tendulkar got a century, after England, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The countries he had played but not scored centuries against were Pakistan, Zimbabwe and New Zealand. He had yet to play against Bangladesh.
PARALLEL LIVES
Viswanathan Anand: As the legend of Tendulkar grew on the cricket field, so did Anand’s with the chess board. He progressed to the FIDE World Championship Candidates semi-final, beating Michael Adams in Linares, and in the PCA cycle, he advanced beating Oleg Romanishin. His two great championship wins came in the PCA Grand Prix in Moscow, where he won the title ahead of Garry Kasparov, and at the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Monaco, where he won ahead of stalwarts like Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik and Vassily Ivanchuk
Leander Paes: The Davis Cup continued to be the stage Paes excelled on. India lost two big Davis Cup matches, including one to the United States led by Jim Courier. But in September, in the play-of against South Africa, he once again played his heart out, first beating higher-ranked Grant Stafford and later shocking Wayne Ferreira, a player in the top-10 of the ATP rankings. Sadly, despite Paes’ two singles wins, India lost 2-3 and dropped once again from the World Group to the Zonals.
THIS ALSO HAPPENED IN 1994
Back in 1992, when India first visited South Africa, Tendulkar was very keen on knowing more about the legend of Nelson Mandela. In 1994, as Tendulkar’s legend kept growing, Mandela and his ANC were finally confirmed winners and on 10 May, he was chosen as South Africa’s first black president. A month later, South Africa reclaimed its seat in the United Nations.
On 11 November, as Tendulkar was whipping the West Indies for his third ODI century in a span of less than two months, Bill Gates, by now among the world’s richest men, bought Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific writings called the Codex (Gates renamed them Codex Leicester) for a record US$30.8 million, the highest price ever paid for a book.
The same year, the Beatles’ first album in 25 years, Live at BBC, was released in Britain on 30 November.
And yes, this was also the year in which we began hearing about early burnouts in sport, as Jennifer Capriati was arrested for possession of marijuana on 16 May.