Happy birthday, Sachin Tendulkar – The man who sparked a second Desert Storm on the same day in Sharjah

Cricket has seen legends take over the game and then preceding them in terms of reputation have come the Gods. Now when we talk about Gods, not everyone makes it to the pantheon. Two of the most common names that frequent our memories whenever the God formula of cricket is being invoked are that of Sir Donald Bradman and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

As we celebrate his 51st birthday, we thought of taking you back on a joyride down the memory lane. Sachin has carved countless such knocks that has made him the icon that he is today. But then as we make our way through the raging heat waves which are sweeping across the country currently, we thought maybe how he forged that illustrious desert storm in Sharjah on April 22nd, 1998 should be the perfect ode to the Little Master.

Modern day cricket may pontificate the fact that 284 is a modest score and can be chased down without breaking a sweat. However, back in those days, shooting down a total of 284 felt like scaling Mount Everest sans an oxygen cylinder on one’s back.

To add further woes to that, Sharjah, particularly, wasn't one of those wheelhouses where the Indian cricket team would have endless fun and joy. They had their challenges and then Australia was a king-sized impediment that they had to brave.

Opening the innings with Sourav Ganguly, Sachin took things slow initially. Once his eyes were in, despite the fall of wickets at the other end and the sandstorm blinding the batters, SRT was in no mood to sit back and defend. The emperor of leg-spin, Shane Warne who would terrorize batters back in the day was being shredded to pieces by the Indian virtuoso.

From picking up those monsters over the bowler’s head to timing his backfoot and front-foot punches to perfection, Sachin was penning a legacy on that day. Don’t overlook those gorgeous straight drives or cover-drives either, those hits that day were just a deafening prelude to the madness that was about to unfurl in the upcoming 15 years.

He eventually fell on 143, a knock that was knitted from just 131 balls with nine fours and five sixes doing the honours. And in case if you are still wondering why this knock still holds titanic salience in terms of the Indian cricketing circuit, Sachin in an interview on his own Youtube channel, recounted that before he walked out to bat, he had his feet dipped in ice because he was afraid that he would incur blisters from fielding on that sweltering day in Sharjah. 

So imagine the change of mindset that he had to get into from a shot at recovery to facing the Aussie bowling mafia in almost inhuman weather conditions in Sharjah, that itself screams for plaudits. Wishing you a very happy birthday, Sachin Tendulkar. It has been very rightly said, "When Sachin bats well, India sleeps well.”