The year 2009 was possibly Sachin Tendulkar’s last trip to New Zealand as an active cricketer and he had left with a few records to set. In the first ODI, he played under the shadows of his opening partner, Virender Sehwag, scoring 20 runs in 23 balls. The 2nd match of the series got stopped by rain, as Sachin scored a half-century with 61 runs in 69 balls.
 |
| Image Credits: ICC Cricket (AFP via Getty Images) |
And then started the 3rd ODI of this 5-match series at Christchurch.
In that match, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum's focus was on taking the wicket of Sehwag. And as they confessed, they took his wicket quite early. But Sachin in this game took his time initially to gauge the game, the pitch conditions, and the opposition's skills
The second wicket of Gautam Gambhir also fell soon. But Sachin, with a career span of chosen years, was thought ahead of the opposition. India chose batting powerplay after the 20th over of the first innings. Tendulkar was playing with Yuvraj Singh as his partner. He could freely deal with boundaries while cutting gaps and executing with perfect accuracy. Though the wickets falling at the other end didn’t demotivate him.
Sachin continued with the same spirit crossing his 90s and getting his century, just after 32 balls after his century he moved from 100 to 163. But however, later pain in his stomach reached an unbearable level that he had to declare retired hurt. Sachin couldn't take part in the rest of the match and in the remaining matches of the series.
He was the legend in that match who didn't even make the opposition realize what was coming their way. He was like a medical surgeon who cut through the nerves of the opposition with accuracy. They were bleeding but they couldn't realized it earlier. Many innings like this made him today the batting master and the cricket God. The injuries and the slower instincts could not hold him down. And this day at Christchurch was the perfect example of it.
Sachin Tendulkar had this widest territory under his palms now. That day demonstrated what could be the newest boundaries that can be chased in the ODIs. In the world of cricket, Tendulkar himself was his one and only challenger and rewrote another record by scoring a double century in the following year at home against the mighty South African bowling line-up.
0 Comments