August 14: The end of Sir Don Bradman, the beginning of Sachin Tendulkar

The date, August 14, will also be considered of utmost importance because of two of most significant events took place on this date, 42 years apart.

Let’s go back to 1948, the Australian side-led by Sir Don Bradman was the 19th cricket team from the country to tour England. They retained the Ashes they had held since 1934 and Bradman’s side was the first Australian team to have remained unbeaten through an England tour.

With an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the first four Tests of the five-Test series, Australians went into the fifth and final Test at the Oval.

Australia’s fast bowler Ray Lindwall ran through the English batting line-up as the hosts were bowled out for a paltry score of 52 on the opening day of the fifth Test. He finished with figures of 6 for 20 in 16.1 overs, while the other wickets were picked by Keith Miller (2 for 5) and Bill Johnston (2 for 20).

In reply to England’s 52, Australian openers Arthur Morris and Barnes led their side’s innings. Australia lost the first wicket at 117 for 1. The dismissal meant Bradman would walk out to bat in his final Test.

Before 6.00PM, Bradman walked into the field, amidst huge applause from the Kia Oval crowd and the opponents. English Captain Norman Yardley shook hands with his counterpart and he called on the England team for three cheers, in which the crowd joined. 

An emotional Bradman overwhelmed with the respect and love shown by a rival country, somehow survived the first ball. He needed four runs to touch a historic career Test average of 100. England spinner Eric Hollies then possibly bowled a googly in the very next delivery and that hit Bradman’s stumps. The bails fell, the Australians never batted again in the Test and Bradman bowed out of Test cricket with an average of 99.94.

He was undoubtedly the greatest batsmen to have played cricket and the greatest batsman in the 20th century.

While the beginning of that century belonged to Sir Bradman, the end of the same century witnessed the beginning of another gem in the sport of cricket, who would go on to be compared to the man himself, Bradman.

Forty-two years later, England witnessed another historic moment when the hosts took on India in a three-Test series, starting July 26, 1990.

The series began with turmoil between senior players and administrators. The Indian board opened a new chapter in the Indian cricket history as they made an attempt to build an Indian team, a ‘dream team of the 90s.’

In fact, the beginning of the dream had taken place earlier that year when the board chose to hand the captaincy to Azharuddin's unexpected elevation to captaincy for the New Zealand tour and the selection panel included the young players like Anil Kumble, Sanjeev Sharma and - above all – a 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar in the preceding 12 months.

Tendulkar’s humongous achievements as a school cricketer in Mumbai gifted him a place in India’s squad for the England tour, which already had the stars like Navjot Sidhu, Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Manjrekar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar and Kiran More.

The first Test at Lord’s proved to be an ordinary one for both India and Tendulkar, which the tourists lost by 247 runs. The company then moved to Oval for the second Test.

Ever since Tendulkar became a popular face in cricket, he was more known for his run-scoring ability at an ease. He had scored centuries on debut in Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophies and which is why when he made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1989 at an age of 16, becoming the youngest Indian Test cricketer, there was hype about watching him break Mushtaq Mohammad's record as the youngest century-maker.

However, Tendulkar’s maiden Test was a modest one with two half-centuries. India, as a cricket enthusiastic country, has always been more interested in numbers, especially the firsts.

The series against Pakistan and New Zealand eluded Tendulkar the major milestone, which finally happened during the second Test against England at the Oval.

Batting first, England scored 519 runs before they were bowled out. In reply to that, Azharuddin produced a captain’s knock as his knock of 179 runs off 243 balls helped India close in England’s first innings score. They, however, fell short of it as India were bundled out for 432 runs.

England piled up 320 runs more and on the final day with just 20 minutes into play, the English captain declared. His intention was more than clear, he wanted to go for a win. England set India a target of 408 runs and the tourists had a task of surviving 85-95 overs on the fifth day.

India had a poor start when they lost Siddhu at 4 for 1. The other Indian opener Ravi Shastri followed his partner next and left India at 35 for 2. At 109 for 4, Tendulkar walked in to join his captain in the middle.

It took Tendulkar nearly an hour to get off the mark. Once the ice broke, Tendulkar slowly began to play his natural game. In some time, the runs came with an ease off his bat as he picked the gaps smartly and the running between the wickets by Tendulkar and Azharuddin was commendable as well.

While Azharuddin fell for a mere 11 runs, the 17-year-old Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 119 runs off 189 balls, his first hundred in the whites for India and that also helped India claim an excellent draw in the Test match.

The Mumbai batsman would go on to add another incredible 99 international centuries across formats, over the next 23 years, finishing as one of the most prolific batsmen in the game’s history.