Fifteen years ago, on this very day, Sachin Tendulkar scored 98 of the best runs one can witness in a cricket game against a Pakistan side that boasted of a bowling attack comprising Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis, Abdur Razzaq and Shahid Afridi.
The venue: Centurion. The tournament: The 2003 World Cup. India had played a decent tournament so far. They had struggled in the first game against the Dutch, and got hammered in the second group match against the unbeatable Australians. Apart from that loss, and the loss in the finals, India under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly had won the other games.
But this was Tendulkar’s match to play. Prior to the match, Shoaib Akhtar had tried playing some mind games, stating that he had the better of Tendulkar. People were worried, given memories of the first ball duck in the Eden Gardens (Tendulkar’s first golden duck) four years earlier. True that the two great players had met on previous occasions, but this was a bigger thing. This was India versus Pakistan in a World Cup. This was more than just another match.
This was either do or die.
Pakistan batted first and Saeed Anwar, returning to this match, scored a century, quite unlike any other he had made. It also happened to be his penultimate game, although he did not know that then, and Pakistan managed to score 273/7 in their 50 overs, which at the time was an excellent score to defend.
India then came to bat. Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag walked to the crease, but the former decided to play his own mind games and took strike. Normally, it was the Nawab of Najafgarh who would take guard, with Tendulkar happy to assume the position of runner.
Wasim Akram charged in and banged the ball only for Tendulkar to play the classic forward defence.
The second ball wasn’t a bad one. It was short of a good length and had the slightest width. Tendulkar took full advantage and went on the backfoot to punch it through the covers for four.
The battle was on.
The next over, Shoaib Akhtar charged from the boundary wall only to see his second ball being smacked over third man for six. The next ball was a flick of the wrists for four, followed by the best of three shots: the ondrive for four.
Sachin won the match in the second over, and India eventually won the with 4.2 overs to spare.
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 "Sachin Tendulkar in action during the 2003 World Cup")
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