On his birthday: Sachin Tendulkar’s top 10 bowling spells

Much has been written about Sachin Tendulkar's glorious exploits with the bat over the course of his 24-year long career. Though he was international cricket's leading run-scorer and century-maker, one of Tendulkar's most under-rated aspects was his bowling. 

On his 42nd birthday, Shiamak Unwalla picks out 10 of Tendulkar’s bowling spells that showed the Little Master's versatility.

1:  India vs West Indies at Sharjah, Wills Trophy 1991 (ODI): 10-1-34-4

Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and elected to field first. Kapil got rid of Phil Simmons early. Azhar chose to bowl the young off-break, leg-break, medium-pace part-time of Sachin Tendulkar first-change. The move paid rich dividends, as Tendulkar dismissed Clayton Lambert, Richie Richardson, Gus Logie, and Jeff Dujon to leave West Indies in a rut at 78 for six. They never recovered, and crashed to 145 all out. NavjotSidhu and Sanjay Manjrekar did the bulk of the scoring as India won easily by seven wickets.

2:  India vs West Indies at Perth, World Cup 1992 (ODI): 1-0-5-1

The first spell on this list is not much of a spell at all; it was a solitary over bowled by Tendulkar in the opening match of the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992. After India were bowled out for 126, they kept striking at regular intervals with the ball. With the match see-sawing throughout, it seemed India were on top when Curtly Ambrose was the ninth man out with West Indies 14 runs from victory. However, Nos 10 and 11 Anderson Cummins and Patrick Patterson frustrated India.

With five runs were needed for West Indies to win, Mohammad Azharuddin threw the ball to the young Tendulkar. Cummins took a single to fine leg early in the over. Patterson then went for a booming cover drive, but got an inside edge to midwicket that allowed the batsmen to run three. With the scores level, Tendulkar sent down one that just held its line. Anderson tried to drive, and the resultant outside edge was snapped up by Azhar at slip. India held West Indies to a tie, and Tendulkar became a hero with the ball.

3:  India vs South Africa at Kolkata, Hero Cup semi-final 1993 (ODI): 1-0-3-0

India batted first, and despite Azharuddin’s excellent 90, could only manage to put 195 on the board. Only three Indian batsmen got to double figures (Tendulkar was one with 15), as a mixture of poor running, good fielding, and good bowling allowed South Africa to dominate proceedings with the ball.

India managed to take a couple of early wickets, but at 106 for three South Africa were in control. However, once Jonty Rhodes (16) and Andrew Hudson (62) were dismissed, the South Africans collapsed.

With just six needed off the final over, Azhar once again turned to Tendulkar. Brian McMillan (48*) cut one to point off the first ball and ran a comfortable single, but Fanie de Villiers wanted a second. McMillan said no, and de Villiers was run-out with five to win and the set batsman at the non-striker’s end. Allan Donald played and missed at the second. Donald played the third ball back to Tendulkar, who fielded it with alacrity. Donald managed to get a single off the fifth ball, leaving South Africa with three runs to win off the last ball. McMillan swung and missed. Managed to run the bye, but India won by two runs and entered the final, thanks to Tendulkar’s ice-cool final over. Indian went on to win the Hero Cup, beating the West Indies in the final.

4:  India vs Sri Lanka at Rajkot, 1994 (ODI): 10-0-43-3

Arjuna Ranatunga won the toss and asked India to bat first. Manoj Prabhakar and Navjot Sidhu added a solid 122 for the first wicket before Prabhakar’s dismissal for 67. Sidhu completed his century as India reached 246 for five.

Roshan Mahanama and Dulip Samaraweera then put on 46 for the opening wicket to frustrate India. Azhar soon asked Tendulkar to bowl, and he responded by getting Samaraweera stumped by NayanMongia for 14. He then had Mahanama out caught and bowled for 35 to leave Sri Lanka in trouble at 66 for two. But his most telling blow came when he had Sri Lanka’s stalwart Ranatunga out caught behind for only eight. Tendulkar’s three wickets cost India only 41 runs in eight overs, as India won by eight runs.

5:  India vs West Indies at Madras (Chennai), 1994 (ODI): 10-0-36-3

Azharuddin won the toss and put West Indies in to bat first. After being 64 for two, Brian Lara and Carl Hooper resurrected the West Indian innings with a 112-run stand for the third wicket. Azhar turned to his trusty part-timer once again.

Tendulkar’s first victim was Lara, out LBW. Jimmy Adams came in at No. 5, and was promptly sent packing by Tendulkar, who got him out caught and bowled. New man Sherwin Campbell did not last long either, as Tendulkar had him caught behind for three. West Indies had crashed from 176 for two to 202 for six. They were soon bowled out for 221. Tendulkar took three big wickets for just 36 in his 10 overs. Azhar’s 81 and contributions from India’s middle-order led India to a four-wicket win.

India batted first after Azhar won the toss. Australia would have been thrilled to see the back of both Sidhu and Tendulkar early, as India were reduced to 19 for two. The middle-order held firm though, as Azhar (82), Vinod Kambli (33), Ajay Jadeja (105), and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (57) led India to 309 for five.

Adam Gilchrist started off the chase in phenomenal fashion, hitting a 45-ball 61 — an almost unheard of innings way back before Twenty20 was invented — and added 102 in quick time with Mark Waugh. India clawed back with two quick wickets after that. Ricky Ponting’s dismissal left Australia at 143 for three before those two fire-fighters Michael Bevan and Steve Waugh added 60.

Azhar again turned to the man with the golden arm. First, it was Steve Waugh, offering Tendulkar a catch off his own bowling. Next, Darren Lehman was out LBW. Then came the big one — Bevan — getting stumped NayanMongia. Tom Moody followed, also stumped. The final flourish was Damien Martyn. Tendulkar had taken out five Australian batsmen — none of whom was a rank tailender — for just 32 runs in his 10 overs as India won by 41 runs.

7:  Australia vs India at Dhaka, Wills International Cup 1998 (ODI): 9.1-0-38-4

It was the quarter-final of the Wills International Cup in Dhaka. Steve Waugh decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Ganguly and Azharuddin failed, scoring only a run between them. But Tendulkar combined with Dravid to add 140 for the third wicket. Ajay Jadeja came in and joined Tendulkar in massacring the bowling as India scored 307 for eight.

Mark Waugh and Gilchrist put on 51 runs in quick time before Srinath sent Gilchrist back. There was no respite for India though, as Ponting and Waugh then added 94. India took regular wickets after that though, and reduced Australia to 172 for four. In Darren Lehman and Steve Waugh, Australia had a scrappy duo who rarely gave in. The likes of Bevan and Damien Martyn were to follow, so Australia would have felt they were in with a chance.

Azhar once again turned to Tendulkar, who once again turned up a gem of a spell. Tendulkar tore the heart out of the chase with a four-wicket burst that included the wickets of Waugh, Bevan, Martyn, and Brad Young, as Australia crashed to a 44-run loss.

8:  India vs South Africa at Ahmedabad, 2000 (Test): 5-1-10-3

Captaining the side, Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat first on a tricky Ahmedabad wicket. Tendulkar top-scored with 97 and India scored 225 in their first innings.

In reply, South Africa racked up 90 without losing a wicket. Tendulkar brought himself on after the likes of AjitAgarkar, JavagalSrinath, MuraliKartik, and Anil Kumble failed to break through. He snapped up Herschelle Gibbs for 47, and that opened the floodgates. Tendulkar wasn’t done though; he bowled Gary Kirsten for 50 and then came back to clean up Shaun Pollock, as South Africa lost 10 wickets for merely 86 runs.

9:  India vs Australia at Kolkata, 2001 (Test): 11-3-31-3

In what was arguably India’s greatest Test victory of all time, India came back after following on to beat Australia by 171 runs at Eden Gardens in 2001. It was the start of a new era of Indian cricket, ushered in by that famous, now monumental 376-run alliance between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid.

However, one of the forgotten gems of that match was Tendulkar’s three-wicket burst in the fourth innings. Tendulkar got rid of Matthew Hayden, who top-scored with 67, and had the dangerous Gilchrist out LBW first ball, as Gilchrist suffered the ignominy of a king pair. He then snapped up Shane Warne for a duck as well, to help India bowl out Australia.

10:  India vs Pakistan at Kochi, 2005 (ODI): 10-1-50-5

Sourav Ganguly won the toss and decided to bat first. Tendulkar and Ganguly were out with just four runs on the board, but Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid then proceeded to hit contrasting but equally crucial centuries as India set Pakistan 282.

If Pakistan thought they had seen the last of Sachin Tendulkar in that match, they were grossly mistaken. After Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra, and Zaheer Khan reduced Pakistan to 64 for four, Tendulkar came to the party. Inzamam-ul-Haq was bowled for 37, Abdul Razzaq was caught by Sehwag for five, ShahidAfridi was caught by Zaheer for eight, Mohammad Sami was caught and bowled, and Mohammad Hafeez was caught by Nehra. Tendulkar took another ODI fifer at Kochi, as India won by 87 runs.