Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest batters to grace the game and has numerous memorable innings to his name. But his 143 against Australia in Sharjah from 1998 has always stood out for the fans as well as the critics.
So Tendulkar, today on April 22, celebrated the 25th anniversary of that century by cutting a cake with his fans at an event in Mumbai ahead of his 50th birthday. The cake was special too as it had the design of the old TV in which there was a photo of Sachin from the innings in Sharjah.
Watch the video here:
Talking about the century, it was the sixth match of the Coca-Cola Triangular series against Australia in Sharjah. Australia put up a respectable total of 282 with Michael Bevan getting a hundred and an 81 from Mark Waugh. Sachin opened the innings with Sourav Ganguly and obliterated the Aussie bowling lineup on his way to 143 in just 131 balls. In the middle of the game Sharjah was hit with a sandstorm and the game was shortened to 45 overs and the target was reduced to 275.
When the sand swirled in Sharjah, Sachin went and hid behind Adam Gilchrist, whom he considered strong, to withstand the winds as he has written in his autobiography ‘Sachin: A Billion Dreams’. A little-known surprising fact is that Sachin-VVS added 104 runs for the 5th wicket in this match before Sachin got out on 143, VVS's contribution was 19 in that partnership.
Even though India lost the match by 26 runs they qualified for the finals based on the net run rate. The Men in Blue won the finals against Australia and won the Coca-Cola Cup. Sachin scored 134 off 131 balls in the finals and was also crowned man of the tournament as he scored 435 runs in five innings.
