In the cricketing universe, 24th April will always be remembered as the birthday of the great Sachin Tendulkar. In his 24 years long career he has many eye-catching records with his batting. He is the owner of the most runs and highest number of centuries in both tests and one-day internationals. The number of records he made with his batting is almost untouchable. Although he is primarily celebrated for his batting he was a handy allrounder for India, especially during the '90s. While most of the people will recall the batsman Sachin Tendulkar today, let us recount some of the great bowling moments linked with Tendulkar.
One of the earliest moments came during the 1992 Hero cup semi-final. The match was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against South Africa. Sachin just bowled one over, the last over of the match. In a low-scoring affair, things became very tight after the 49th over of the South African innings. They required just six runs with two wickets in hand. Despite premier bowlers like Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and Salil Ankola still left with overs, the responsibility was given to Tendulkar who was keen to do the job. In a wonderful bowling display, he delivered six tight deliveries, three of those were dots and in rest, three South African batsmen could score only three runs and India won by just two runs in front of a joyous Eden crowd under lights!
Almost ten years later, Tendulkar's most important test bowling spell also came at the same venue. This was that era-defining 2001 test match between India and Australia. After that majestic third innings, India gave Australia a target of 384 to chase in little more than two sessions. To win the match India needed to take ten wickets. With nothing much happening and only Harbhajan Singh making an impact, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly decided to use Tendulkar and in a match-turning spell, Tendulkar took three wickets in 11 overs to take India closer to victory with his leg breaks. His victims also included the great leg spinner Shane Warne who was visibly clueless in front of Tendulkar. Finally, he misread a googly from the master blaster and was given leg before wicket.
Like Eden Gardens, Tendulkar also had some great bowling memory in Kochi where he took both his ODI five-fers against Australia and Pakistan in 1998 and 2005 respectively. This probably gave Kochi a special place in his heart and later he became the part owner of Kerala Blasters football team from Kochi in ISL.
