Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the best batsman to ever play the game of cricket as his abilities with the bat were no match to others during his playing days. In his 24-year long illustrious career, Tendulkar was the backbone of Team India and he played several glorious knocks.
One such epic knock of Sachin's came exactly 22 years ago in Sharjah. It was April 22, 1998, and India were locking horns with Australia at Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium. Australia put 284/7 while batting first and the desert storm strikes during the innings break and the revised target of 277 in 46 overs was given to India.
The storm didn't stop during India's batting as it was Tendulkar who changed himself into it and slammed the likes of Shane Warne, Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz. The Master Blaster slammed 143 runs off 131 balls with nine fours and four sixes, but unfortunately, India lost the match by 26 runs. However, Tendulkar's 'desert storm' innings guided India to finals of the tournament as India got past 237 to qualify on NRR.
Tendulkar later opened upon the innings and claimed that it was tough to play in Sharjah due to weather against the best team in the world - Australia.
“Given the conditions in the month of April — the temperatures are really high and you can feel the heat going through your shoes and socks — and the first thing you want to do is to put your feet in the ice bucket,” he said.
“In my case, that was one experience which I remember how tough it was to stay there and play the best team in the world.
“Australia was No.1 at that stage and to beat them so convincingly was extremely satisfying.”
“Those days we used to play in Sharjah and drive all the way back to Dubai. And the next day was for recovery and the following day was the final. It was not so easy,” he concluded.
