Virat Kohli with Sachin Tendulkar
He has scored over 50000 runs career runs across all formats, around 34000 international runs, a record that still stands firm even seven years after his final game. And those tallies were formed from the innumerable memorable knocks that he played throughout his 23-year-long glorious career. And India cricket team skipper and a World Cup winner picked his most memorable Sachin Tendulkar knock.
Kohli, in conversation with Wisden, had said that the back-to-back centuries that Sachin had scored in Sharjah back in 1998 was the one that helped him work towards his dream.
"As a kid the innings that really pushed me to work towards my dream of playing for India were Sachin’s back-to-back hundreds against Australia in Sharjah – the ‘Desert Storm’ knocks," he had said back in November 2019.
He scored 143 on April 22 in 1998, one famously dubbed as the Desert Storm, although India had failed to close in on the target put forth by Australia. But Sachin's valiant efforts in the run chase helped India sneak past New Zealand in the tri-series points table to reach the final.
Two days later, on his 25th birthday, he scored 134 runs, this time in a successful run chase as India defeated Australia to win the trophy in Sharjah.
"He made one to qualify for the final and then another in the final, single-handedly winning both games, and that’s where my excitement of wanting to chase totals came from. It was such a thrill to see one man working relentlessly towards a target and being able to achieve it wearing your national team’s jersey. I couldn’t see anything apart from cricket after those innings," he added.
Sachin wrapped up a memorable week at Sharjah with 357 in 334 balls at an average of 119 (at a strike rate of 107). Eight months later, Sachin had pocketed a record-scripting 1894 runs at a blistering average of 65.31 in that year with nine centuries - a record that still stands tall in one-day international cricket with Sourav Ganguly coming closet to the tally, the very next year (1767 runs at 46.50).
"I was a massive fan of Sachin’s and when India were playing I would go to the shops and get my pack of chips and chocolate to prepare myself to watch him bat. I did exactly the same with both those games, and he batted for so long that I had to refill my snacks! It was worth it, watching him play in a manner that at that stage no one else was doing. It was literally a change happening in front of my eyes. I was like, ‘Wow, this sport can be played in this manner’. It was just so exciting. I asked my father to get me enrolled in a cricket academy and two or three months later I joined. And from there the whole journey started," said Kohli.
