In the late 1990s, former Australian spinner Shane Warne confessed to having nightmares about Sachin Tendulkar’s batting. While we are still not sure what was the trigger behind the confession, Sachin’s blistering knock against Australia in the 1996 World Cup was probably one of the many that gave Warne sleepless nights in the years to come.
It was on this day, February 27, 26 years ago that Sachin played one of his many classic innings against the mighty Australian lineups of the 90s and 2000s. Warne ended the match conceding just 28 runs in his 10 overs. Now you can imagine that this is a pretty good economic rate and why it should have bothered Warne, right? But 10 of these 28 runs came in Warne’s first over where Sachin dismissed the spinner’s bowling for the toss.
Winning the toss in Mumbai, Australian captain Mark Taylor decided to bat first and hoped that there would be a big score on the board. Opening the batting with Mark Waugh, Taylor got his team off to a good start. The Indian pace lineup looked completely bleak in front of the Australian openers. Captain Mohammad Azharuddin was forced to turn to his spin bowlers and Venkatapathy Raju did not disappoint. While dismissing Taylor for 59, Raju gave Australia the first blow at the score of 103.
While the next batsmen Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh were dismissed cheaply, Waugh (Mark) put on a crucial 69-run partnership with Stuart Law. Putting the Australian innings together, Waugh scored his second consecutive century in the World Cup and was eventually run out brilliantly by Venkatesh Prasad. Waugh’s dismissal triggered the downfall of the Australian batsmen and the team was bundled out for 258 in 50 overs after scoring 232 for 4.
The Indian reply began with two quick wickets, taking the team’s score to 7 for 2. All hopes of India’s revival were on Sachin and he did not disappoint.
Commanding the run chase, Sachin launched a counter strike on the Australian bowling hitting Glenn McGrath, Warne and Damien Fleming around the field.
Sachin first completed his half-century, forming a crucial partnership with Azharuddin and later Sanjay Manjrekar. But the aggression in his batting did not diminish. The right-handed batsman was completely gutted but his innings and Indian hopes were cut short by a wide ball stumping. Little Master got out after scoring 90 runs in 84 balls.
While Manjrekar and Nayan Mongia gave some hope to the Indian run chase, the effort ultimately proved to be not enough. India were bundled out for 242 runs in 48 overs and Australia won the match by 16 runs.
Get all the latest updates cricket news, cricket pictures, cricket videos, IPL Auction 2022 And cricket score Here
,