Sachin Tendulkar will never forget November 5, 2009, a day on which he played his finest one-day innings on home soil albeit in vain as India went down by three runs to world champs Australia in Hyderabad last night.
|
|
A young Sachin Tendulkar in full flow |
Sachin Tendulkar will never forget November 5, 2009, a day on which he played his finest one-day innings on home soil albeit in vain as India went down by three runs to world champs Australia in Hyderabad last night.
But does he remember November 5, 1989? Maybe, maybe not! It was on this day that he got picked for India by the Raj Singh Dungarpur-headed national selection committee during the Irani Trophy in Mumbai where the 16-year-old batting prodigy was playing for Rest of India.
"I care about playing for India and that's what keeps me going," said Tendulkar after his wondrous 175. How apt to say this on a day which coincided with his first India selection.
At the peak of his powers in his 20-year international career, there was never a debate over whether he was the finest batsman on the world stage. But 20 years ago, there was some debate over Tendulkar. At the selection meeting, few selectors were not sure of how the teenager would fare against the likes of Imran Khan and Wasim Akram on the Pakistan tour. Raj Singh then decided to let senior selector Naren Tamhane have the final word. And Tamhane said: "Sachin Tendulkar never fails." From what Raj Singh told us, the debate ended there.
Tamhane and Raj Singh are not around. There's a chance they watched the innings from up there yesterday. It was that heavenly!
