On April 22, 1998 exactly 25 years ago Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar played a knock which is etched in the memories of Indian cricket fans and his admirers from all over the world for a lifetime.
The batting maestro played a belligerent knock of 143 from 131 hitting 9 fours and five towering sixes against the mighty Aussies bowling attack consisting of legend Shane Warne, Damien Fleming, Michael Kasprowicz and Tom Moody in Sharjah.
Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his historical knock by cutting a cake to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his iconic "Desert Storm" innings in Mumbai with his fans from India and worldwide.
"I cannot believe this happened 25 years ago, now I have a 25-year-old daughter and 23-year-old son, you can all imagine how time flies. We all have changed and become more experienced, we go grey, and some goes bold, fortunately in my case I am still reasonable okay I would say (smiles)," said Sachin Tendulkar said after cutting the cake to celebrate the silver jubilee of the 143-run historic knock.
India was playing Australia and New Zealand in a triangular series in Sharjah. This was a crucial game for India where they had to either win or lose the match by 30 runs or less. Australia ended up setting up a big total of 284/ 7 in 50 overs.
In response, Sachin Tendulkar produced what is regarded as one of the all-time best innings ever played in the history of ODIs.
During a chase, India lost four wickets losing Sourav Ganguly, Nayan Mongia, captain Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja and a desert storm hit Sharjah that interrupted the match for 20 minutes and gave India a revised target of 276 in 46 overs. Reducing only 8 runs in the four overs lost. So, metaphorically from the bat of Sachin the mighty Australians were blown away by his superlative knock Tendulkar, however, India fell 26 runs short of the target but scored enough to qualify for the final where he made another ton scoring 134 to help India win the Tri-series.
"I feel lucky that god has put me in this position where a can give a reason to smile, just by having a cricket bat in my hand and that is something that I love doing all my life, that is what I wanted to be in life," added Sachin Tendulkar.
Till today his performance to take India to the final and win is remembered by his fans and admirers.
"25 years have gone, and I am double the age of the innings, it makes me feel really nostalgic that 25 years down the line we have gathered here to celebrate and celebrate my birthday in advance," said Sachin Tendulkar.
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