#OTD in 1994 a youngster changed Indian cricket forever! WATCH VIDEO
#OTD in 1994 a youngster changed Indian cricket forever!
On this day 29 years ago, Indian cricket or rather, the world cricket, changed for good. During the second ODI between India and New Zealand in Auckland on March 27th, 1994, Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin had an issue to deal with as regular opener Navjot Singh Sidhu suffered from a stiff neck and got ruled. In Sidhu's absence, Azhar needed someone to open, and he then reluctantly approached under-performing Sachin Tendulkar to open alongside all-rounder Ajay Jadeja.
This move paid dividends as Sachin, who until then didn’t have a hundred to his name in five years since making his ODI debut, scored a quick-fire 82 off 49 balls. Looking composed while playing as an opener for the first time in international cricket, Sachin struck 15 fours and two sixes and helped chase down a moderate total of 143 in just 24 overs.
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You can watch the video here –
Sachin continued his good run of form in the next game in Wellington, where batting first, he provided a great start, hitting yet another fifty – 63 off 75 balls this time. Meanwhile, in the final One-Dayer in Christchurch, he missed out completing a hat-trick of fifties as he got out on 40 off 26 balls, smashing eight fours.
In hindsight, this decision to make Sachin open the innings changed how cricket got played and perceived in times to come. Batting at that spot, Sachin had paired alongside some of the cleanest strikers of cricketing ball like Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir and others. Such was his impact at the top order, that he remained an opener for the next almost two decades, smashing records at will.
As an opener, Sachin played 344 matches, hitting 15,310 runs at an average of 48.29. He also scored 45 of his 49 ODI hundreds batting at the top in this format.
Off all the records he broke as an opener, becoming the first batter to score 200 runs in an ODI game in 2010 against South Africa was among his best. A year later, he scored 482 runs in nine innings (second-highest) during the 2011 World Cup that India won.
