India cricketer Harbhajan Singh trolled fellow teammate Suresh Raina on social media after the latter’s comments. Recently, Suresh Raina commented on how he bunked school to watch Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘Desert Storm’ knock against Australia. However, Harbhajan questions Raina’s claim stating the match started at 4 pm IST.
Sachin Tendulkar raced up an aggressive 143 off 131 balls against Australia in 1998 at Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium. The then Australian team consisted of all bowling greats in their prime. It included the likes of Shane Warne, Damien Fleming, and Michael Kasprowicz.
Tendulkar was the lone warrior as everyone else failed and India lost by 26 runs. However, Sachin’s knock was famously renamed the ‘Desert Storm’ as the match was stopped due to a wild sand storm for almost 30 minutes.
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In a recent interview, Indian order batsman and CSK star Suresh Raina said that he used to bunk his school to watch Tendulkar bat in during that series.
“We used to bunk the last two periods of school because the tournament in Sharjah was going on. Sachin paaji used to open in that era. Paaji ki batting hi dekhte the uss time pe, ya Rahul (Dravid) bhai. Paaji out hote the to fir nikal lete the ghar (we used to watch only Sachin’s batting, or Dravid’s; but once Sachin got out, we would leave for home),” Raina said.
Suresh Raina turns into a story-teller
When @sachin_rt unleashed his 'desert storm' in Sharjah, @ImRaina skipped school to watch it
Here's the full story: https://t.co/8npFkWdZbh#SureshRaina #SachinTendulkar #Cricket #DesertStorm #Sharjah pic.twitter.com/UHMNYf9US5
— TOI Sports (@toisports) June 1, 2020
Raina’s CSK teammate and fellow Indian international spinner Harbhajan Singh questioned his claim. Bhajji questioned “how” Raina who was in the 12th standard, bunked school. He adds how schools end around 2-3 pm and the match which started at 4 pm IST.
“School bunk how? That game started at 4 pm Indian time I was part of the series,” Harbhajan tweeted.
School bunk 🙄😄 how ? That game started at 4 pm indian time 😜I was part of the series https://t.co/JWnZqa2Zl8
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) June 1, 2020
Back to the match, Australia registered to 287/4 from their 50 overs as India set to chase a big score. India either needed to win or manage 237 runs to edge out New Zealand and qualify for the finals.
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Then a 24-year-old, Tendulkar placed a fierce knock and helped India qualify for the final. Tendulkar smashed another century in the finals as India rode on Sachin’s 134 to win the cup.