On April 9, 1995, Indian legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar took huge strides in international cricket as the little master blaster from Mumbai became the youngest batsman to score 3000 ODI runs in international cricket. Sachin Tendulkar achieved this feat in some style as he raced up his fourth international hundred in ODI against Sri Lanka in the Pepsi Asia Cup at Sharjah.
The Indian Cricket team was scheduled to take on Sri Lanka after suffering a heavy 97 run defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan. The Indian team needed to shrug off the loss and bounce back as soon as possible. With just 2 matches left for the finals, the match was a must-win for the Indian team.
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Winning the loss, Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga decided to bat first. India’s bowlers made the perfect use of the challenging surface and triggered a Sri Lankan batting collapse. The Sri Lankan team collapsed in drastic fashion after as soon as the first wicket fell down. No Sri Lankan batsman could answer the bowling attack of the Azharuddin lead team which consisted of bowlers like Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Manoj Prabhakar, and Venkatesh Prasad.
The first Sri Lankan wicket fell at 25 runs and others players also followed SL opener Asanka Gurusinha back into the hut soon. The Lankans team scrapped off to 113/6. Hashan Tillakaratne was the only shining star who could navigate India’s attack and fought for his valiant 48 runs off 78 balls. However, Hashan kept running out of partners and the Lankans could only manage a mere 202 runs at the board after losing nine wickets at the end of their 50 overs.
As the match entered into the second phase of the match, the pitch became more suitable for the batsman and the Indian openers made the most of the presented opportunity. Manoj Prabhakar and Sachin Tendulkar added 161 runs for the opening wicket and completely dominated the Sri Lankan bowling attack. The openers also helped themselves to personal records as Manoj Prabhakar raced up another Half-century for himself in international cricket and Sachin scored a scintillating 112 off 105 with 15 fours and one six. The opening partnership had snatched the game away from Sri Lanka in a jiffy.
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Sachin Tendulkar scored his first 50 runs in just 44 balls as the little master set himself to go big n the innings. Banking on Sachin’s attacking century, India chased down Sri Lanka’s 202 run target inside 34 overs. Winning by more than a 100 ball margin helped India’s run-rate drastically and things looked positive for the Azharuddin-led team.
During his innings at Sharjah, Sachin became the youngest batsman to go past 3000 runs in ODIs. He was also the eighth batsman to achieve the feat. Tendulkar’S fourth hundred in One Day International was also appreciated by opposition captain Arjuna Ranatunga who joined the crowd and congratulated the little master.
