Sachin’s Knock Of 143, Sharjah, 1998 Is The Best One-Day Inning Ever

Sachin’s knock of 143 at Sharjah against Australia in 1998 was the best One-day inning of all times. It was a thriller of a match. Australia had batted first and scored 285. It was a daunting task to chase that target. But Sachin made it not only possible but also easy to achieve it. India needed 265 in that match to qualify for the finals. It was a triangular series involving Zimbabwe. Pepsi was the title of the Cup. Sachin scored a mammoth 143 off 134 balls and took India past the target and fell just before India were close to the target. It seemed that Laxman and Azhar who were at the crease at that time will take India past the required figure but that could not happen. India had sufficient wickets at that time but those batsmen did not show enough hunger to attain the goal. But still Sachin had done a mountainous task by reaching the qualifying figure. I think it was the most difficult match in the history of the game because Australia were an extremely tough team and they had set an extremely high target for India. Also Glenn McGrath were bowling extremely lethal deliveries from both ends. Both are world class bowlers. And the following match which was a final was again a thriller one with India having to chase 272 again against a difficult Australian team. And the master batsman did it again. These two matches I think were epic innings and there are very few matches in the history of One-day cricket which come close to the charm of these two matches. This final match was in my opinion the second best inning of the One-day history. I congratulate Sachin on his performance in these to matches. He is surely a champion and a figure in the history of the game. He rightly won a car as the prize of the Player of the Tournament. It was enchanting to watch that.