Sachin Tendulkar was in the form of his life in the late 90s and was in a phenomenal touch in the year 1998. In that year Sachin averaged 65.31 in ODIs and that too at a strike above 100, something which is impossible to replicate even in the T20 generation. In 1998 came arguably one of Little Master’s best-ever ODI innings, which was Sachin Tendulkar’s Desert Storm innings against the dominant Australian team at Sharjah. Sachin played a gem of an innings scoring 143 runs off 131 balls taking India to the finals, although India lost the match. He followed this innings with another century in the final as India defeated Australia to clinch the Coca-Cola Cup.
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The Coca-Cola Cup
The match we are talking about was the last league stage match of the Coca-Cola Cup which was a tri-series played between India, Australia, and New Zealand. Australia had already qualified for the finals by winning all their matches, India and New Zealand were tied on points and India needed either a win or had to finish on a better net run rate than New Zealand to qualify for the final.
On 22nd April 1998, the match was set to be played at Sharjah, UAE which at the time proved very difficult conditions to play in as the weather was too hot. So much so that Tendulkar even says that he had blisters on his feet while fielding in the heat.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Australia’s dominance
Australia winning all their games till now was a destructive team and had a great batting lineup in Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh, and Michael Bevan and had good batting depth with Darren Lehmann coming at 7. While on the other side, the Indian team had an in-form Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja who had a terrific ODI series before and hence was in good touch, and captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Thus this clash had to be a close one.
Australia bat and scored big
Australia won the toss and decided to bat first, and with Michael Bevan scoring a century and a good knock of 81 by Mark Waugh, posted a total of 284 before the Indian team. In those days such huge totals were almost impossible to chase down, for context India had chased a 270+ score last time against Pakistan in January that very year and before that back in 1994! Also, the Australian team had in their bowling line-up the likes of Shane Warne, Damian Fleming, and Michael Kasprowicz who would leave no stone unturned to defend the score. Hence it would prove to be a difficult chase for the Indian team
Win vs Net Run Rate
The target to win the match was 285, however, to qualify on net run rate the target was 254. Everyone in the team thought about how to get to 254 and win on a better run rate, however, Tendulkar wanted to win the match and defeat Australia. He believed that defeating Australia would give them an edge in the final as it would shake the confidence of the Australian team. The stage was set for Tendulkar’s desert storm innings.
And the chase begins…
The chase begins with Ganguly and Tendulkar opening the batting for India.
In the 6th over of the chase itself, Tendulkar steps down the pitch and hits Kasprowicz for a 6 at mid-wicket, next ball Kasprowicz bowls a short ball and Tendulkar pulls it for another 6! Two 6s in two balls and it was clear that Sachin meant business and he was there to win it for India.
However, while Sachin was in sublime form, on the other end wickets were falling with Ganguly getting out cheaply, then Nayan Mongia getting out after making a brisk 35, followed by Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja. Thus even though Sachin was batting well bringing up his 50, it was not looking as if India would be able to even come close to the Australian total.
Sandstorm erupts
India is at 138/4 when a young VVS Laxman comes out to bat, he knocks a few balls around when in the 32nd over of the match with the team at 145/4 a sandstorm erupts and the play is suspended for 25 minutes.
Huge waves of sand were blowing from one end of the ground to the other, and all the players and umpires instinctively dropped to the ground. This was the storm that finally inspired the name of Tendulkar’s desert storm innings.
Gilchrist the savior for Sachin?
So much was the intensity of the winds that Sachin was scared he would be blown away by the winds, he quickly went and lay behind Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist in the hope that if the winds were to get stronger he would hug him and hold onto him for support and prevent getting blown away by the wind.
The Match Resumes
After the sandstorm ended after 25 minutes the match resumed and due to the time lost, the match was reduced to 46 overs and India now needed 276 in 46 overs. The match got reduced by 4 overs but the target was reduced by only 8 runs which did not seem fair at all at the time. To qualify on net run rate India needed 237 in 46 overs. While all the other players were looking at the 237 target score to qualify, Sachin was determined to win the match and he aimed at unsettling the bowling attack from the get-go.
Tendulkar’s Desert Storm Innings
The match resumes and Tom Moody bowls a slower one and Sachin smashes it for a huge 6 and hammers the ball towards the side-screen, and Sachin has made his intentions clear and the desert storm has arrived.
In the 39th over Sachin gets to his century off just 111 balls.
However, it did not look like he is stopping anytime soon as the very next over he smashes a short ball for a boundary on square-leg. The Australian team tried their best to keep Sachin off strike and it was Laxman’s role to keep taking singles and give Sachin the strike, in the heat of the moment however Sachin lost his temper and shouted furiously at Laxman when he refused a single and was almost run-out.
India Qualify For The Final
At the 42-over mark, India needs 48 runs in 4 overs to win and just 9 runs to qualify for the final.
Fleming bowls the next over and Sachin hits him for a huge 6, he shows that he is not going without a win.
India qualify for the final in the next over and now needs 32 runs off just 19 balls to win the match.
Sachin gets out!
This is when Tendulkar tries to hook a short ball from Fleming but misses and is given out by the umpire for caught behind. And thus the fairy-tale desert storm innings finally comes to an end.
Tendulkar departs and goes back to the pavilion having scored 143 runs off just 131 balls and having hit 9 fours and 6 sixes in doing so, arguably one of the best ODI innings by an Indian batsman ever.
However, India loses the match in the end by 26 runs but qualify for the finals of the Coca-Cola Cup.
The final
After this amazing build-up, the long-anticipated final of the Coca-Cola Cup takes place on 24th April, which is also Sachin’s 25th birthday! A strong Aussie batting performance sets India a challenging target of 273 runs for victory.
However, Sachin continued this innings where he left off the last time in Sharjah. One of the most memorable moments early on in this innings came in the 6th over of the match where Sachin nearly hit Ganguly on the other end with his shot that raced to the boundary.
Despite having played a very energy-consuming inning a day before in the extreme heat of Sharjah,
One of the most memorable moments of this Sachin Tendulkar’s desert storm innings people remember even today is him picking Warne from outside the off-stump and hitting him for a huge six. Between Shane Warne and Tendulkar, it was Tendulkar who always had the upper hand in the match-up and was able to hit the legendary spinner for runs, so much so that Warne even admitted later that he used to have nightmares of Sachin hitting him for a six.
Sachin produced another masterclass in the finals with the bat and hits 134 runs.
Sachin smashed all the Australian bowlers for boundaries all round the park. One of his sixes off a Kasprowicz delivery landed far on the stands as commentator Tony Greig exclaimed, “Oh! This is High. What a Six. What a Six. Way down the ground. It’s on the roof. It’s bouncing around on the roof.”
He was finally declared LBW off a Kasprowicz delivery in the 45th over. However, the Little Master had ensured that the target was well within India’s reach.
India was eventually able to defeat Australia by 6 wickets to win the Coca-Cola Cup largely owing to Sachin Tendulkar’s desert storm innings.
Sachin’s performance in the Coca Cola Cup was absolutely phenomenal with a total of 435 runs in 5 innings. He was chose the Man of the Match as well as Man of the Series.
Tony Greig’s Whaddaplaya
The amazing high-octane match was made even more special by the animated commentary by Tony Greig, throughout the desert storm innings Greig called Tendulkar “whaddaplaya, what a wonderful playa”, when Tendulkar hit Moody for a six, Greig animatedly said, “ The little man has hit the big fella for a 6!” when Tendulkar hit Kasprowicz for a huge 6 in the 45th over, Greig gave arguably the best compliment to Sachin by saying, “ This little man is the nearest thing to Bradman there’s ever been”.
Tony Greig’s animated commentary made this innings even more special.
Sachin’s interview after scoring a century in the Coca-Cola Cup final.
Sachin’s Masterclass
Sachin’s majestic knock of 143 was at the time his highest ODI score and for this inning title sponsor of the tournament Coca Cola even announced a special award of 20,000 pounds for Tendulkar. Shane Warne even got his jersey which he wore in the Coca-Cola Cup final signed by Tendulkar as a tribute. After the tournament, Steve Waugh, the captain of the Australian team admitted that they were beaten by one great player: Sachin. With this brilliant Desert Storm innings, Tendulkar showed the world of cricket why he is the god of cricket. He single-handedly won the Indian team the Coca-Cola Cup and this innings has been immortalized in cricket history, remembered by millions of fans till now. Sachin was just 25 years old at the time but had already become a legend of the game.
In this video, Sachin recounts his memories from the desert storm innings and talks about what he was thinking and feeling at the time.