Sachin Tendulkar's 3 most memorable bowling performances

Arguably the greatest batsman to have graced the game of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 50th birthday on Monday, April 24. Regarded as the "God of Cricket," Tendulkar broke most batting records during his illustrious career spanning 24 years.

He holds the record for the highest number of runs and centuries in Tests and ODIs, and his record of 100 international centuries is unlikely to be broken anytime soon.

Having made his international debut at the tender age of 16, Tendulkar went on to dominate world cricket over the next two decades. It was evident right from his teenage days that he was destined for greatness, and some of his knocks even in those days oozed class.

While there is not much debate on how good a batter Tendulkar was, he was also more than a handy bowler who had the ability to turn a match on its head with his bowling. He could bowl off spin, leg spin, and medium pace depending on the situation of the match and the conditions.

Right from his early days, Tendulkar bowled regularly, especially in the limited-overs format, and had the knack of breaking partnerships. With that in mind, let us take a look at Sachin Tendulkar’s three most memorable bowling performances.

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#1 A match-winning spell against Australia in the historic Kolkata Test in 2001

In one of the most iconic Test matches in the history of the sport, Tendulkar turned the match on its head on the final day of the Test, picking up three crucial wickets to hand India an unlikely victory.

Australia secured a huge first-innings lead and enforced a follow-on. Riding on two incredible knocks from VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180), India made a remarkable comeback.

They scored 657 in their second innings but still needed to bowl the Aussies out in the second innings to win that encounter.

After a solid opening stand between Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden, Harbhajan Singh applied the brakes on the Australian middle order, chipping away with wickets at regular intervals.

With the pitch assisting the spinners, captain Sourav Ganguly handed the ball to Tendulkar but clearly mentioned that it was only a one-over experiment.

However, he had to change his decision after Tendulkar bagged a wicket in his very first over. He took the dangerous Adam Gilchrist and followed it up with the wickets of Hayden and Shane Warne.

It was a perfect wrong 'un from the master to get rid of Warne, and eventually, India went on to win the match by 171 runs. Tendulkar finished with figures of 3/31 in 11 overs.

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#2 5/32 against Australia in Kochi in 1998

It was the first ODI of a tri-nation series also involving Zimbabwe. India posted a mammoth score of 308 in their allotted 50 overs, and back then anything above 300 was considered a match-winning score.

However, Australia had other ideas and looked in a comfortable position at the halfway stage of the run chase.

Chasing 309, Australia were comfortably placed at 203/3 in the 32nd over. Darren Lehmann and Steve Waugh were holding the fort when Tendulkar came and turned the game's complexion with his first five-wicket haul in international cricket.

Bowling leg breaks, Tendulkar got rid of Steve Waugh and Lehmann in quick succession to stall Australia’s progress.

Tom Moody, Damien Martyn, and Michael Bevan were his three other scalps as Tendulkar turned the match completely in India’s direction. They eventually won the match comfortably by 41 runs.

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#3 5/50 vs Pakistan in Kochi in 2004

Tendulkar’s second five-wicket haul came in the first ODI of the seven-match series against Pakistan in 2004. On the back of centuries from Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, India posted 281 in their allotted 50 overs after opting to bat on a batting-friendly pitch.

Pakistan started off poorly, losing their first four wickets for just 64 runs, but skipper Inzaman Ul Haq started the resurrection job in the company of Mohammad Hafeez.

Tendulkar started Pakistan’s collapse with the wicket of Inzaman and followed it up with the wickets of Hafeez and Adul Razzaq.

An off-cutter to Inzamam brought an end to his innings, while Razzaq ended up mistiming a full toss down leg straight to the short fine-leg fielder. Tendulkar eventually finished with figures of 5/50 as India won comfortably by 87 runs.