That 90s show

97 vs South Africa,Mumbai,2000: This Test was a microcosm of the first half of Tendulkar’s career. Batting first on an abrasive Wankhede wicket,the Indians were bowled out for 225 by the Protea seam attack of Donald,Pollock,Kallis and Cronje. When Tendulkar was caught down the leg side (173/8),he had made 97 out of the 134 that India scored during his time at the crease,with a large percentage of his runs coming with stand-and-deliver punches through the mid on region. India then bowled South Africa out for 176,with Tendulkar picking up the wickets of Kirsten,Gibbs and Pollock. India still lost the match inside three days.

92 vs England,Nottingham,2002: One-zero down in the series and 260 behind on the first innings,India were 11/2 with a session and a day to go when Sachin Tendulkar joined Rahul Dravid at Trent Bridge. When they were separated,the visitors were 173/3 and well entrenched on the road to safety. Tendulkar’s 92 was an atypical,but highly effective,game-saving knock,coming as it did off just 113 balls. His partnership of 163 with Dravid (who went on to make 115) came at four and a half runs an over,and both of them – as well as Sourav Ganguly,who made 99 – played themselves into prime form,which translated into centuries for all three in the third Test at Headingley,which India won by an innings.

91 vs England,Nottingham,2007: In a match remembered more for Zaheer Khan’s masterly displays of swing in both innings and for the jellybean saga,Sachin Tendulkar scored his second successive 90-odd in Tests at Trent Bridge. After openers Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer had put India in command with a 147-run opening stand in reply to England’s 198,Tendulkar pressed home the advantage,surviving a difficult period against Ryan Sidebottom while continuing to play crisp drives through the off side. A dubious decision ended his bid for a 38th Test hundred,adjudged LBW padding up to a Paul Collingwood delivery that replays suggested would miss the stumps.

98 vs Australia,Mohali,2010: The PCA Stadium at Mohali has seen Tendulkar fall narrowly short of hundreds more often than most grounds. His previous efforts at the venue had included scores of 88,94 and 88 in Tests and a 99 in an ODI against Pakistan. On Day Three,the jinx struck again when he was LBW playing across the line to Marcus North. Before that,however,he had played a massive role in getting India close to Australia’s first innings 428 – his dismissal at 354/5,in fact,triggered a collapse that saw the last five pairs adding just 51. But the bowlers did the job,leaving India 216 to win,and they sneaked home thanks to a VVS Laxman masterclass.

ODIs

90 vs Australia,Mumbai,1996 World Cup: Chasing Australia’s 258,India started terribly,with Ajay Jadeja (who consumed 17 balls to score one) and Vinod Kambli (0 from 6) falling to Damien Fleming and Glenn McGrath bowling three straight maidens. It was then that Tendulkar spontaneously combusted. After eight overs,India were 17/2. Three overs later,Tendulkar brought up India’s 50 by tonking McGrath for six over midwicket. His own score at that point was 41. Shane Warne’s first ball was a long-hop; Tendulkar dumped it back over his head for a one-bounce four. When he finally went for 90 (84b,14×4,1×6),India needed 116 at under a run-a-ball,with six wickets in hand. But,like so often in that decade,they crumbled,and lost by 16 runs.

93 vs South Africa,Nagpur,2000: It’s a match remembered for all the wrong reasons. Herschelle Gibbs,who was supposed to get out for under 20,scored 74; Henry Williams,who was supposed to concede more than 50,pulled up with a shoulder injury in the middle of his second over. Not only did these two fail to comply with Hansie Cronje’s instructions to underperform,but South Africa rattled up 320. India were on course to complete a then record chase,thanks to a second-wicket stand of 180 in just 146 balls between Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Both fell at the same score,however,causing the customary slide,and India fell 10 runs short.

98 vs Pakistan,Centurion,2003 World Cup: That uppercut six off Shoaib Akhtar,followed by that deft turn off his hips and that gorgeous straight drive. Has Tendulkar played a more iconic set of shots in any one-day knock? For the sheer unearthliness of his timing that day,this might just be his greatest one-day knock – a contentious statement considering other masterpieces like the 143 at Sharjah or the 175 at Hyderabad. But it made a chase of 274 against a high-class pace attack look ridiculously easy,and was the high point of an inspirational Indian surge to the final.

95 vs Pakistan,Lahore,2006: A cursory glance at the scoreboard would suggest that Tendulkar’s knock was a routine platform-laying effort in a big run-chase,and that MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 46-ball 72 at the finish was the greater innings. The Man of the Match adjudicators certainly thought so. But Tendulkar made it all possible,against Mohammad Asif doing all kinds of things with the new ball under lights. Chasing 289,India lost Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan to Asif in the third over. Tendulkar steered India out of the hole,slashing the seamers repeatedly to the point fence. In between,he shouldered arms to six consecutive legal deliveries from Asif – a sequence broken by a pulled boundary off a no-ball.

91 vs Australia,Brisbane,2008: Having scored a century in the first final of the tri-series,Tendulkar showed no signs of letting up. This was a sedate knock by his standards,his 91 coming off 121 balls and containing only seven boundaries,but invaluable,laying the platform for a 250-plus score on a bouncy Gabba wicket. The quality of strokeplay,as always,was tremendous,notably two boundaries down the ground in the same Stuart Clark over,the first a mere push off the front foot,the second a flat-batted back-foot wallop more often seen in gully cricket. With Praveen Kumar taking four wickets,India triumphed by nine runs.