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Sports: The Centurion match played between India and Pakistan in the World Cup 2003 holds a special place in the history of Indian cricket. Sachin Tendulkar's innings of 98 runs in this match is still fresh in the hearts of cricket lovers. Virender Sehwag recently shared some interesting memories of this historic match, in which he told how Tendulkar gave a befitting reply to Shoaib Akhtar's deadly bowling.
Pakistan's strong bowling line-up included legends like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus and Shoaib Akhtar. Akhtar had said before the match that he would destroy the Indian batting order. With the help of Saeed Anwar's century, Pakistan had posted a challenging score of 273/7, but Tendulkar had a different plan.
Virender Sehwag told in an interview on Star Sports, "Shoaib Akhtar had said that he would destroy our top order, but Sachin gave him a befitting reply. We did not pay much attention to Akhtar's statement, but Tendulkar's bat spoke."
Sachin Tendulkar adopted an aggressive approach at the beginning of India's innings and scored 18 runs in Shoaib Akhtar's first over. He completely destroyed Akhtar's intentions by hitting 6, 4, 4 consecutively on the last three balls. Tendulkar played an innings of 98 runs in 75 balls, which he still considers one of his best ODI innings.
Virender Sehwag also recalled that Tendulkar had cramps at the end of the innings, due to which he had to become his runner. Sehwag said, "Shahid Afridi was constantly bothering Tendulkar, but Sachin was just focusing on the game. He knew that he had to stay at the crease."
The most memorable moment of the match was when Sachin Tendulkar smashed an uppercut six off Shoaib Akhtar. Although Akhtar later dismissed Tendulkar for 98, Yuvraj Singh (50*) and Rahul Dravid (44*) helped India win by six wickets.
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