In the last article we talked about the Top 5 Sachin Tendulkar Test cricket batting Performances and I guy to choose the Top 5 in my opinion and now we will be doing the same for the ODI format as well as there are some iconic performances by the great man in white ball cricket that can seriously be Considered as the best of all time. We will talk about some of the below. I have fallen in love with cricket thanks to this man as have many others and a part of their lives ended when he retired in 2013.
In ODI cricket Sachin Tendulkar has played a massive 463 ODI matches which is the highest in history, not only that he has scored an incredible 18426 runs which is miles ahead of anybody else and this record will take some beating and he has 49 ODI Hundreds as well making a total of 100 International Hundreds which I think no one will be able to touch. So, let’s see the Top 5 Sachin Tendulkar ODI cricket batting Performances.
143 vs Australia (1998)
A list of the best ODI innings of Sachin Tendulkar cannot be complete without mentioning this innings and the innings from 2 nights after. Firstly let talk about this dream of an innings or better known as the Desert Storm of Sharjah. Australia made a formidable score of 284 runs on the board and India needed 285 to win the match and something fewer to enter the final on 24th. All hope was lost until Sachin Tendulkar took matters into his own hands and just smacked all the bowlers to all parts of Sharjah single handedly taking India home and he hit 9 fours and 5 massive sixes to take India to the final and it is this innings that made people sure that he is the best batter in the world.
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134 vs Australia (1998)
This was an even better innings than the last one because this one won India the final against Australia and India were chasing a stiff total off 273 in the final. And yet again it was Sachin Tendulkar who on his birthday decided to give himself and the nation a perfect birthday gift by playing one of the all time great ODI innings in which he hit 12 fours and 3 sixes at a strike rate of over 103 and he won the match for India and became a God of cricket.
Check here Best innings of Suresh Raina
140 vs Kenya (1999)
This innings might not be in everyone’s list but it is here for a very specific reason. Imagine you have lost your father in the middle of the World Cup and then you have to go home and do the final prayers and then come back and play this sort of innings for India. This takes a special level of mental toughness and extraordinary skill that only the best have. This innings of 140 vs Kenya was perhaps the most emotional of his career and what a splendid innings it was. India were batting first and at number 4 came Sachin Tendulkar and he tore apart the Kenya bowling attack by hitting 16 fours and 3 sixes meaning a total of 82 runs in boundaries and he smashed 140 at a strike rate of 138.61. This innings will always be a personal favorite of mine.
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98 vs Pakistan (2003)
Perhaps the only score which is not a hundred that is revered so much around the world and why would not it be so? The innings that Sachin Tendulkar played in this match is perhaps his most defining innings in his ODI career even though it was not a 100. Pakistan made 273 in the first innings and it was a tough total to chase with the bowling attack consisting of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi. Sachin took the attack to the Bowlers from ball 1 and did not allow them to settle at all and as a result India got a great start to this match and we all got to see the square cut six of Shoaib Akhtar which is famous to this day. In this massive innibe hit 12 fours and 1 six at an impressive strike rate of 130.67 and India won the match.
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200* vs South Africa (2010)
The last and final innings in our list is the first individual double centurion in ODIs history and this was the most historic innings of his career because he became the first to do something which was considered improbable. The bowling attack of South Africa for this match was Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell, Charl Langeveldt and Jacques Kallis. He absolutely destroyed everybody and showed why he is the greatest of all time. He hit 25 fours and 3 maximums which means a total of 118 runs in boundaries and he only took 147 balls to being up his 200* and thus he made cricketing history yet again. I was fortunate to watch this whole innings live.
Sachin Tendulkar is missed everyday for the last 8+ years and the impact he has left on this game will never be forgotten by anyone. I hope I have done justice to this great man with both of our lists. It was a pleasure to write and express my admiration for Sachin Tendulkar.
Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar Profile, Stats and Records
