On left, Sachin Tendulkar during his knock in the 1998 Coca Soda Pop Cup at Sharjah and, on right, Sachin Tendulka … Read More
NEW DELHI: It was April, the summertime of
1998
, 1 pm in the afternoon. 2 kids, Sonu and Amit, were rather distressed in the class of their school in Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh. “Tendulkar ki batting dekhni hai (want to see Tendulkar bat),” they murmured to each other. India were to take on Australia in the Coca Cola Cup in
Sharjah
A place in the final was at stake. The clock was ticking towards the game’s start time. Sonu and Amit couldn’t wait any longer. They sneaked out of the school, skipping the last two classes of the day.
The scene at Sunil bhaiya’s house was set. He had a black and white TELEVISION, but more notably a welcoming heart, access to cable TV, and Star Sports on it. The kebabs sponsored by Jamil bhai were waiting to get in the frying pan. Preparations were on, and the phase was practically set for Tendulkar to entertain somebody who, 13 years later on, went on to win the World Cup as a team-mate of Sachin’s. The 12- year-old Sonu who bunked school was Indian cricketer
Suresh Raina
” We had TV in the house, an Uptron, however with just Doordarshan on it,” recalled Raina in a chat with Timesofindia.com.
India weren’t having a great time in the tri-nation series, which was also incidentally the very first series in a years in Sharjah, that didn’t function Pakistan. The matches were played in a round-robin format, with all groups playing the others twice each. Austral