Sachin at World Cup 2003 – One step away from the golden dream
After seven World Cups, the trophy was contested on the African soil for the first time in 2003. South Africa, Namibia and Kenya played hosts for the 14-team tournament. Hosts South Africa and Australia were the favorites to lift the trophy while India was one of the dark horses. Sourav Ganguly captained the Indian side with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif gracing the batting unit.
Sachin started the World Cup with a fighting half-century against the Netherlands. His 72-ball 53 helped India post a decent total on the board which the bowlers defended comfortably. Australia rolled India over in the second match. The little master was once again the top-scorer with 36 in the paltry score of 125.
Disappointing performances in both the matches angered the Indian crowd back home. There were protests and stone-pelting on cricketer houses. Sachin had to pacify the spectators in India. The nation’s mood improved after the 83-run win over Zimbabweans. Sachin top-scored here as well with a knock of 81. He was named Man of the match for his efforts.
Although Sachin piled a mountain of runs in this tournament, he celebrated only one century. It was a mammoth innings of 152 against Namibia at Pietermaritzburg. The ton included 18 boundaries. Sachin backed this performance with a half-century versus England at Durban.
Sachin Tendulkar at 2003 World Cup
India’s next encounter was against the arch-rivals Pakistan. Sachin raised his game to the next level in this all-important match. Launching an assault from the very first over, the master blaster attacked the trio of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis. After being dropped once, the Indian legend gave no further chances until he was caught on 98. His masterpiece of 98(75) was his fastest innings in the 2003 World Cup.
The first failure for Sachin in the competition came surprisingly against Kenya where he was dismissed for 5 by Martin Suji. However, that was just a blip as Sachin stormed to 97 in the next encounter versus Sri Lanka. Sachin signed off the Super Six stage with 15 against New Zealand.
In the semi-final versus Kenya, Sachin played second fiddle to rampaging Ganguly. This time, the little master was dismissed for 83 by Steve Tikolo. India confronted Australia in the final, who had been unbeaten so far.
Ganguly won the toss and inserted Australia to bat first. Riding on Ponting’s not out 140, the defending champions posted 359/2. All hopes were on Sachin to produce a similar knock. He was however caught and bowled by Glenn McGrath in the first over itself. After Sachin’s dismissal of 4(5), there were little hopes left. India lost the match by 125 runs and Sachin’s pursuit of World Cup Trophy remain unfulfilled.
Sachin with 673 runs was named the player of the series. He also received a golden bat for his record-breaking run-scoring. The total of 673 runs by a single batsman still remains a record.
