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Published 17:12 IST, November 22nd 2020

Inzamam-ul-Haq picks Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's best innings on the 22 yards

Former Pakistani skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq picked Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's best innings on the 22 yards during a recent interaction with Ravi Ashwin

Reported by: Karthik Nair
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Inzamam-ul-Haq picked Sachin Tendulkar's knock of 98 in the 2003 World Cup against Pakistan as his best innings. The arch-rivals had locked horns in the group stage match of the 2003 World Cup. The Men In Blue kept their winning streak in World Cups intact over their arch-rivals as they registered their fourth straight win in the quadrennial event.

Sachin had hit Shoaib for 18 runs in his first over and in the same over, he had slashed the 'Rawalpindi Express'  for a six over backward point which is etched in the memories of the die-hard cricket fans even today.

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'Best Innings': Inzamam-ul-Haq

While interacting with the veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on his official Youtube channel ‘DRS with Ash’, Inzy went on to say that he has seen Sachin play a lot but at the same time, also admitted that he had never seen the Master Blaster play like that (referring to that WC match) the way he had batted in that contest where he hit the terrific trio of Wasim Akram, skipper Waqar Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar to all parts of the ground.

“I feel that was Sachin’s best innings. He broke all the pressure. He played a top-quality innings against genuine quality fast bowlers like ours. The way he hit those boundaries, the pressure got released on the batsmen who came after him", the former Pakistani skipper added.

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When India registered a famous win at Centurion

India and Pakistan had locked horns on March 1, 2003, at the Supersport Park in Centurion where the Men In Green had set India a stiff target of 274 runs. However, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag smashed the Pak bowlers to all corners of the ground and seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the proceedings. But, Waqar brought Pakistan right back into the contest by accounting for Sehwag and skipper Sourav Ganguly off successive deliveries. Sachin and Kaif kept the scoreboard ticking.

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Unfortunately, Tendulkar was done by an awkward bouncer from Shoaib Akhtar and was caught at point for a well-made 98. It could have been anyone's match from thereon but, stellar middle-order contributions from Rahul Dravid (44*) and Yuvraj Singh (50*) helped the eventual runners-up of that tournament pull off a famous win by six wickets. 

Ganguly & Co. had an outstanding campaign as they made it to the finals. However, they were defeated by the then mighty Australians who were also the title-holders back then in a lop-sided contest.

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17:12 IST, November 22nd 2020