He is widely celebrated as the maser of batting, the God of cricket. But long before Sachin Tendulkar became what he eventually became, he was playing short and brief cameos as a middle-order batsman for India in One-Day Internationals. After five years and 69 ODI matches for India, Sachin Tendulkar was still without a maiden ODI hundred. He had 14 half-centuries with a highest score of 84 but was yet to reach the magical three figures in white-ball cricket. Things, however, changed drastically for good for the little master due to one decision of the Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. This Day, That Year: Relive Sachin Tendulkar’s First Innings as an ODI Opener for India.

India had lost the opening ODI of their 1994 New Zealand tour by 28 runs. The second match was on March 27. Sachin had made 15 off 19 deliveries in the 1st match. But captain Azharuddin after consulting with team manager Ajit Wadekar asked Tendulkar to open and the rest, as they say, is history. Tendulkar in his maiden innings as an opening batsman smashed 82 off just 49 balls to lead India to a seven-wicket win and was even declared the Man of the Match for his knock. Sachin Tendulkar Was an All Condition Batsman, Says Shane Warne.

“I had been noticing that nothing big was happening with Sachin even though he was batting well at No. 5 and 6. We (Wadekar sir and I) talked about this and decided to let Sachin open after regular opener Sidhu (Navjot Singh) was unwell,” Azhar recalled in a conversation with The Hindu. “And, importantly, Sachin also wanted to open and we are glad that he went on to become one of the greatest batsmen of all-time.”

Sachin Tendulkar and His Maiden Innings As Opener

Sachin’s knock of 82 contained 15 boundaries and two sixes. He smashed his maiden ODI hundred nine innings later having already scored four half-centuries in his first five innings as an opening batsman. “I won’t say I was surprised by his response, I knew Sachin had the talent. He just needed that opportunity to showcase his abundance of talent,” the 57-year-old added.

“He is an attacking batsman and with the field restrictions on, we thought once he gets going half the job is done for the team,” he said.  Sachin went to become one of the greatest batsmen of all-time with a record 49 international ODI hundreds and over 18, 000 runs. “I can’t take pride for his achievements. In fact, nobody can. He had the talent to go places,” said Azharuddin.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 30, 2020 05:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).