For Sachin Tendulkar, 1998 began on a forgettable note. The selectors decided to hand the reins of the side back to his predecessor Mohammed Azharuddin, and a year-and-a-half after taking up the captaincy, the ‘little champion’ found himself relegated to the ranks.

If he was disappointed, he did not show it in India’s first international assignment of the season- a tri-series in Dhaka, involving Pakistan and the home team, Bangladesh. His batsmanship at the top of the order played no mean in India clinching the title.

Subsequent events proved that his Dhaka heroics were nothing but a modest prelude to a performance of a lifetime against the visiting Australians. Sachin’s subjugation of Shane Warne set the stage for India’s 2-0 win in a Test series against Mark Taylor’s formidable team. The ex-captain was at his best in the tri-series (involving Zimbabwe as the third team) that followed, but Australia prevailed at the last stage, and won the final.

The Aussies were keen to maintain the momentum when they flew to Sharjah from India for a tri-series, where India and New Zealand were the other two sides in the fray. So well did Steve Waugh’s men execute their plans that they made it to the final with ease. A loss to New Zealand in one of the round-robin matches put India’s bid to enter the final in jeopardy. When India took on Australia in the final round-robin game on 22nd April 1998, the writing was on the wall for India. They either had to beat Australia comprehensively, or atleast better New Zealand’s run-rate.

The Aussies ran up a total of 284. Calculations were then made, and it emerged that India needed to score atleast 254 to book their ‘final’ berth.

The Indian response was spearheaded by a man on a mission. From the time he banished Michael Kasprowicz for two successive sixes in the sixth over, Sachin Tendulkar was on fire. The kind of character he was, his objective was to win outright, and not merely qualify. His teammates faltered, but Tendulkar did not care, he was ‘in the zone’.

India were 138-4, when play was interrupted by a sandstorm. This was a ‘first’ for international cricket. The players, umpires and spectators shut their eyes, buried their faces in the ground below them, or shut the doors behind them wherever possible- with one exception.

Tendulkar waited outside the dressing-room, helmet and gloves on, eager to complete what he had started. India’s target was revised to 133from fifteen overs. VVS Laxman, who was the other unbeaten batsman, was instructed to attack, with Tendulkar assigned the job of batting right till the end.

The little champions figured out soon after the resumption that Laxman wasn’t at his best. So he decided to turn the strategy on its head, with breathtaking results.

What ensued will live on in the memories of all those who watched, either at the ground or on their television sets. Tendulkar began by hitting Kasprowicz over the sightscreen, and went on to plunder every bowler who dared take possession of the ball. A roar went up when India went past 254, and the spectators urged him to go flat out for the target. However, a dodgy leg-before decision played spoilsport.

Tendulkar ‘swaggered’ off the playing area, having scored 142 from 131 balls. However, his job was far from over. There was another game left to be won two days later, and another ‘special’ to be compiled.

The final followed the pattern established by the previous game, with Australia batting first and putting up a potentially intimidating score. 273 was what India needed to get, but none of their supporters were fearful that afternoon. So magnificently has their hero batted in the last league game that every single Indian was confident, if not assured, of the fact ‘he’ would do it again.

He did. The long and short of it was that he scored 134, and piloted his team to the title. Along the way, he exhibited the finest drives, pulls, cuts, sweeps and steers one could ever hope to see. Two moments stand out: Shane Warne changed his line of attack to around the wicket in the sixth over, only for his first ball to be deposited into the stands behind long-on. The target wasn’t far away when Tendulkar straight-drive Kasprowicz onto the roof of the stadium.

Another umpiring decision that could have gone the other way denied him the pleasure of taking his team through, but the result was a foregone conclusion by then. His teammates finished it off.

Among the many prizes Tendulkar won at the end of the game was a car, which he drove around the ground with the entire Indian team perched on, within and around it. The lap of honour had ‘audio’ support from a capacity crowd, who sang “Happy Birthday to you…”

It was 24th April 1998, the day India’s premier batsman turned 25.