Sachin Tendulkar has ruled the world of cricket with his exceptional batting for more than two decades. During his illustrious career, Tendulkar represented India in 463 ODIs and featured in 200 Tests. Twelve years back on March 18, the Master Blaster played his last 50-over game, featuring in an Asia Cup match against arch-rivals Pakistan in Mirpur. Tendulkar made the occasion more special when he struck a crucial half-century, building the foundation for a successful chase of 330 runs. India ultimately won the high-scoring affair by five wickets.
It was also a memorable game for Virat Kohli. He was in his mid-20s then and produced a match-winning performance in that game. The right-handed batter slammed a blistering 183, which remains his highest score in the ODIs. Kohli’s 148-ball innings comprised 22 boundaries and one six.
After winning the toss, the Misbah-ul-Haq-led Pakistan elected to bat first at the Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The opening pair of Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed pulled off a commanding start. The duo stitched a 214-run partnership before Jamshed fell victim to a slow delivery off Ravichandran Ashwin and returned with 112 runs. Hafeez could not continue longer as Ashok Dinda trapped him for an LBW at 105 in the following over.
Among the remaining Pakistani batters, only Younus Khan made a notable contribution to the scoresheet, adding 52 runs. For India, both Praveen Kumar and Ashok Dinda claimed two wickets each while Irfan Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin registered one scalp each.
During the run chase, India lost the wicket of opening batter Gautam Gambhir on the second ball. That is when Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli took over the charge. They racked up 133 runs together before Tendulkar was sent off by Saeed Ajmal. Following Tendulkar’s dismissal, Rohit Sharma arrived at the crease and joined hands with Kohli, who was at his devastating best. They amassed 172 runs together, paving the way for a comfortable victory.
With his vital knock, Sachin Tendulkar retired from ODI cricket as the top scorer of the format. He slammed his 100th international century in the same tournament two days before against Bangladesh. Tendulkar aggregated a total of 18426 runs including 49 centuries and 96 fifty-plus scores during his glorious ODI career.
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