82 vs New Zealand at Auckland 1994

An innings marked by blazing shots all round the wicket is also deserving of a footnote in Indian cricket history for this was the first time that Tendulkar opened the innings in an ODI. When the Indians went on their short tour of New Zealand early in 1994 Tendulkar was as usual firmly slotted in the middle order. But with regular opener Navjot Sidhu suffering from a neck strain Tendulkar offered to open the innings in the second ODI at Auckland. New Zealand were bowled out for 142 in the 50th over and such was Tendulkar’s brilliance that India reached their modest target in the 24th over with seven wickets to spare. Tendulkar just sailed into an attack that included Danny Morrison, Gavin Larsen, Chris Harris and Chris Pringle and hit 82 off just 49 balls. He put on 61 runs with Ajay Jadeja in nine overs and 56 in six overs with Vinod Kambli. He smashed three fours and a six off Larsen’s first over and by the time he was second out at 117 he had hit 15 fours and two sixes and the game was as good as over. Since then Tendulkar has stayed at the top of the order and going from strength to strength; only for very brief periods thereafter has he gone lower down the order.