Who would have predicted that: When an ageing Tendulkar showed the way with maiden ODI double

In our feature series - Who would have predicted that? – we are looking back at matches where there were big upsets or extraordinary individual performances that turned matches on their head.

By the time the South Africa tour of India took place in 2010, the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar was clearly past his prime. He was 37 years old and had played more than 20 years of international cricket. But, even when he was far from his best, he proved to be better than others in terms of the most individual runs scored in an ODI till then.

Match Summary

India 401/3 (50 overs) - Sachin Tendulkar 200* (147), Dinesh Karthik 79 (85); Wayne Parnell 2/95 (10), Roelof van der Merwe 1/62(10)

South Africa 248 (42.5 overs) - AB de Villiers 114* (101), Hashim Amla 34 (22); Sreesanth 3/49(7), Yusuf Pathan 2/37(9)

Result - India won by 153 runs

As Tendulkar went past his century during his mammoth 194-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik, it was just another tick in the notebook. It was only when he surpassed 150 with a handful of overs still remaining, did it begin to click that 200 might be on the cards.

Tendulkar was no stranger to big ODI scores. His unbeaten 186 against New Zealand and 175 against Australia were still fresh in the memory of his ardent fans. The record for the highest ODI score then was 194, held jointly by Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry and Pakistan's Saeed Anwar.

Tendulkar had been cramping after 150, but he chose not to opt for a runner. There were no over-the-top celebrations after he smashed the record for the highest ODI score. The master finally reached the 200-run milestone with a single in the last over.

Tendulkar faced 147 balls for his double century and hit 25 fours and 3 sixes in the process, while also running a taxing 56 singles and 13 twos.

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Virender Sehwag, 3.5 ov), 2-219 (Dinesh Karthik, 33.2 ov), 3-300 (Yusuf Pathan, 41.1 ov)

There was no miracle in store for South Africa as had been the case in their 434-run match against Australia. Inspite of an explosive century from AB de Villiers, South Africa were not able to stand up to the huge total and were bowled out for 248, losing by a big margin of 153 runs.

Sachin finished the match probably as his 2nd most cherished ODI. The most cherished moment would be in the final of the 2011 World Cup, a year later.

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Herschelle Gibbs, 2.2 ov), 2-47 (Roelof van der Merwe, 5.4 ov), 3-61 (Hashim Amla, 7.4 ov), 4-83 (Jacques Kallis, 10.2 ov), 5-102 (Alviro Petersen, 13.6 ov), 6-103 (Jean-Paul Duminy, 14.2 ov), 7-134 (Mark Boucher, 22.2 ov), 8-211 (Wayne Parnell, 36.5 ov), 9-216 (Dale Steyn, 37.5 ov), 10-248 (Charl Langeveldt, 42.5 ov)

Teams

India - Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, S Sreesanth 

South Africa - Hashim Amla, Herschelle Gibbs, Roelof van der Merwe, Jacques Kallis (c), AB de Villiers, Alviro Petersen, Jean-Paul Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt

Match Details

Match: IND vs RSA, 2nd ODI, South Africa in India ODI Series, 2010 

Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 

Toss: India won the toss and decided to bat 

Venue: Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior 

Umpires: Ian Gould, Shavir Tarapore 

Third Umpire: Sanjay Hazare 

Match Referee: Andy Pycroft

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