Cricket made a lot of players popular, and Sachin Tendulkar made cricket popular. For global cricket lovers, he is the best batter to have ever played the game, and for Indians he is an emotion. God of cricket is undoubtedly the best player to have played the beautiful game. The most complete player of all time has played numerous noteworthy innings. The knock of 200 in ODI, 175 against Australia, 98 against Pakistan, 241 against Australia at SCG in tests and many more knocks are forever etched in the hearts of fans. But one knock which stands out of all these is his inning played against Australia in the Coca Cola Cup which happened in Sharjah.

The "Desert storm" innings as termed by the cricketing world, it certainly is on a different level altogether. The favourite innings of Tendulkar himself stands way ahead of its time. When one speaks about the best ODI knocks of all time, often people refer to Kapil Dev's 175 against Zimbabwe in 1983 world cup, or Glenn Maxwell's 209 against Afghanistan in 2023 World Cup. But if we look at all the circumstances, one can conclude that Sachin's sandstorm innings has to be the best of all. Because it came back around a decade prior to the inception of T20s, it came while chasing and it came against one of the toughest opposition.

Australia of 90's was a deadly team. And with them and New Zealand was the Coca Cola Cup help in Sharjah. And the situations led to one another in a way that it was a do or die match for India. Having won all the matches, Australia had reached in the final of the tournament, and India and Kiwis were at the same level with their qualification dependant on the clash between India and Australia. And the only chance for India to go ahead and knock New Zealand out was either to defeat Australia, or to score the runs in a way to surpass New Zealand's net run rate.

And with the herculean task, Azharuddin's men took the field. Winning the toss Steve Waugh chose to bat first. And his decision was proved right by the Aussie batters. Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn made their intentions clear by launching an attack on Indian bowlers. And later Michael Bevan took the centrestage by sending Indian balls to the stands. Bevan's century and Waugh's 81 helped the Aussies reach to a daunting total of 284. The score might not look that threatening today, but it was way above the chaseable targets then. Anything beyond 250 was considered as a difficult total to chase as the average runs were around 225 back then.

And India had to score 254 to surpass New Zealand's run rate to qualify for the finals. The total had already put psychological pressure on most of the team, and to add to it was the fact that the opposition bowling line-up consisted of players like Shane Warne, Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz. Those days the teams used to bat first as they crumbled under the lights, and now India had to face the Aussie with a total like this under the lights. To make matters even worse was India's history of results at Sharjah, which were completely against Men in Blue. With so much going the other way, anyone could've given up easily, but not Sachin Tendulkar.

Right from the moment go, he made his intentions pretty clear. He looked in his elements and left no stone unturned to make sure that the Aussies are kept well within the limits. His initial onslaught took the Aussies by a little surprise as they were visibly bewildered by the Little man smashing them to all parts of the ground. Sachin looked extremely focused to take the team to a victory. He was making life miserable for Kangaroos. When all the other Indian players were thinking about going past the qualifying score, Sachin was playing for a win. His aggressive approach even took Sourav Ganguly by surprise, as a shot Sachin hit straight rebounded on the pitch so hard that it was aimed at Ganguly's head, which was saved as he ducked down under.

Sachin was going beautifully, but he hardly received support from the others. Barring Mongia, no one stayed at the crease for long with Sachin. He lost support from the other end, but himself held one end firmly and didn't allow the Aussies to relax even for a minute. He was the lone warrior for India. Afterall, he had a habit of doing it during the first half of 90's for India, when the guy just in his twenties was the saviour of Indian team. And it looked similar that day as well. While the game was on, a sandstorm interrupted the match for 25 minutes, but it didn't break Sachin's momentum. Now the revised target was 276 and the revised qualification score was 237 runs in 46 overs.

And Sachin was very well determined to achieve it. His array of aggressive shots was eye pleasing to Indians and hurtful for the Aussies. His stand and deliver sixes put India in the driver's seat. The world was shocked to see Sachin step out of the crease to hit a long six to a pacer, as probably it was the first occasion of it happening. He toyed the best bowler in the world Shane Warne, treating him like a school kid. Sachin stepping out to Warne and hitting those boundaries till date is the highlight of the battle between the two legends.In the era where 3-4 sixes were barely hit in the entire match, Sachin alone hit 5 sixes.

His shots in the match gave rise to plethora of shots which were earlier never played before. And with it, Sachin helped India cross the qualifying score of 237 runs, before he was dismissed. He alone stood like a thorn in the flesh for Aussies. One could see what it meant to him as the man who hardly expressed anything was seen doing a fist pump. With his superhuman knock of 143 runs, India reached to the finals of the tournament and then he yet again helped win the match and the tournament by another similar innings of 134, 2 days after Desert Storm innings.

The effect of the innings was much more than just a victory. The world lauded the innings. Australia's captain Steve Waugh applauded Sachin by stating that they didn't lose to India, but they lost to one man Sachin. Post Sharjah heroics, one of the legends of the game Sir Donald Bradman stated that he has never seen anyone play the game better than Sachin. Brian Lara, who was always compared to Sachin himself came ahead and ended the discussion by stating that Sachin was far more superior than himself. And the man who gave nightmares to world class batters ,Shane Warne, started to get nightmares about Sachin smashing him to all the parts of the ground.

And if all of these happens after one particular innings, it is safe to say and term that particular innings as the greatest of all time. And without a doubt it is the best innings of the best player to have ever played the game of cricket. The innings is a testament of how a single man can transform the result of a match in a team game like cricket. It was a statement given by Sachin to the world that number 8 ranked team India is surely not a rookie team, and that they are ready to challenge everyone. It serves as an inspiration to everyone who feels like he cannot achieve anything. And therefore, even after 26 years post the knock, it remains fresh in the minds of the cricket lovers. A sandstorm which lasted for 25 minutes, gave memories for the Desert Storm innings, even after 26 years.