Remembering India’s 1993 Hero Cup high

KOLKATA: Getting Sachin Tendulkar to bowl that last over in the Hero Cup semi-final was something Sourav Ganguly could identify with. “Watching from the stands, I felt it was a good idea and it showed why Azhar was special,” said Ganguly during an evening of reminiscence about the Hero Cup at Eden 25 Novembers ago right down to the mongoose took the field during the semi-final. As Ganguly spoke, Rohit Sharma, India skipper for Sunday’s T20 against the West Indies here, listened. “He (Azharuddin) thought differently. Giving your specialist bowler the last over when you needed to defend six runs would have been obvious. What was also different was getting wicket-keeper Vijay Yadav to stand at fine-leg almost…also this was about Azhar and Eden, so whatever he touched here turned to gold,” said Ganguly. That Tendulkar over came because Ajay Jadeja and Yadav insisted that we do something different, said Azharuddin. “Kapil paaji had some overs left. I knew I would have to bear the brunt of criticism if it didn’t work but I was prepared.”

When the focus shifted to Rohit, he said he learnt a lot about captaincy from MS Dhoni and Ganguly. “How they treated the youngsters is the most important lesson,” said Rohit.

Speaking about the final, Brian Lara, who along with Carl Hooper was also part of the panel, said he was glad he didn’t give his wicket to Anil Kumble, who took 6/12, but to Sachin. Lara, who played schools cricket in India in 1984, said it was a shame that he didn’t play a Test at Eden.