"One Of His Scratchiest Innings": Ashish Nehra On Sachin Tendulkar's Knock vs Pakistan In 2011 World Cup

Ashish Nehra recalled the 85-run knock from Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan in 2011 World Cup and labelled it as one of the scratchiest innings. Tendulkar was lucky in that innings on many occasions and he guided India to the final. He was was dropped on 27, 45, 70 and 81 by Misbah ul Haq, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal, respectively during that knock.

Incidentally, at the point he was one short of his century of centuries. Nehra said even Tendulkar knows that he was lucky in that game. He also added that whenever Tendulkar scored over 40 runs their has to be some catches and it is of utmost importance for luck to favour you.

“Needless to say, even Sachin Tendulkar himself knows how lucky he was in that game. It was one of his scratchiest innings you’ll see. Whenever you’ve seen Tendulkar scoring even 40, you will see bad decisions or catches being dropped. But not that many and luck going your way that much,” Nehra said on The Greatest Rivalry podcast.

“See when you talk about a World Cup, whether it’s India-Pakistan, India-England, or any other team, it’s all pressure. You’ve reached the semifinal, you’re a good team but in the end, it’s all down to how you handle pressure,” Nehra said.

Tendulkar continues to be the leading run-scorer in in international cricket with 34, 357 runs — 15,921 in Tests, 18426 in ODIs and 10 from a solitary T20I. Tendulkar was short but he would bully the ‘tallest’ bowlers of the era. It was the Sachin Tendulkar-era. He was a nightmare many bowlers would often refer as difficult to dislodge. At his numbers justify his status.

In 2011, he finally achieved his biggest dream of lifting the World Cup, after making appearances in the marquee tournament for a record sixth time.