5 Bowling records held by Sachin Tendulkar in International cricket

3. Multiple 5-wicket hauls at the same venue

Sachin Tendulkar’s 5-wicket hauls in the ODI format have an interesting coincidence as both of those came at the Kochi’s Nehru Stadium that too in the first two days of April month. He claimed his professional career’s maiden 5-wicket haul during the opening match of the 1998 Pepsi Triangular Series against Australia. India lost both their openers Sachin and Sourav Ganguly early on but Ajay Jadeja’s century was backed by fifties from Mohammad Azharuddin and HH Kanitkar.

Two century partnerships powered India to reach 309/5 in the 50 overs. Australia got off to a flyer as they had an opening stand of 102 in only 11.2 overs. The Aussies were well on their way to a big chase as they were placed at 203/3 in the 32nd over. Tendulkar bagged the wicket of the Aussie skipper Steve Waugh who got out giving a return catch. Couple of overs later, he trapped Darren Lehmann in front and dismissed the set batsman Michael Bevan at the end of the 40th over.

Bevan was stumped after registering the top score of the innings (65). Sachin later got the wicket of Tom Moody on the very first ball of the 42nd over. Sachin nearly got a hat-trick if not for a chance missed by Nayan Mongia behind the stumps. He completed his 5-wicket haul by picking the wicket of Damien Martyn in his last over and finished with 10-1-32-5. Australians were bowled out for 268 and lost the match by 41 runs.

Sachin’s next 5-fer came against Pakistan during the first game of the 6-match ODI series. Centuries from Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid pushed India to 281/8 despite scoring only 40 runs in the last 9 overs. Pakistan were reduced to 64/4 by 13th over before a 48-run stand began to rescue the chase. Sachin ran through the visiting team’s line-up with figures of 10-1-50-5 as they were bowled out for only 194.

Thus, Sachin Tendulkar became the first Indian with multiple 5-wicket hauls in ODI cricket at the same venue. He was also the first player to take more than one ODI 5-fer at the same venue in India as well. Sachin still stands as the only player with this feat as a lot of grounds host matches in India and players don’t get to feature quite often at the same venue.