Mohammad Kaif says he had the 'best seat' to watch Sachin Tendulkar's 98 against Pak

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif went down the memory lane to cherish one of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's finest batting performances in his illustrious cricketing career. It was on this very day 18 years ago that Sachin had scored a priceless 98 against arch-rivals when the two teams had locked horns in a pool stage match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. 

'Lucky me!': Mohammad Kaif

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Kaif wrote that the batting maestro battled fatigue and a world-class pace attack as he crafted a masterpiece on this day in 2003. The former middle-order batsman then admitted he was lucky that he had the best seat in the world to watch this masterclass. 

The UP cricketer was referring to the non-strikers' end. He and Tendulkar added 102 runs for the third-wicket stand after Team India had lost big wickets of opener Virender Sehwag, and, then captain Sourav Ganguly at the score of 53. Kaif scored a vital 35 that included five boundaries before being castled by Shahid Afridi. 

Even the passionate cricket fans got nostalgic and even reminded Mohammad Kaif that he was indeed a lucky person to have got the privilege of witnessing an absolute masterclass. 

Sachin Tendulkar Smashes Shoaib Akhtar For Iconic Six Over Point On March 1, 2003: WATCH

India continue their World Cup dominance over Pakistan

Waqar Younis had led the 1992 World Cup winners during the 2003 edition of the showpiece event that was played in South Africa. Both he and Wasim Akram were well past their prime by then and did not have a good campaign either as they were knocked out in the pool stages.

India and Pakistan had locked horns on March 1, 2003, at the Supersport Park in Centurion where the Men In Green had set India a stiff target of 274 runs. However, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag smashed the Pak bowlers to all corners of the ground and seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the proceedings. But, Waqar brought Pakistan right back into the contest by accounting for Sehwag and skipper Sourav Ganguly off successive deliveries. Sachin and Kaif kept the scoreboard ticking thereafter.

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Unfortunately, Tendulkar was done by an awkward bouncer from Shoaib Akhtar and was caught at point for a well-made 98. It could have been anyone's match from thereon but, stellar middle-order contributions from Rahul Dravid (44*) and Yuvraj Singh (50*) helped the eventual runners-up of that tournament pull off a famous win by six wickets. 

Ganguly & Co. had an outstanding campaign as they made it to the finals. However, they were defeated by the then mighty Australians who were also the title-holders back then in a lop-sided contest.

By the virtue of this win, the Men In Blue registered their fourth win over Pak in the quadrennial event. Prior to that blockbuster clash, India had a 3-0 lead over Pakistan in their head-to-head World Cup encounters with victories in 1992, 1996, and, 1999 editions respectively. 

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