Player of the Month

January 1998: Sachin Tendulkar

Events of Tendulkar's January: The Silver Jubilee Independence Cup - Highlights: 54 vs Bangladesh, January 10: [Scorecard] 67 from 44 balls vs Pakistan, January 11: [Scorecard] 95 from 78 balls, 3-45, Man of the Match vs Pakistan, first final, January 14: [Scorecard] 41 from 26 balls vs Pakistan, third final, January 18: [Scorecard] Man of the Series - 258 runs at a strike rate of 112.17 [Statistics] Sachin Tendulkar player profile on CricInfo Related Player of the Month pages: Who missed out? The good, the bad and the ugly of January. The selection process for Players of the Month Previous Players of the Month

What a remarkable roller-coaster ride for January's Player of the Month. As the month began, rumours were flying that he had handed in his resignation as captain of India after fifteen tempestuous months in the job. He was saying nothing, the BCCI were saying that it would be their decision if he were to lose the captaincy. And so it came to pass on January 3 that the captaincy of India was taken away from him - the reason being so that he could concentrate on his own batting. As if scoring over 1000 runs in both Tests and one-day internationals in 1997 was a sign of under-performance, especially as 1997 was clearly his most successful year with the bat in Test matches... Out of this heavy-handed public humiliation, and on to India's major international engagement of January, the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup in Dhaka. Innings of 54 against Bangladesh and 61 against Pakistan in the round-robin fixtures were followed by a stunning all-round performance of 95 and 3-45 in the first of the three finals, plus 41 runs in the incredible third final where India achieved a rare series victory. A total of 252 runs for the tournament and Man of the Series demonstrated that he was not about to let the traumas of the recent past affect his game. Whether he ever captains India again is a matter for conjecture, but he proved this month, as so often in the past (and no doubt so often in the future) how great a performer for his country he really is. Probably the most popular single player in the world today, the googler's Player of the month for January 1998 is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Photograph of Sachin Tendulkar copyright Stamp Publicity (Worthing) Ltd. Not to be reproduced without permission.

	Interactive	the googler's Gazette	Polls
	Ultra Cricket	CI Classifieds	Forums
	Email to ci-forum@cricinfo.com

Date-stamped : 09 Feb1998 - 15:53