Published: Jul 31, 2015, 11:54 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 31, 2015, 11:54 PM (IST)
Saeed Anwar scored a graceful century, though not a match-winning one, against India in 2003 to help Pakistan to a challenging total of 273 in 50 overs. But that game is remembered more for Sachin Tendulkar‘s assault on Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis that got India off to a rapid start to their chase. Anwar, however, with his 101 was the only batsman to score a century in the game, as Tendulkar had fallen for 98. The calmness by Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif, and later Yuvraj Singh, took India to the target in less than 46 overs. This took India to the next round of the World Cup, the super sixes, in which they won every game to reach the semi-finals, and eventually, the final, in which they were beaten by favourites Australia. READ: Saeed Anwar: The destroyer from Pakistan with silken grace
The knock was Anwar’s 20th and last hundred in international cricket, as he did not continue to play after the World Cup. Among his more famous hundreds, also against India, was the 194 he had scored amid the Chennai heat at Chepauk in 1997. That was the highest individual One-Day International (ODI) score for 13 years, before Tendulkar went past it to score an unbeaten 200 against South Africa in 2010. Today, the highest score in ODIs is a mind-boggling 264 against Sri Lanka, by Rohit Sharma, who has another double-hundred in his name.
Anwar was already out of the Test side when he participated in the World Cup: his last Test was against Bangladesh in Multan in 2001. His daughter died in that period, compelling him to take a break from the game. When he returned, after a year, in September, 2002, he appeared with a thick beard. He played for seven more months before calling it quits once and for all. READ: Saeed Anwar: 15 things you must know about the great Pakistan opener
