December 5, 1990: Sachin Tendulkar Stars as India Beat Sri Lanka in Pune, Clinch ODI Series

On this day in 1990, Sachin Tendulkar scored his maiden ODI half-century and took two wickets as India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets at Pune to clinch the three-match ODI series.

The home team had already won the one-off Test match between the two sides at Chandigarh and the ODI series win was good preparation for the Asia Cup that was set to take place later that month in India.

Winning the toss and electing to field, India managed to restrict the visitors to a meagre total of 227. Tendulkar, then only 17 years old, was a livewire during the first innings as he was involved in five of the eight wickets India took.



Not only did he dismiss Roshan Mahanama and Dammika Ranatunga, he also took the catches that removed Asanka Gurusinha and Rumesh Ratnayake and affected a run-out.

India took wickets with such regularity that Sri Lanka never looked likely to set a competitive target despite Arjuna Ranatunga scoring a 27-ball 58.

India chased down the target with minimal fuss as two other batsmen aside from Tendulkar – Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri – also notched up half centuries.

Given his all-round contributions, it should come as no surprise that Tendulkar walked away with the Man of the Match trophy.