MUMBAI:
Under John Wright and Sourav Ganguly, India set about the task of correcting their awful record away from home. The fab-five (Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ganguly and Anil Kumble) started the trend in the early 2000s.
Sanjay Bangar had just about broken into the Test team then and he was part of the playing XI that beat West Indies at Port-of-Spain in a Test. If you discount the win against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2001, India had finally broken the jinx of winning a Test outside the sub-continent after a gap of 16 years against a high-ranking side.
Later in the summer, India turned the tables against England at Headingley where Tendulkar's phenomenal effort of 193 helped India win a Test in absolutely seamer-friendly conditions.
Bangar, who laid the platform of the win by blunting a sharp English attack at Leeds, remembers Tendulkar's child-like glee after India won the Test.
"Sachin really treasured an overseas win. Whether it was beating the West Indies in a Test at Port-of-Spain in 2002, where he got a hundred in the first innings to equal Don Bradman's record of 29 hundreds or in Headingley where we defeated England on a typical English wicket. Sachin had scored 193 in that game against a formidable attack and I could sense he really enjoyed those victories.
He wasn't really very expressive after a home win but abroad he used to let his hair down. He really treasured those wins."
Recalling the game against Pakistan at Centurion the former all-rounder said, "I was the 12th man I could feel the intensity as I ran in with the liquids.
The wounds of the Test defeat against Pakistan in Chennai (1999) were still fresh in his mind where he battled a bad back to take India within striking distance of a win, but was dismissed when India were 17 runs away and India lost.
At Centurion, even though he was cramping, he opted not to call for a runner till he couldn't bear the pain any more. Virender Sehwag finally came in. It was the first time Tendulkar had used a runner in 14 years.
He wanted to finish the job himself. He was really happy after the win and literally forced everyone to take a sip of the champagne. It didn't matter if one was a teetotaler."
TofI