#OTD in 2007: Sachin Tendulkar got past the milestone of 15,000 ODI Runs

On this day in 2007, legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar added another feather to his cap by completing 15,000 runs in the ODI format. He achieved this unique feat against South Africa in the second fixture of the Future Cup at Belfast. 

The year 2007 was a mixed bag for the Indian national team. In the first half, they could not feature in the knockouts of the ODI World Cup. The latter half witnessed the young team emerge as the champions of the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. 

This bilateral series between India and South Africa was scheduled between both the World Cups. In order to develop the sports infrastructure in the country, the Irish Cricket Union arranged an ambitious series of the top nations. 

In the 1st ODI, Proteas chased down the target of 243 and won by four wickets. This was certainly a must-win game for the Indian team to save the series. 

The Rahul Dravid-led side won the toss and elected to field first. The South African team lost Ab de Villiers (0) early through a run-out dismissal in the fourth over. 

A couple of overs later, RP Singh bowled an accurate in-swing delivery to clean-bowl Jacques Kallis (2). 

Herschelle Gibbs and Morne Van Wyk hit delightful shots to recover the team from a bad start. However, Gibbs (17) tried to reach out to a widish delivery from Zaheer Khan and was holed out to Dinesh Karthik at covers. 

Then JP Duminy came and steered the team in a fine fashion. Yuvraj Singh put an end to the innings of Duminy (40) and Van Wyk (82) in the 33rd and 41st over, respectively. 

The wicket-keeper Mark Boucher delivered an unbeaten knock of 55 off 55, and got support from Andrew Hall (17) to help the Proteas post a target of 226 on the board. 

In the second half, Tendulkar started positively and put the bad balls to the boundary, especially perfecting the pull shots off Makhaya Ntini. Ganguly was impressive as well to hit odd boundaries. 

After the completion of 10 overs, the little master was flawless with his shots towards the point and covers region. In the 18th over, he reached his 79th ODI fifty.  

Tendulkar breached the 15,000 runs mark in the 50-overs format, by hitting a six off Andre Nel over square leg. 

The duo were attacking against the spinner, Thandi Tshabalala to hit him for boundaries all over the park, with one of the overs costing 14 runs as well. 

However, Ganguly (42) was holed out to Gibbs at the point off Charl Langeveldt. Then, Dravid (2) was caught off-guard with a bouncer off Langeveldt and was dismissed in a caught-and-bowled dismissal, 

In the next over, Tendulkar chopped Tshabala’s ball into the stumps, and made his way back to the pavilion after hitting 93 off 106, with 13 fours and two sixes. 

Soon, MS Dhoni (0) was bowled by Ntini and the Indian team were at 142/4 in the 33rd over. 

It was the unbeaten knocks from Yuvraj (49) and Karthik (32), which helped the team to chase down the target, with five balls to spare, and level the series 1-1. 

Tendulkar was named the Player of the Match. And the next match of the series witnessed India securing the victory by six wickets and winning the series 2-1.